Matti Virmanen is a retired 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 and a current scout for the Edmonton Oilers

Edmonton Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division in the Western Conference of the National Hockey League ....

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Jokerit

During his playing career, Virmanen played his only 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...

 games for Jokerit

Jokerit

Jokerit is an ice-hockey team from Helsinki, Finland, playing in the Finnish Elite League, SM-liiga. The team has won 6 league championships...

. Virmanen played 4 games for Jokerit in 1980/81 SM-liiga season. During his junior seasons for Jokerit, Virmanen played on the same junior team with future 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...

-player, Esa Tikkanen

Esa Tikkanen

Esa Tikkanen is a retired Finnish professional ice hockey forward. He played for the Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers, St...

Years in Norway

After Jokerit, Virmanen played 4 seasons for Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 team Bergen Flyers. Virmanen led the Norwegian League

GET-ligaen

GET-ligaen is the premier Norwegian ice hockey league, organised by the Norwegian Ice Hockey Federation. The league was known as 1. divisjon until 1990, when it was reorganized and named Eliteserien . That name was held until 2004 when cable TV company UPC became main sponsor...

 in points for 1982/83 season.

Return to Finland and Retirement

After his seasons in Norway, Virmanen returned to Finland and settled to Vantaa

Vantaa

Vantaa is a city and municipality in Finland. Helsinki, Vantaa, Espoo and Kauniainen make up the Helsinki Metropolitan Area.Vantaa, with its population of , is the fourth most populated city of Finland. The biggest airport in Finland, the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, is located there...

-area. Virmanen finished his playing career in Vantaa-HT for which he played for couple of seasons. Virmanen retired in 1997.

Virmanen made a short return as player in 2001/02 season when he played for Second Division

2. Divisioona

2. Divisioona is the fourth highest level of ice hockey in Finland. Teams playing in 2. Divisioona can be relegated to 3. Divisioona or promoted to Suomi-sarja- Teams 2010-2011 :South Group*GrIFK*Haukat*Jää-Tiikerit*KelA*K-Vantaa Itä*LT Kings...

 team LeKi-75.

Career after Retirement

After Retirement, Virmanen worked in Jokerit

Jokerit

Jokerit is an ice-hockey team from Helsinki, Finland, playing in the Finnish Elite League, SM-liiga. The team has won 6 league championships...

 organization, which he had joined in 1992. Virmanen replaced Leena Harkimo as the General Manager for Jokerit in 1999. Virmanen's tenure as General Manager ended in 2008 when he was moved to work as the Director of Sports Activities for Jokerit. Virmanen was succeeded as GM of Jokerit by Keijo Säilynoja

Keijo Säilynoja

Keijo Säilynoja is a retired Finnish ice hockey player-Jokerit :Säilynoja started his career for Jokerit in 1988, while the team was playing in Finnish First Division...

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