Height: 6-0
Weight: 175
Catch: R
Born: 1 Jun 1957, Helsinki Finland
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Regular Season Goaltending Record (key)
| year | team | ||||||||
| 1978-79 | Edmonton | ||||||||
| Totals: |
• Member, Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame.
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Oilers Must Take Those Finns Seriously • by Jim Matheson • The Edmonton Journal • March 20, 1979
...Finnish import Hannu Kamppuri was still on the ice stopping slapshots by Bailey and Stan Weir from point-blank range. The 21-year-old netminder was the last person off the ice Monday as he prepared for a possible relief job in tonight's Edmonton Oiler - Finnish All-Star game at the Coliseum. "I haven't played in two weeks and two days," said Kamppuri, who played this season for Jokerit of Helsinki along with duties as Finnish national team netminder. "We won our last game 4-2 but finished eighth in league play." Kamppuri, who played on the same Finnish national junior squad with Winnipeg Jets' goalie Markus Mattsson, has been chomping at the bit to get into a pro game since officially joining the club March 9. He spent his first two World Hockey Association games behind the bench acting as an interpreter for countryman Risto Siltanen, but has watched the last two home starts from the press box. "I'm going to start Dave Dryden," said Oiler coach Glen Sather, "but depending on how the game goes I'd like to get Hannu into action. He seems a little nervous in the workouts, but I want to see what he can do." If the game against the Finns had been an exhibition instead of a league game and Oilers hadn't fallen flat on their faces in the 7-2 loss Sunday to Quebec Nordiques, Kamppuri might have gotten a starting assignment tonight. But for now, he'll have to back-up and offer some scouting tips on the Finns — a team of players from clubs who finished fifth-eighth in league play and others from IFK of Helsinki and TPS of Turku, who got knocked out of the playoffs early. "They have some good young players, including an excellent 18-year-old national team prospect from Jokerit named Jari Kurri," said Kamppuri. "He's fast, has a good shot and isn't afraid of the corners." The Finnish netminder checked off several players with national team experience — centre Matti Hagman, forward Seppo Repo, leftwinger Seppo Ahokainen, forward Jouni Rinne and blueliner Seppo Suoraniemi. "This team might very well be better than our national team," said Kamppuri, who is passing up the '79 worlds in Moscow along with Siltanen. "The young plavers will be trying to prove something to the coaches so they can go to Moscow." |
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