Pekka Tirkkonen

Pekka Tirkkonen (born July 17, 1968) is a Finnish ice hockey coach and former professional ice hockey player. He most recently served as head coach of EHC Kloten of the National League (NL). Tirkkonen was selected by the Boston Bruins in the 2nd round (34th overall) of the 1986 NHL entry draft.

Playing career Tirkkonen played 14 seasons in Finland's top-tier SM-liiga, registering 161 goals, 236 assists, 397 points, and 241 penalty minutes, in 647 games played for HC TPS, KalPa and SaiPa. He won the championship with TPS in 1989, 1990 and 1991.

Other stops in his playing career included Germany (Starbulls Rosenheim, Augsburger Panther), Sweden (Linköping HC) and Denmark (Herning Blue Fox). He claimed the Danish championship with Herning in 2005, 2007 and 2008, before retiring following the 2007–08 season.

Coaching career Tirkkonen kicked off his career behind the bench immediately after retiring as a player and was appointed as head coach of Finnish second division side SaPKo prior to the 2008–09 season. After four year at the helm and after receiving Mestis Coach of the Year honors in 2012, he moved on and was named head coach of SaiPa of the country's top-tier Liiga ahead of the 2012-13 campaign. In the 2013–14 season, Tirkkonen won the Kalevi Numminen Trophy as the league's Coach of the Year. He guided SaiPa to the Liiga semifinals that season, where they fell short to eventual champions Kärpät.

Tirkkonen parted ways with SaiPa following the 2015–16 season and was named head coach of EHC Kloten of the National League (NL) on June 24, 2016. He was fired on October 16, 2017, following poor coaching performances.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1984–85 SaPKo FIN.2 21 3 5 8 0 — — — — — 1985–86 SaPKo FIN.2 40 14 13 27 12 — — — — — 1986–87 SaPKo FIN.2 40 15 21 36 10 — — — — — 1987–88 TPS SM-l 44 11 12 23 4 — — — — — 1988–89 TPS SM-l 42 11 15 26 8 10 1 2 3 0 1989–90 TPS SM-l 41 17 11 28 0 9 3 4 7 0 1990–91 TPS SM-l 44 9 23 32 10 9 4 2 6 0 1991–92 KalPa SM-l 29 5 7 12 6 — — — — — 1992–93 KalPa SM-l 48 11 17 28 14 — — — — — 1993–94 KalPa SM-l 47 17 24 41 37 — — — — — 1993–94 HC Královopolská Brno CZE.2 — — — — — 1 0 0 0 0 1994–95 KalPa SM-l 47 19 12 31 30 3 1 0 1 2 1995–96 KalPa SM-l 48 16 20 36 10 — — — — — 1996–97 Star Bulls Rosenheim GmbH DEL 50 18 25 43 14 3 0 4 4 0 1997–98 Augsburger Panther DEL 41 4 7 11 6 6 1 1 2 0 1998–99 KalPa SM-l 52 9 20 29 24 — — — — — 1999–2000 SaiPa SM-l 52 9 19 28 38 — — — — — 2000–01 SaiPa SM-l 45 6 14 20 18 — — — — — 2001–02 SaiPa SM-l 55 10 24 34 16 — — — — — 2002–03 SaiPa SM-l 53 11 18 29 26 — — — — — 2003–04 Linköpings HC SEL 43 3 16 19 12 5 1 0 1 6 2004–05 Herning Blue Fox DEN 35 16 19 35 12 16 5 11 16 8 2005–06 Herning Blue Fox DEN 36 19 14 33 18 15 5 17 22 8 2006–07 Herning Blue Fox DEN 36 12 30 42 20 15 6 4 10 32 2007–08 Herning Blue Fox DEN 31 9 12 21 16 16 4 8 12 4 SM-l totals 647 161 236 397 241 31 9 8 17 2 DEN totals 138 56 75 131 66 62 20 40 60 52

International Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM 1986 Finland EJC 5 4 3 7 2 1987 Finland WJC 7 6 3 9 2 1988 Finland WJC 7 4 2 6 0 1990 Finland WC 9 2 0 2 4 1991 Finland WC 9 3 0 3 — 1991 Finland CC 6 0 1 1 0 Junior totals 19 14 8 22 4 Senior totals 24 5 1 6 4