Arto Javanainen passes away
27 Jan 2011 | Davide Tuniz
An icon of finnish hockey lost his last battle
After a long illness,
Jarno Javanainen died last Tuesday at 51.
With 465 goals and 330 assists in 668 SM-Liiga games he was the all time best scorer until Janne Ojanen broke his record two years ago, keeping owner of about 20 SM-Liiga records, among them Most SM-liiga goals in one season (47 in 1987-88),
most SM-liiga hat tricks (39), and most playoff goals (38). He spent almost the entire career with
Ässät Pori - team retired his number #4 - except 2 seasons with
TPS Turku and one in US with
Pittsburgh Penguins organization, playing 14 games (4 goals, one assists) in NHL as the first European draft pick in franchise history. He played 82 games for Team Finland including two World Championships and one Olympic Winter Games in Sarajevo 1984, earning the number 121 as Finnish Hockey Lion when was inducted into the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame in 2000.
Javanainen is survived by his wife and two children
Photo from www.mtv3.fi