Goalkeeper Henri Kiviaho became a new member of the hockey club HC Slovan Bratislava. The 30-year-old Finn was catching for the Malmö Redhawks of the Swedish SHL at the beginning of this season, he should replace Kazakh goalkeeper Andrej Šutov in Slovan’s squad, who decided to return to Barys Astana.
Kiviaho stepped in at the beginning of the year in Malmö for the injured Czech goalkeeper Langhammer, during the short-term contract he managed to start three matches with an average of 1.66 conceded goals per match and a success rate of 93.9 percent. The management of Slovan agreed with him on a contract until the end of the 2025/26 season with a subsequent option.
“At the club, we agreed that if the opportunity arises, we will strive to further improve the quality of our goalkeeping position. Our choice fell on Henri Kiviah. He is an excellent goalkeeper in the prime goalkeeping age with optimal physical parameters.
We are convinced that he and Denis Godl will form a reliable pair in goal. At the same time, our effort is to stabilize this important post, and that is why we offered Kivi a contract for two seasons with a one-year option.” stated the general manager of the club Lukáš Havlíček for the Slovan website.
Kiviaho grew up playing hockey in his native Lappeenranta. He gradually won a place in the youth national selections of Finland, and in the 2012 draft, he was selected in the 5th round of the overall 144th place by the NHL club Dallas Stars, with whom he signed a three-year rookie contract.
He made his debut in the top Finnish competition in the jersey of KalPa Kuopio, after three seasons he moved overseas, where he tried his hand at the ECHL club Idaho Steelheads. However, he failed to make it to the NHL, so he chose to return to his native country.
In the clubs of the highest competition, Ilves Tampere and Ässät Pori, he worked mostly in the position of goalkeeper two, in addition, he also caught in the second highest competition, Mestis.
He already tried the highest Slovak competition during the 2020/2021 season, when he worked in Nové Zámky. With 51 interceptions, he became the busiest goalkeeper in the extra league. He had a big part in the team’s progress to the quarterfinals of the playoffs. Subsequently, he played for the Czech Mountfield HK Hradec Králové and for the mother team SaiPu Lappeenranta.
