Ari Sulander, also nicknamed Sulo (born January 6, 1969 in Helsinki

Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

, Finland

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...

), 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...

 goaltender

Goaltender

In ice hockey, the goaltender is the player who defends his team's goal net by stopping shots of the puck from entering his team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring...

.

Career in Finland

Sulander has played 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...

 in Helsingin Jokerit for nine seasons (1989–1998), winning four Finnish Championships (1992, 1994, 1996 and 1997), one Silver (1995), one Bronze (1998), two European Championships (1995 and 1996) and one European Championship Bronze (93). Sulander started with Jokerit as a Junior and progressed through the team all the way to position of No. 1 goalkeeper. During his Jokerit career, Sulander played with some of the greatest SM-Liiga players of all time, including Otakar Janecky

Otakar Janecký

Otakar Janecký is a retired Czech ice hockey forward.In his homeland Janecký represented HC Pardubice, his birthcity team for his entire Czechoslovak Extraliga and Czech Extraliga career....

, Teemu Selänne

Teemu Selänne

Teemu Ilmari Selänne nicknamed "The Finnish Flash" is a Finnish professional ice hockey winger, an alternate captain of the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League . An offensive player known for his skill and speed, Selanne has led the NHL in goal-scoring three times and has been named to...

, Waltteri Immonen

Waltteri Immonen

Waltteri Immonen is a retired professional ice hockey defenseman and former coach of SM-liiga team Jokerit.-Playing career:...

 and Jari Kurri

Jari Kurri

Jari Pekka Kurri is a retired Finnish professional ice hockey right winger and a five-time Stanley Cup champion. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2001. He is currently the general manager of Team Finland....

 (Kurri played in Jokerit during the 1994-95 NHL lockout

1994-95 NHL lockout

The 1994–95 NHL lockout came after a year of NHL hockey that was played without a collective bargaining agreement. The lockout caused the 1994–95 season to be shortened to 48 games.-Background:...

). During his nine-year SM-Liiga career, Sulander was coached by top coaches like Hannu Aravirta

Hannu Aravirta

Hannu Aravirta is a Finnish ice hockey player and an ice hockey coach for the Finnish national men's team, SM-liiga and Elitserien.-Career as player:...

, Boris Mayorov

Boris Mayorov

Boris Aleksandrovich Mayorov is a retired ice hockey player who played in the Soviet Hockey League. He played for HC Spartak Moscow. He was inducted into the Russian and Soviet Hockey Hall of Fame in 1963....

, Jukka Ropponen.

Career in Switzerland

Sulander left Jokerit after winning Bronze in 1998 for a new challenge. Sulander's new team was the ZSC Lions

ZSC Lions

The Zürcher Schlittschuh Club Lions are a professional ice hockey team located in Zürich, Switzerland, playing in the National League A. The home arena, the 10,700 seat Hallenstadion, is in the Zürich district of Oerlikon...

 (Zürich) of the Swiss top League, the Nationalliga A. Since 1998, Sulander has played 10 seasons for the ZSC (1999–today). Sulander succeeded in scoring a goal in a Swiss Elite League game during the 2002-2003 season. He has also won the Swiss Championship three times (2000, 2001 and 2008) and the Champions Hockey League 2008/09.

International career

Ari Sulander has played for Finland for a total of 117 games (dressed in 117, played 68). He played in the 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000 Ice Hockey World Championships

Ice Hockey World Championships

The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation . First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annual international tournament. The IIHF was created in 1908 while the European...

 and the 1998 Winter Olympic Games. In the World Championships Sulander has won one Gold, two Silver, and one Bronze medals. Sulander also won the Bronze in the 1998 Winter Olympics and was a key player in the Bronze game against 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...

 star powered Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, led by Wayne Gretzky

Wayne Gretzky

Wayne Douglas Gretzky, CC is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. Nicknamed "The Great One", he is generally regarded as the best player in the history of the National Hockey League , and has been called "the greatest hockey player ever" by many sportswriters,...

 and Patrick Roy

Patrick Roy

Patrick Edward Armand Roy is a former Canadian ice hockey goaltender. Nicknamed "Saint Patrick," Roy split his professional career between the Montreal Canadiens, whom he played with for 10 years, and the Colorado Avalanche, whom he played with for 8 years, both of the National Hockey League...

. Besides the 1998 Olympic tournament, Sulander also played well in the 1998 Ice Hockey World Championships.

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