Player Name: Tatu Mäkelä
Born: Tampere, Finland
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 180 lbs
Position: Defenseman
Shoots: Right
Current Team: Buffalo Stampede
Former Teams: Detroit Falcons
National Team: Finland
SHL Draft: autodrafted, Season 38
1. Early Life
Not much is known about Tatu's early life. It is known that he is the nephew of Kaapo Kekkonen and Kari Kekkonen.
2. Playing Career
Tatu was drafted 1st Overall to the Detroit Falcons in the Season 37 SMJHL Entry Draft. He spent 3 seasons with the Falcons, winning the Four Star Cup in Season 37. Tatu was called up to the Buffalo Stampede heading into Season 40, where he has played as a top 4 defenseman ever since. In Season 46, Tatu was nominated for the Scott Stevens trophy, awarded to the player determined to be the best defenseman in the league. Tatu also played a key role for the Stampede on their way to winning the Challenge Cup.
3. International Play
Tatu has played for the Finnish National Team since Season 37. He has won a gold medal (S37), two silver medals (S39, S41), and a bronze medal (S44) over the course of his international career. In Season 46 he was recognized as the IIHF Top Defenseman.
KARI KEKKONEN | D | RETIRED NAME: Kari Kekkonen BIRTHPLACE: Oulu, Finland HEIGHT: 6'1" WEIGHT: 185 lbs NUMBER: 33 ------------------------------------------------------------ SMJHL CAREER STATS S19 KEL: GP: 40, G: 10, A: 26, P: 36, +/-: 16, H: 42 SMJHL PLAYOFF STATS S19 KEL: GP: 6, G: 0, A: 6, P: 6, +/-: 0, H: 6 ------------------------------------------------------------ KAAPO KEKKONEN | C | RETIRED NAME: Kaapo Kekkonen BIRTHPLACE: Helsinki, Finland HEIGHT: 6'3" WEIGHT: 210 lbs NUMBER: 19 ------------------------------------------------------------ SHL CAREER STATS S25 LAP: GP: 50, G: 2, A: 3, P: 5, +/-: -4, H: 75 S26 LAP: GP: 50, G: 4, A: 5, P: 9, +/-: -13, H: 94 S27 LAP: GP: 50, G: 6, A: 9, P: 15, +/-: -2, H: 35 S28 LAP: GP: 50, G: 7, A: 10, P: 17, +/-: -2, H: 96 S29 LAP: GP: 50, G: 13, A: 21, P: 34, +/-: -15, H: 85 S30 LAP: GP: 50, G: 23, A: 22, P: 45, +/-: 4, H: 130 S31 LAP: GP: 50, G: 20, A: 18, P: 38, +/-: 5, H: 162 S32 LAP: GP: 50, G: 18, A: 28, P: 46, +/-: 27, H: 183 S33 LAP: GP: 50, G: 17, A: 22, P: 39, +/-: 20, H: 210 S34 LAP: GP: 50, G: 12, A: 25, P: 37, +/-: -2, H: 131 S35 LAP: GP: 50, G: 10, A: 22, P: 32, +/-: -3, H: 115 S36 LAP: GP: 50, G: 11, A: 20, P: 31, +/-: 10, H: 138 S37 LAP: GP: 36, G: 9, A: 17, P: 26, +/-: -1, H: 72 S37 WKP: GP: 14, G: 1, A: 0, P: 1, +/-: -4, H: 19 TOT : GP: 650, G: 153, A: 222, P: 375, +/-: 20, H: 1545 ------------------------------------------------------------ SHL PLAYOFF STATS S25 LAP: DNQ S26 LAP: DNQ S27 LAP: DNQ S28 LAP: DNQ S29 LAP: DNQ S30 LAP: DNQ S31 LAP: DNQ S32 LAP: GP: 5, G: 1, A: 3, P: 4, +/-: -2, H: 15 S33 LAP: GP: 12, G: 2, A: 3, P: 5, +/-: 0, H: 38 S34 LAP: GP: 7, G: 1, A: 3, P: 4, +/-: 3, H: 23 S35 LAP: GP: 5, G: 1, A: 1, P: 2, +/-: -4, H: 4 S36 LAP: DNQ S37 WKP: GP: 12, G: 0, A: 2, P: 2, +/-: -2, H: 35 TOT : GP: 41, G: 5, A: 12, P: 17, +/-: -5, H: 115 ------------------------------------------------------------ TATU MÄKELÄ | D | RETIRED NAME: Tatu Mäkelä BIRTHPLACE: Tampere, Finland HEIGHT: 5'11" WEIGHT: 180 lbs NUMBER: 65 ------------------------------------------------------------ SHL CAREER STATS S40 BUF: GP: 50, G: 5, A: 17, P: 22, +/-: -28, H: 14, SB: 86 S41 BUF: GP: 50, G: 10, A: 21, P: 31, +/-: -3, H: 9, SB: 78 S42 BUF: GP: 50, G: 9, A: 21, P: 30, +/-: 2, H: 13, SB: 65 S43 BUF: GP: 50, G: 6, A: 24, P: 30, +/-: 1, H: 8, SB: 51 S44 BUF: GP: 50, G: 6, A: 28, P: 34, +/-: -6, H: 10, SB: 63 S45 BUF: GP: 50, G: 4, A: 37, P: 41, +/-: 10, H: 130, SB: 71 S46 BUF: GP: 50, G: 6, A: 36, P: 42, +/-: 25, H: 139, SB: 73 S47 BUF: GP: 50, G: 5, A: 23, P: 28, +/-: -4, H: 137, SB: 76 S48 BUF: GP: 50, G: 7, A: 25, P: 32, +/-: 9, H: 151, SB: 70 S49 BUF: GP: 50, G: 6, A: 22, P: 28, +/-: 5, H: 159, SB: 66 S50 BUF: GP: 50, G: 6, A: 20, P: 26, +/-: 14, H: 152, SB: 72 S51 BUF: GP: 50, G: 3, A: 23, P: 26, +/-: 8, H: 143, SB: 50 S52 BUF: GP: 50, G: 9, A: 21, P: 30, +/-: -3, H: 141, SB: 71 S53 BUF: GP: 50, G: 5, A: 14, P: 19, +/-: 23, H: 50, SB: 98 TOT : GP: 700, G: 87, A: 332, P: 419, +/-: 53, H: 1256, SB: 990 ------------------------------------------------------------ SHL PLAYOFF STATS S40 BUF: DNQ S41 BUF: GP: 7, G: 3, A: 2, P: 5, +/-: -3, H: 0, SB: 10 S42 BUF: GP: 5, G: 0, A: 1, P: 1, +/-: -9, H: 2, SB: 10 S43 BUF: GP: 9, G: 0, A: 5, P: 5, +/-: -1, H: 1, SB: 8 S44 BUF: DNQ S45 BUF: DNQ S46 BUF: GP: 17, G: 0, A: 12, P: 12, +/-: 11, H: 59, SB: 28 S47 BUF: GP: 13, G: 0, A: 5, P: 5, +/-: 2, H: 32, SB: 18 S48 BUF: GP: 22, G: 2, A: 10, P: 12, +/-: 2, H: 64, SB: 32 S49 BUF: GP: 5, G: 0, A: 5, P: 5, +/-: 5, H: 15, SB: 8 S50 BUF: GP: 6, G: 0, A: 5, P: 5, +/-: -2, H: 18, SB: 12 S51 BUF: GP: 8, G: 2, A: 5, P: 7, +/-: -3, H: 15, SB: 11 S52 BUF: GP: 15, G: 4, A: 5, P: 9, +/-: 4, H: 47, SB: 26 S53 BUF: GP: 4, G: 0, A: 0, P: 0, +/-: 0, H: 6, SB: 13 TOT : GP: 111, G: 11, A: 55, P: 66, +/-: 6, H: 159, SB: 176 ------------------------------------------------------------ KOLJA KEKKONEN | D | RETIRED NAME: Kolja Kekkonen BIRTHPLACE: Lappeenranta, Finland HEIGHT: 6'3" WEIGHT: 225 lbs NUMBER: 8 ------------------------------------------------------------ SMJHL CAREER STATS S53 DET: GP: 3, G: 0, A: 1, P: 1, +/-: -1, H: 2, SB: 0 S54 DET: GP: 50, G: 2, A: 8, P: 10, +/-: -6, H: 15, SB: 37 S55 DET: GP: 50, G: 4, A: 12, P: 16, +/-: -24, H: 32, SB: 24 S56 DET: GP: 50, G: 4, A: 17, P: 21, +/-: -20, H: 52, SB: 71 S57 ANA: GP: 66, G: 6, A: 20, P: 26, +/-: 14, H: 52, SB: 70 TOT : GP: 219, G: 16, A: 58, P: 74, +/-: -37, H: 153, SB: 202 SMJHL PLAYOFF STATS S53 DET: DNP S54 DET: GP: 7, G: 0, A: 0, P: 0, +/-: 0, H: 2, SB: 3 S55 DET: GP: 4, G: 0, A: 1, P: 1, +/-: -2, H: 3, SB: 0 S56 DET: GP: 5, G: 2, A: 2, P: 4, +/-: 0, H: 3, SB: 7 S57 ANA: GP: 21, G: 2, A: 13, P: 15, +/-: 5, H: 13, SB: 34 TOT : GP: 37, G: 4, A: 16, P: 20, +/-: 3, H: 22, SB: 44 ------------------------------------------------------------ KEKW KEKKONEN | C | RETIRED NAME: Karl-Erik-Karl2-Wojtek Kekkonen BIRTHPLACE: Lohja, Finland HEIGHT: 6'4" WEIGHT: 220 lbs NUMBER: 69 ------------------------------------------------------------ SHL CAREER STATS S61 BUF: GP: 66, G: 10, A: 28, P: 38, +/-: 21, H: 59, SH: 134 S62 BUF: GP: 66, G: 19, A: 36, P: 55, +/-: 9, H: 84, SH: 194 S63 BUF: GP: 66, G: 17, A: 14, P: 31, +/-: -13, H: 91, SH: 148 S64 BUF: GP: 66, G: 16, A: 51, P: 67, +/-: 36, H: 82, SH: 212 S65 BUF: GP: 66, G: 25, A: 41, P: 66, +/-: 33, H: 136, SH: 230 S66 BUF: GP: 66, G: 38, A: 43, P: 81, +/-: 18, H: 64, SH: 222 S67 BUF: GP: 66, G: 40, A: 45, P: 85, +/-: -6, H: 76, SH: 224 S68 BUF: GP: 66, G: 47, A: 46, P: 93, +/-: 45, H: 51, SH: 326 S69 BUF: GP: 66, G: 35, A: 31, P: 66, +/-: 22, H: 43, SH: 269 S70 BUF: GP: 66, G: 33, A: 48, P: 81, +/-: 18, H: 66, SH: 297 S71 BUF: GP: 66, G: 36, A: 41, P: 77, +/-: 37, H: 55, SH: 257 S72 BUF: GP: 66, G: 25, A: 35, P: 60, +/-: -1, H: 58, SH: 281 S73 BUF: GP: 66, G: 31, A: 41, P: 72, +/-: 23, H: 48, SH: 305 S74 BUF/WPG: GP: 66, G: 17, A: 47, P: 64, +/-: 33, H: 101, SH: 164 TOT : GP: 924, G: 389, A: 547, P: 936, +/-: 275, H: 1014, SH: 3263 SHL PLAYOFF STATS S61 BUF: GP: 9, G: 2, A: 6, P: 8, +/-: 4, H: 11, SH: 24 S62 BUF: GP: 9, G: 3, A: 1, P: 4, +/-: 2, H: 5, SH: 25 S63 BUF: GP: 12, G: 1, A: 2, P: 3, +/-: -1, H: 32, SH: 33 S64 BUF: GP: 11, G: 2, A: 2, P: 4, +/-: -6, H: 12, SH: 41 S65 BUF: GP: 18, G: 4, A: 7, P: 11, +/-: 8, H: 34, SH: 62 S66 BUF: GP: 16, G: 11, A: 9, P: 20, +/-: 3, H: 13, SH: 49 S67 BUF: GP: 4, G: 2, A: 2, P: 4, +/-: -3, H: 3, SH: 20 S68 BUF: GP: 17, G: 6, A: 8, P: 14, +/-: -4, H: 11, SH: 75 S69 BUF: GP: 4, G: 1, A: 0, P: 1, +/-: -5, H: 2, SH: 13 S70 BUF: GP: 7, G: 1, A: 3, P: 4, +/-: -8, H: 2, SH: 25 S71 BUF: GP: 21, G: 12, A: 9, P: 21, +/-: 6, H: 24, SH: 97 S72 BUF: GP: 5, G: 0, A: 2, P: 2, +/-: -4, H: 7, SH: 25 S73 BUF: GP: 6, G: 3, A: 0, P: 3, +/-: -3, H: 11, SH: 33 S74 WPG: GP: 22, G: 3, A: 4, P: 7, +/-: -2, H: 15, SH: 37 TOT : GP: 161, G: 51, A: 55, P: 106, +/-: -11, H: 182, SH: 559 ------------------------------------------------------------ KAL ÅKAR KEKKONEN | D | DETROIT FALCONS NAME: Kal Åkar Kekkonen BIRTHPLACE: The Wilderness, Gielinor HEIGHT: 6'6" WEIGHT: 240 lbs NUMBER: 75 ------------------------------------------------------------ SMJHL CAREER STATS S74 DET: GP: 66, G: 6, A: 14, P: 20, +/-: 3, SH: 83, H: 76, SB: 29 S75 DET: GP: 66, G: 8, A: 22, P: 30, +/-: 31, SH: 129, H: 123, SB: 114 SMJHL PLAYOFF STATS S74 DET: GP: 17, G: 3, A: 7, P: 10, +/-: 8, SH: 18, H: 16, SB: 5 S75 DET: GP: 14, G: 5, A: 6, P: 11, +/-: 2, SH: 40, H: 26, SB: 27 ------------------------------------------------------------
WannabeFinn![[Image: sIjpJeQ.png]](https://i.imgur.com/sIjpJeQ.png)
