Ville Vahalahti is a Finnish

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 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. He is currently playing for TPS Turku

TPS (ice hockey)

TPS or Turun Palloseura is an ice hockey team and 11-time champion of SM-liiga. They play in Turku, Finland at the HK Arena. In terms of championships, TPS is the most successful team in SM-liiga history.-Team history:...

 of the 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...

.

Playing career

Vahalahti started his professional career in the second highest division of hockey in Finland. There he played for the team Kiekko-67 Turku. After two seasons, he advanced to the SM-Liiga team TPS.

He spent the 2007–08 season with Linköpings HC

Linköpings HC

Linköpings Hockey Club, often known by its acronym LHC or, colloquially among its fans, Cluben, is an ice hockey team from Linköping, Sweden....

 of the Swedish Elitserien

Elitserien

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

, but upon completion of the year returned to TPS signing a two-year contract. After a strong return with TPS, Vahalahti was named to represent Finland at the 2009 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships

2009 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships

The 2009 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships was the 73rd such event hosted by the International Ice Hockey Federation. Teams representing 46 countries participated in four levels of competition. The competition also served as qualifications for the 2010 competition...

 in Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

.

During the 2009–10 season on March 19, 2010, Vahalahti signed a two-year contract extension to remain with TPS.

Regular season and playoffs

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season Season (sports) In an organized sports league, a season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session. For example, in Major League Baseball, one season lasts approximately from April 1 through October 1; in Association football, it is generally from August until May In an...	Team	League		GP	G Goal (ice hockey) In ice hockey, a goal is scored when the puck completely crosses the goal line between the two goal posts and below the goal crossbar. A goal awards one point to the team attacking the goal scored upon, regardless of which team the player who actually deflected the puck into the goal belongs to...	A Assist (ice hockey) In ice hockey, an assist is attributed to up to two players of the scoring team who shot, passed or deflected the puck towards the scoring teammate, or touched it in any other way which enabled the goal, meaning that they were "assisting" in the goal. There can be a maximum of two assists per goal...	Pts Point (ice hockey) Point in ice hockey has three official meanings:* A point is awarded to a player for each goal scored or assist earned. The total number of goals plus assists equals total points. In some European leagues, a goal counts as two points, and an assist counts as one...	PIM Penalty (ice hockey) A penalty in ice hockey is a punishment for inappropriate behavior. Most penalties are enforced by detaining the offending player within a penalty box for a set number of minutes, during which, the player can not participate in play. The offending team usually may not replace the player on the ice,...		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1995–1996	Kiekko-67	1. divisioona Mestis Mestis, , is the second-highest ice hockey league in Finland.The league was established in 2000 to replace the first division. Since 2000, Mestis has been the highest hockey league in Finland that can be reached with playing merits only; the SM-liiga was closed in 2000...		2	0	0	0	0		—	—	—	—	—
1996–1997	Kiekko-67	1. divisioona		4	1	0	1	0		—	—	—	—	—
1998–1999	TuTo TuTo TuTo is a Finnish ice hockey team based at the new Kupittaan jäähalli , Turku. Established in 1929. TuTo plays in Turku, Finland, and is one of two clubs in that city . Full name of the club is TuTo Hockey...	1. divisioona		21	15	18	33	8		—	—	—	—	—
1998–1999	TPS TPS (ice hockey) TPS or Turun Palloseura is an ice hockey team and 11-time champion of SM-liiga. They play in Turku, Finland at the HK Arena. In terms of championships, TPS is the most successful team in SM-liiga history.-Team history:...	SM-l 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...		31	8	5	13	2		10	2	2	4	4
1999–2000	TPS	SM-l		53	15	15	30	22		10	3	1	4	0
2000–2001	TPS	SM-l		53	12	15	27	8		10	3	4	7	4
2001–2002	TPS	SM-l		56	11	24	35	12		8	1	3	4	2
2002–2003	TPS	SM-l		54	15	24	39	34		7	1	2	3	0
2003–2004	TPS	SM-l		50	18	22	40	10		4	0	0	0	0
2004–2005	TPS	SM-l		46	11	19	30	10		6	1	0	1	2
2005–2006	TPS	SM-l		56	15	10	25	28		2	0	1	1	6
2006–2007	TPS	SM-l		54	21	23	44	14		2	0	0	0	0
2007–2008	Linköpings HC Linköpings HC Linköpings Hockey Club, often known by its acronym LHC or, colloquially among its fans, Cluben, is an ice hockey team from Linköping, Sweden....	SEL Elitserien Elitserien, is a professional ice hockey league composed of twelve teams in Sweden...		53	4	8	12	8		16	0	0	0	2
2008–2009	TPS	SM-l		58	15	19	34	20		8	3	3	6	12
2009–2010	TPS	SM-l		57	21	26	47	24		In Progress
SM-l totals				568	163	202	365	184		67	14	16	30	30

International

Year	Team	Comp	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2009 2009 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships The 2009 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships was the 73rd such event hosted by the International Ice Hockey Federation. Teams representing 46 countries participated in four levels of competition. The competition also served as qualifications for the 2010 competition...	Finland	WC	4	0	0	0	2
Senior int'l totals			4	0	0	0	2

External links