Lauri Lahesalu

{{Infobox ice hockey player

| name = Lauri Lahesalu

| image = Finale de la coupe de France de Hockey sur glace 2014 - 041.jpg

| image_size = 230px

| caption = Lahesalu with Dragons de Rouen in 2014

| team =

| played_for = Jokipojat
TuTo Hockey
Hokki
Kärpät
Odense Bulldogs
Ducs d'Angers
Dragons de Rouen

| league =

| position = Defence

| shoots = Left

| height_m = 1.83

| weight_kg = 85

| ntl_team = EST

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1979|3|29|df=y}}

| birth_place = Tallinn, Estonian SSR, Soviet Union

| draft = Undrafted

| draft_year =

| draft_team =

| career_start = 2000

| career_end = 2016

}}

Lauri Lahesalu (born 29 March 1979) is an Estonian former professional ice hockey defenseman. He made a record 182 international appearances for Estonia, as well as playing club ice hockey in France.

Career

Lahesalu started playing ice hockey for the club THK-88 who were local to him, after seeing an advertisement for players for the new club in a newspaper. He went on to make his international debut for the Estonia men's national ice hockey team on February 13, 1998, in a Codan Cup match against Denmark in Rödovre, which ended in a 7-7 draw. He was credited with his first assist for the Estonian national team on April 16 of that year, in the World Cup match against the Netherlands in Jesenice, in a match which finished 4-2. He scored his first international goal on April 6, 2002, in a World Cup match against Israel in Cape Town, South Africa.{{cite web|website=Delfi.ee|url=https://sport.delfi.ee/artikkel/120174930/veerand-sajandit-rahvuskoondises-manginud-lauri-lahesalu-peab-pensionipolve-ja-kasvatab-tomateid-kuid-tuleb-eestile-taas-appi|accessdate=21 April 2025|date= 18 April 2023|title=Lauri Lahesalu, who played for the national team for a quarter of a century, is "retiring" and growing tomatoes, but will come to the aid of Estonia again}} Lahesalu later served as team captain for the Estonian team.

He moved from Estonia to Finland and represented both the Tappara in Tampere, and Pori Ässäte U20 teams and later various Mestis clubs, including six SM-Liiga games for Oulu Kärpate in the 2003-2004 season. In the 2004-2005 season, he played for the Odense Bulldogs in Denmark.

Lahesalu spent eleven seasons in France and became the national champion twice, including winning the Ligue Magnus as a member of Dragons de Rouen in 2013.{{cite web|url=https://www.esbl.ee/biograafia/Lauri_Lahesalu|title=Lahesalu, Lauri|website=ESBL.ee|accessdate=1 May 2022|language=et}} He also played club ice hockey in France in Angers for Ducs d'Angers. He stopped playing club hockey after the 2015-2016 season, in order to prolong his international career with Estonia, keeping himself fit with daily gym sessions.{{cite web|url= https://sport.err.ee/1608956362/lahesalu-alustab-21-mm-i-hoki-on-uks-vaheseid-asju-mida-enam-vahem-oskan|website=err.ee|accessdate=21 April 2025|title= Lahesalu starts the 21st World Cup: hockey is one of the few things I know more or less well|date=22 April 2023}}{{cite web|url= https://sport.postimees.ee/1770629/lahesalu-klubi-joudis-poolfinaali |website=Postimees.ee|access-date=21 April 2025|title= Lahesalu club reached the semifinals|date=16 March 2008}}

He played for Estonia in recordbreaking 182 international matches. His farewell game was held on 21 April 2025, against Lithuania at Tondiraba Ice Hall in the home Division I Group B pre-World Championship qualifiers. The game saw Estonia defeating Lithuania 3-2. In his honour, Lahesalu saw his pennant with the number 182 (to represents the number of games he played for the national team) hoisted onto the ceiling of the rink, an honour that had previously also been bestowed to long-serving national team members Aleksandr Petrov and Andrei Makrov.{{Cite web |date=21 April 2025|accessdate=21 April 2025|title=Eesti jäähokikoondis võitis Lauri Lahesalu lahkumismängus Leedut |url=https://sport.delfi.ee/artikkel/120372090/fotod-eesti-jaahokikoondis-voitis-lauri-lahesalu-lahkumismangus-leedut |website=Delfi}}

Career statistics

=Regular season and playoffs=

border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" style="text-align:center; width:60em"
bgcolor="#e0e0e0" ! colspan="3" bgcolor="#ffffff" \| ! rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff" \| ! colspan="5" \| Regular season ! rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff" \| ! colspan="5" \| Playoffs
bgcolor="#e0e0e0" ! Season ! Team ! League ! GP ! G ! A ! Pts ! PIM ! GP ! G ! A ! Pts ! PIM
1997–98 \|Tappara \|FIN U20 \| 20	0	1	1	8 \| —	—	—	—	—
style="background:#f0f0f0;" \|1998–99 \|Tappara \|FIN U20 \| 36	4	3	7	20 \| —	—	—	—	—
1999–00 \|Ässät \|FIN U20 \| 12	0	5	5	6 \| —	—	—	—	—
style="background:#f0f0f0;" \| 2000–01 \| Jokipojat \| Mestis \| 42	2	10	12	24 \| —	—	—	—	—
2001–02 \| TuTo Hockey \| Mestis \| 44	6	26	32	48 \| 4	0	2	2	0
style="background:#f0f0f0;" \| 2002–03 \| Hokki \| Mestis \| 44	5	23	28	56 \| 3	0	1	1	2
2003–04 \| Kärpät \| SM-l \| 6	0	1	1	0 \| —	—	—	—	—
style="background:#f0f0f0;" \| 2003–04 \| Hokki \| Mestis \| 15	1	7	8	18 \| —	—	—	—	—
2004–05 \| Odense Bulldogs \| DEN \| 32	4	6	10	22 \| 15	0	1	1	4
style="background:#f0f0f0;" \| 2005–06 \| Hokki \| Mestis \| 11	0	1	1	10 \| —	—	—	—	—
2005–06 \| Ducs d'Angers \| FRA \| 14	1	1	2	26 \| 5	0	0	0	2
style="background:#f0f0f0;" \| 2006–07 \| Ducs d'Angers \| FRA \| 26	5	3	8	59 \| 6	1	2	3	8
2007–08 \| Ducs d'Angers \| FRA \| 26	6	10	16	34 \| 8	0	5	5	4
style="background:#f0f0f0;" \| 2008–09 \| Ducs d'Angers \| FRA \| 25	2	9	11	30 \| 9	0	4	4	10
2009–10 \| Ducs d'Angers \| FRA \| 26	4	20	24	8 \| 13	2	4	6	6
style="background:#f0f0f0;" \| 2010–11 \| Ducs d'Angers \| FRA \| 26	6	13	19	12 \| 7	0	4	4	0
2011–12 \| Ducs d'Angers \| FRA \| 26	1	11	12	14 \| 11	1	5	6	2
style="background:#f0f0f0;" \| 2012–13 \| Dragons de Rouen \| FRA \| 26	0	11	11	8 \| 15	0	1	1	4
2013–14 \| Dragons de Rouen \| FRA \| 25	0	9	9	16 \| 9	1	2	3	4
style="background:#f0f0f0;" \| 2014–15 \| Ducs d'Angers \| FRA \| 17	3	3	6	12 \| 10	0	2	2	0
2015–16 \| Ducs d'Angers \| FRA \| 21	1	3	4	10 \| 16	0	6	6	6
style="text-align:center; background:#e0e0e0;" ! colspan="3" \| SM-liiga totals ! 6!!0!!1!!1!!0!!—!!—!!—!!—!!—

=International=

border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" style="text-align:center; width:40em"

ALIGN="center" bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! Year

! Team

! Event

! Result

! rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff" |

! GP

! G

! A

! Pts

! PIM

style="text-align:center;"

| 1996

| Estonia

| EJC

| 20th

| 4

| 0

| 18

style="background:#f0f0f0; text-align:center;"

| 1997

| Estonia

| EJC

| 19th

| 4

| 1

| 0

| 1

| 2

style="text-align:center;"

| 1998

| Estonia

| WC-B

| 19th

| 7

| 0

| 1

| 0

style="background:#f0f0f0; text-align:center;"

| 1999

| Estonia

| WJC-C

| 23rd

| 4

| 1

| 2

| 6

style="text-align:center;"

| 1999

| Estonia

| WC-B

| 22nd

| 7

| 0

| 4

style="background:#f0f0f0; text-align:center;"

| 2000

| Estonia

| WC-B

| 22nd

| 7

| 0

| 3

| 2

style="text-align:center;"

| 2001

| Estonia

| WC-D1

| 28th

| 5

| 0

| 1

| 2

style="background:#f0f0f0; text-align:center;"

| 2002

| Estonia

| WC-D2

| 29th

| 5

| 1

| 2

| 0

style="text-align:center;"

| 2003

| Estonia

| WC-D1

| 22nd

| 5

| 0

| 1

| 4

style="background:#f0f0f0; text-align:center;"

| 2004

| Estonia

| OGQ

| NQ

| 3

| 0

style="text-align:center;"

| 2005

| Estonia

| WC-D1

| 23rd

| 5

| 0

| 5

| 2

style="background:#f0f0f0; text-align:center;"

| 2006

| Estonia

| WC-D1

| 24th

| 5

| 0

| 1

| 6

style="text-align:center;"

| 2007

| Estonia

| WC-D1

| 23rd

| 5

| 1

| 4

| 5

| 6

style="background:#f0f0f0; text-align:center;"

| 2008

| Estonia

| WC-D1

| 27th

| 5

| 0

| 2

| 4

style="text-align:center;"

| 2009

| Estonia

| WC-D2

| 31st

| 5

| 0

| 5

| 2

style="background:#f0f0f0; text-align:center;"

| 2011

| Estonia

| WC-D1

| 27th

| 5

| 0

| 1

| 0

style="text-align:center;"

| 2012

| Estonia

| WC-D2

| 29th

| 5

| 1

| 3

| 4

| 0

style="background:#f0f0f0; text-align:center;"

| 2014

| Estonia

| WC-D2

| 29th

| 5

| 0

| 3

| 12

style="text-align:center;"

| 2015

| Estonia

| WC-D1

| 27th

| 5

| 0

| 2

| 6

style="background:#f0f0f0; text-align:center;"

| 2016

| Estonia

| WC-D1

| 27th

| 5

| 0

| 2

| 4

style="text-align:center;"

| 2016

| Estonia

| OGQ

| NQ

| 3

| 2

| 9

| 11

| 2

style="background:#f0f0f0; text-align:center;"

| 2017

| Estonia

| WC-D1

| 26th

| 5

| 0

| 4

| 0

style="text-align:center;"

| 2018

| Estonia

| WC-D1

| 25th

| 5

| 0

| 2

| 0

style="background:#f0f0f0; text-align:center;"

| 2019

| Estonia

| WC-D1

| 26th

| 5

| 0

| 2

style="text-align:center;"

| 2020

| Estonia

| OGQ

| NQ

| 3

| 0

| 1

| 2

style="background:#f0f0f0; text-align:center;"

| 2022

| Estonia

| WC-D1

| 25th

| 4

| 0

| 1

| 2

2023

| Estonia

| WC-D1

| 26th

style="text-align:center; background:#e0e0e0;"

! colspan=4 | Junior totals

! 12

! 2

! 1

! 3

! 26

style="text-align:center; background:#e0e0e0;"

! colspan=4 | Senior totals

! 119

! 5

! 54

! 59

! 72

Awards and achievements

class="wikitable"
Award ! Year
Ligue Magnus champion \| 2012–13

class="wikitable"

Award

! Year

Ligue Magnus champion

| 2012–13

References

External links

{{Ice hockey stats}}
[https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2021/wm/news/43917/lahesalu_playing_in_21st_worlds Lahesalu playing in 21st Worlds] iihf.com
[https://www.ohtuleht.ee/sport/1128311/maailmarekord-eesti-jaahokikoondisega-tehtud-nuud-on-minu-aeg-umber-lahen-pariselt-pensionile- World record with the Estonian ice hockey team? Done! "Now my time is over. I'm really retiring."] Õhtuleht, 5 April 2025

Category:1979 births

Category:Living people

Category:Sportspeople from Tallinn

Category:Estonian ice hockey defencemen

Category:Jokipojat players

Category:TuTo players

Category:Hokki players

Category:Oulun Kärpät players

Category:Odense Bulldogs players

Category:Ducs d'Angers players

Category:Dragons de Rouen players

Category:Expatriate ice hockey players in Finland

Category:Expatriate ice hockey players in Denmark

Category:Expatriate ice hockey players in France

Category:Estonian expatriate ice hockey people

Category:Estonian expatriate sportspeople in France

Category:Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Finland

Category:Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark