Sami Venäläinen

Sami Venäläinen (born 14 October 1981) is a Finnish professional ice hockey player who currently plays professionally in Germany for the Fischtown Pinguins.

Career Venäläinen is a product of the Tappara youth system and logged his first minutes for the club's men's team in the Liiga, the highest level professional competition in Finland, during the 2000–01 season. In 2008, he left Tappara and embarked on a three-year stint with fellow Liiga side HC TPS. In 2011, he was back at Tappara and spent another two season with the team. From 2013 to 2016, he played for SaiPa.

After 16 years in the Finnish top-tier, Venäläinen took his game abroad and on July 3, 2016, was signed by the Fischtown Pinguins of the German top-flight Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL).

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1997–98 Tappara FIN U18 33 18 7 25 12 — — — — — 1998–99 Tappara FIN U18 31 27 17 44 45 — — — — — 1998–99 Tappara FIN U20 10 3 2 5 29 — — — — — 1999–2000 Tappara FIN U20 37 8 9 17 18 10 3 4 7 6 2000–01 Tappara FIN U20 21 6 13 19 12 9 3 1 4 0 2000–01 Tappara SM-liiga 36 0 1 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 2001–02 Tappara SM-liiga 56 5 8 13 24 10 0 1 1 8 2002–03 Tappara SM-liiga 55 5 9 14 48 13 0 0 0 10 2003–04 Tappara SM-liiga 56 18 15 33 22 3 1 0 1 0 2004–05 Tappara SM-liiga 55 5 6 11 32 8 1 2 3 6 2005–06 Tappara SM-liiga 56 10 12 22 48 6 1 0 1 12 2006–07 Tappara SM-liiga 54 14 7 21 67 5 0 0 0 4 2007–08 Tappara SM-liiga 54 16 8 24 52 11 0 2 2 10 2008–09 TPS SM-liiga 56 7 18 25 42 8 1 3 4 6 2009–10 TPS SM-liiga 43 10 10 20 66 15 1 6 7 4 2010–11 TPS SM-liiga 58 10 24 34 32 — — — — — 2011–12 Tappara SM-liiga 58 8 17 25 55 — — — — — 2012–13 Tappara SM-liiga 30 3 4 7 26 10 2 0 2 6 2012–13 LeKi Mestis 8 3 2 5 2 — — — — — 2013–14 LeKi Mestis 11 4 5 9 2 — — — — — 2013–14 SaiPa Liiga 45 3 12 15 49 13 1 1 2 2 2014–15 SaiPa Liiga 58 4 9 13 38 7 1 1 2 2 2015–16 SaiPa Liiga 59 10 14 24 49 6 1 1 2 2 Liiga totals 829 128 174 302 652 116 10 17 27 72

International Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM 1999 Finland WJC18 7 0 3 3 2 2001 Finland WJC 7 1 1 2 0 Junior totals 14 1 4 5 2