Vesa Viitakoski is a professional ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 player. As of December, 2009, he is playing for Kärpät

Kärpät

Oulun Kärpät is an ice hockey team in the SM-liiga based in Oulu, Finland. Their logo features a stoat ; "kärpät" is Finnish for stoats or ermines. The team has won five league championships .-History:...

 in the Finnish SM-liiga

SM-liiga

The SM-liiga is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. As of March 2008, it is ranked by the IIHF as the second strongest league in Europe. It was created in 1975 to replace the SM-sarja, which was fundamentally an amateur league. The SM-liiga is not directly overseen by the Finnish Ice...

.

Career

Viitakoski started his professional career in his home town, Lappeenranta, playing for two seasons in the local club, SaiPa

SaiPa

Saimaan Pallo is an ice hockey team in the Finnish SM-liiga. They play their home games at Kisapuisto in Lappeenranta, Finland.-History:The team's best achievement is from the 1965-1966 season, when they won bronze medals for placing third...

. When SaiPa was relegated at the end of the 1990 SM-liiga season, Viitakoski moved to Tappara Tampere

Tappara

Tappara is an ice hockey team in the SM-liiga. They play in Tampere, Finland at Tampereen jäähalli. The team have won 15 league championships ....

. After three seasons there and a strong performance in the national team, especially in the 1992 IIHF World Championships from which Team Finland came home with silver medals, he signed with the Calgary Flames

Calgary Flames

The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is the third major-professional ice hockey team to represent the city of Calgary, following the...

.

All in all, Viitakoski appeared in 23 NHL

National Hockey League

The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

 games with the Flames in the 1993–94, 94–95 and 95-96 seasons, scoring two goals and providing four assists. He also played 198 AHL

American Hockey League

The American Hockey League is a 30-team professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental circuit for the National Hockey League...

 games as a member of the Saint John Flames

Saint John Flames

The Saint John Flames were an ice hockey team in the American Hockey League from 1993 to 2003 in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. The Calgary Flames bought and relocated the Utica Devils, to be their AHL affiliate....

 and Cornwall Aces

Cornwall Aces

The Cornwall Aces were the AHL affiliate of the NHL's Quebec Nordiques from 1993 to 1995, and the relocated Colorado Avalanche in 1995–96. They were based in the eastern Ontario city of Cornwall, and played at the Ed Lumley Arena inside the Cornwall Civic Complex...

 squads, with a point total of 72+106=178. Despite this consistent strong performance in the AHL he never broke through in the NHL; this has been attributed to disfavor by the then head coach Dave King

Dave King (ice hockey)

W. David King is a Canadian hockey coach who has been head coach in the National Hockey League, the Russian Super League, the Winter Olympics, and the IIHF world junior championships. He was born in North Battleford, Saskatchewan....

.

Abandoning hope for an NHL career, Viitakoski returned to Europe to play in the Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 Elitserien

Elitserien

Elitserien, is a professional ice hockey league composed of twelve teams in Sweden...

. After one season there with HV71

HV71

HV71, often referred to as just HV, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Jönköping, playing in the Swedish elite league Elitserien...

 he came back to Finland and Tampere, but not to Tappara but their local rival, Ilves

Ilves

Ilves is a Finnish sports club nowadays mostly known for their youth work. The ice hockey team plays in the SM-liiga at the Tampereen jäähalli in Hakametsä...

. Since then, Viitakoski played in Ilves, except for one and a half seasons spent in Brynäs IF

Brynäs IF

Brynäs IF is a professional Swedish ice hockey team from Gävle. The club plays in the highest Swedish league , and has done so since 1960.-History:...

 of the Elitserien, in 2004–05, until he signed with Kärpät in April 2008.

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