Heikki Riihiranta

Heikki "Hexi" Riihiranta (born October 4, 1948 in Helsinki, Finland) is a retired professional ice hockey player who played in the SM-liiga and World Hockey Association.

Career in Finland
Riihiranta started out his career as an Forward in Helsinki club HIFK but was moved to play Defence by then HIFK Player-Coach and former NHL'er Carl Brewer.

Riihiranta had a good career in Finland and was one of the premier players for the National Team at his time. He played in the 1976 Canada Cup.

Career in WHA
Heikki Riihiranta was one of the first Finns move to play in North America.

Riihiranta played for 3 full seasons in Winnipeg Jets, a Canadian WHA team. He scored 10 goals and 38 assists in 187 games from 1974 to 1977.

After his retirement as a player in 1983, he was inducted into the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame in 1991 for his career as a player.

Team Manager for Finnish National Team
In 1993, Heikki Riihijärvi was named as the Team Manager for the Finnish National Ice Hockey Team.

During his time, Riihiranta worked with 3 different Head Coaches. The coaches were: Pentti Matikainen, Curt Lindström and Hannu Aravirta.

Riihiranta had his finest moment when he shed tears in the players bench after Finland won the 1995 World Championship over Sweden.

Riihiranta retired from his position after the 2003 World Championship.