COVENTRY Blaze have confirmed the signing of Finnish netminder Paavo Hölsä for the 2022/23 Elite League season.
The 27-year-old joins the Blaze following two years with HK Olimpija Ljubljana of Slovenia during which he helped the club to become Alps Hockey League Champions before they joined the International Central European Hockey League last season.
During the 2020/21 championship run, Hölsä had the best save-percentage (.945) and goals-against-average (1.20) of any goalie in the regular season going 18-5-0 in 24 games.
In the playoffs, his outstanding form continued, posting a 9-2-0 record, .931 save-percentage and 1.53 goals-against-average (GAA) in 11 games.
Head Coach Danny Stewart said: “Paavo is coming off two pretty good seasons in Ljubljana. After winning a championship in the Alps league, he had very consistent numbers in the ICEHL last season.
“He’s very agile and competes for every puck. He’s a hard-working guy that is keen to keep getting better. He wanted the challenge of playing more games and being our go to guy, and we are delighted to bring him in for this season.”
Prior to his time in Slovenia, the 6’0″ left catcher spent five straight seasons in his native country, playing four years in the Mestis (Finland’s second division) with RoKi and one with KeuPa HT.
Over that period, he iced in more than 150 games and his save-percentage was regularly above .900 becoming a silver medallist with RoKi in 2018/19.
Hölsä’s junior career was spent in the systems of SaPa and Jokipojat who he each played three years for between 2009/10 and 2014/15 when he turned professional.