Aarne Honkavaara

Aarne Väinö Edvard Honkavaara (June 7, 1924 – March 22, 2016) was a Finnish ice hockey player and coach. He was born in Tampere, Finland.

Playing career
Honkavaara played his first game of ice hockey when he was 12 years old. The team which he represented was Tampereen Kisa-Veikot. He participated in the Continuation War between 1942 and 1944 and played his first actual SM-sarja game in 1944 against HSK. He played for Ilves, which was along with TBK, one of Tampere's top teams. He played his entire career for Ilves except for a short visit to Canada, where he played in two exhibition games for Sarnia Sailors. His playing career ended in 1953 when he broke his shin after a Polish player fell onto it during a national team game between Finland and Poland. After retiring, he made a two-season return to playing staff, while he was the head coach for Ilves in 1956. He re-retired in 1958 after a single game during his second season after comeback.

International play
Honkavaara was part of Finland national team and played 47 games for them, scoring 46 goals. He was also team captain of the national team during their first participation at the Winter Olympics in 1952.

Coaching career
After retiring as a full-time player, Honkavaara went on to coach Ilves to three Finnish championships and one silver medal. He was also the head coach for the Finland national team between 1954 and 1959.

Museum founder
When the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame was established on June 14, 1979, Honkavaara was one of its founding members and later served as its chairperson from 1983 to 1996.