Trent Daavettila

Trent Daavettila (born September 3, 1984) is an American former professional ice hockey player who last played for and served as Captain for the Colorado Eagles of the ECHL. After beginning his college hockey career with Finlandia University, he transferred to Michigan Technological University, but failed to gain a place on their team. He remained at Michigan Tech and played for an upper-level men's amateur team while earning a civil engineering degree. Daavettila tried out for numerous minor league hockey teams after graduating from college, but was not accepted by any. Months later, however, he was signed to a professional tryout contract by the Kalamazoo Wings. Daavettila remained with the team, and two seasons later he tied for the team scoring lead and was named a second-team all-star by the ECHL. Through the 2012–13 season, he has also played in 19 American Hockey League games.

Early life Daavettila was born on September 3, 1984. He grew up in Howell, Michigan, as the second oldest in a family of eleven children. His first exposure to ice hockey was in his backyard, where his family had constructed a rink. Through crowded pickup games, Daavettila learned to stickhandle. "You'd always want to stickhandle your way down. It was never cool to score from far out", he said.

Playing career Daavettila graduated from Howell High School in 2002 and enrolled at Finlandia University in Hancock, Michigan. He played in ten games for Finlandia's varsity hockey team, a member of the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association in Division III of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and scored three goals and ten assists before moving on. Daavettila transferred to Michigan Technological University, just across Portage Lake from Finlandia, and attempted to join the Division I Michigan Tech Huskies hockey team as a walk-on, but failed to do so. He continued to study civil engineering at Michigan Tech while playing for the Portage Lake Pioneers, a high-level men's amateur team playing in the Great Lakes Hockey League. During his five years with the Pioneers, Daavettila scored at a rate of more than a point per game and in 2005 he won a national championship with them. During the off-season, Daavettila worked for a structural engineering firm in Saginaw, Michigan. He used vacation time at the start of the next hockey season later in 2008 to try out for the Grand Rapids Griffins of the American Hockey League (AHL) and the Muskegon Lumberjacks (IHL), though he was rejected by both teams. Also during the off-season, the Kalamazoo Wings left the IHL to become members of the ECHL, and Daavettila was one of the first players the team signed to play in their new league. "It was a weird feeling knowing you had a ... plan for next year, somebody actually wants you", he said. and collected two assists before being sent back to Kalamazoo. Shortly thereafter, he was signed to another professional tryout by the Grand Rapids Griffins, for whom he played in two games and scored his first AHL goal by deflecting a shot by Andy Delmore. Daavettila was later called up again and played in two more games for Adirondack. Meanwhile, while with Kalamazoo, he scored 19 goals and added 30 assists in 51 games to finish fourth on the team in scoring. In the playoffs, Daavettila continued his point-per-game scoring rate, but the Wings lost their first-round series to the Reading Royals. In July, he was one of the first players signed by the Wings for the following season.

Daavettila began the 2010–11 season at the Grand Rapids Griffins training camp, but again did not make the team. Back with the Wings, he centered a line with Brady Leisenring and Andrew Fournier and had a 12-game point-scoring streak early in the season. In early January, Daavettila was loaned to the Griffins, where he played in one game before being returned. He was named ECHL Player of the Week for the week ending on February 13 after scoring five goals and two assists in four games, including his first professional hat trick on February 12 against the Greenville Road Warriors. He was on a seven-game point streak at the end of the month and was named ECHL Plus Performer of the Month for having the best plus-minus in February and ECHL Player of the Month for scoring 8 goals and 14 assists in his team's 14 games. Now on a line with Fournier and Darryl Lloyd, Daavettila extended his point streak to eleven games and helped Kalamazoo gain a place in the playoffs in March. He finished the season with 80 points to tie with Kory Karlander as Kalamazoo's lead scorers; the pair tied for fourth in league scoring. Daavettila was also named an ECHL second-team all-star and shared the ECHL Reebok Plus Performer Award with Brendan Connolly of the Greenville Road Warriors. In the playoffs, Daavettila scored 6 goals and 22 assists in 18 games, leading the league in playoff scoring, and helped the Wings defeat the Florida Everblades, Reading Royals and Wheeling Nailers on their way to the Kelly Cup Finals. In that series, Kalamazoo lost to the Alaska Aces 4–1.

After completing his fourth season with the Wings in 2011–12, Daavettila signed his first European contract as a free agent, agreeing to a one-year deal with Frederikshavn White Hawks of the Danish AL-Bank Ligaen on June 13, 2012. However a little over a month later, for personal reasons, Daavettila sought a release from his contract and was granted on July 30, 2012. On September 13, Daavettila agreed to remain in the ECHL, defecting from the Wings to fellow competitor the Colorado Eagles on a one-year deal.

Through four seasons with the Colorado Eagles, Daavettila continued to perform among the ECHL's top offensive producers, recording 282 points in 260 regular season games. Despite placing second in league scoring with 80 points through the 2015–16 season, Daavettila opted to end his professional career and return to his hometown Howell, Michigan to raise his family.

Personal life He is of Finnish American descent. Daavettila married his wife Wendy on August 7, 2010. During the 2009 and 2010 off-seasons, he worked for Tetra Tech in Howell, Michigan. He works for RS&H, INC. in Novi, Michigan.

Career statistics

Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 2002–03 Finlandia University MCHA 10 3 10 13 0 — — — — — 2005–06 Portage Lake Pioneers GLHL 14 10 20 30 2 — — — — — 2006–07 Portage Lake Pioneers GLHL 20 25 15 40 12 — — — — — 2007–08 Portage Lake Pioneers GLHL 11 18 11 29 4 2 2 0 2 2 2007–08 Flint Generals IHL 2 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 2008–09 Kalamazoo Wings IHL 20 9 9 18 6 6 1 1 2 0 2009–10 Kalamazoo Wings ECHL 51 19 30 49 24 5 3 2 5 0 2009–10 Adirondack Phantoms AHL 13 0 2 2 2 — — — — — 2009–10 Grand Rapids Griffins AHL 2 1 0 1 0 — — — — — 2010–11 Kalamazoo Wings ECHL 71 32 48 80 24 18 6 22 28 8 2010–11 Grand Rapids Griffins AHL 1 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 2011–12 Kalamazoo Wings ECHL 69 18 56 74 40 14 3 10 13 2 2011–12 St. John's IceCaps AHL 2 0 0 0 2 — — — — — 2012–13 Colorado Eagles ECHL 70 19 48 67 30 6 4 6 10 2 2012–13 Chicago Wolves AHL 1 0 1 1 0 — — — — — 2013–14 Colorado Eagles ECHL 63 22 44 66 36 6 1 4 5 8 2013–14 Lake Erie Monsters AHL 3 1 2 3 0 — — — — — 2014–15 Colorado Eagles ECHL 56 16 53 69 20 7 3 4 7 4 2015–16 Colorado Eagles ECHL 71 25 55 80 26 6 4 1 5 4 ECHL totals 451 151 334 485 200 62 24 49 73 28 AHL totals 22 2 5 7 2 — — — — — Statistics as of the end of the 2015–16 season.