Juha Riihijärvi

Did You Know?

• Riihijärvi was part of the Finnish team that won the country's first World Championship medal, a silver, in 1992.
• He also played in the 1993 and 1996 World Championship tournaments, where Finland did not medal.
• His latest international call-ups came in 2000, when he played in the Euro Hockey Tour.

Playing career

Riihijärvi played four seasons for Kärpät, a team based in Oulu, Finland. After leaving Kärpät, he spent two seasons with JYP, where he earned one bronze and one silver medal. He was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in 1991 and spent the 1993–94 season with their affiliate, the Cape Breton Oilers of the IHL, scoring 25 points in 57 games without appearing in the NHL. Returning to Finland, he played two seasons for Lukko; in his second season there, he won the goalscoring, pointscoring, and MVP trophies while Lukko took bronze, his third SM-liiga medal. He then moved to Sweden to play for Malmö IF in the Elitserien, where he became a franchise fixture over seven seasons and 470 games. During the 2004–05 season he played in Switzerland for HC Ambri-Piotta in Nationalliga A and EHC Basel in Nationalliga B. He returned to Malmö for two more seasons, helping the Redhawks gain promotion from HockeyAllsvenskan to Elitserien in 2006, though they faced relegation series in 2007. For the 2007–08 season he joined Rødovre Mighty Bulls of the Danish Oddset Ligaen, and after playing for Bolzano-Bozen Foxes in 2009–2010, he retired from hockey.