Marko Anttila

Marko Anttila (born on May 25, 1985 in Lempäälä) is a Finnish ice hockey right winger. Anttila currently plays with the Jokerit of the KHL and was drafted 260th overall by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.

Club career
Antilla began playing junior hockey with the LeKi organisation.

He played his first adult ice hockey games during the 2003-04 season. In this season, he played 22 games and scored 38 points with the LeKi of the II-divisioona and 12 games with the LeKi under-20 team.

Though playing in th 4th highest level in Finland, Anttila was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft while he was playing with the LeKi. It is believed that Anttila's connections with Chicago's scout for Finland, Sakari Pietila, was the reason why he was drafted (it is probable that almost no one else in the draft event had heard of him). His large size combined with good skills and his hard slapshot were the most convincing factors that influenced Sakari Pietila suggested him to the Blackhawks.

After being drafted while playing for small town's team, Anttila soon was reckoned as a player to invest on. Marko Anttila was contracted by the Ilves organisation in 2004.

In the 2004-05 season played Anttila 27 regular season games and 9 play-off games with the Ilves under-20 team and 28 regular season games and 3 play-off games with the Ilves of the SM-liiga. Anttila struggled during his first season in SM-liiga but soon got the hand of playing in bigger levels.

In the 2005-06 season, his last junior one, he played 10 regular season games and 2 play-off games with the Ilves under-20 team and 50 regular season games and 4 play-off games with the Ilves of the SM-liiga.

Anttila then played with the Ilves of the SM-liiga until the end of the 2010-11 season.

In 2011 - 2013, he played with the TPS of the SM-liiga.

Anttila then began the 2013-14 season with the Metallurg Novokuznetsk of the KHL. He played there 16 games. He also played 6 games with the Ariada Volzhsk of the VHL. After that, he moved to the Örebro HK of the SHL where he finished the 2013-14 season with 22 games played.

Anttila continued with the Örebro HK of the SHL until the end of the 2015-16 season. In the 2015-16 season, he became the most penalized played (35 PIM) of the play-offs.

Since 2016, Anttila is playing with the Jokerit of the KHL. He is currently signed there until the end of the 2021-22 season with a one-year option. In the 2018-19 season, he became the Finnish Player of the Year.

International career
Anttila played with the Finnish National Team at the 2013, 2018 and 2019 World Championship s (being the team's captain at the 2019 tournament where he also won the gold medal as he was the scorer of the championship winning goal) and at the 2018 Olympics.