Tero Lehterä

{{Short description|Finnish ice hockey player}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2016}}

{{BLP sources|date=August 2024}}

{{Infobox ice hockey player

| alt =

| image =

| caption =

| played_for = Tappara
Jokerit
HPK
Espoo Blues
Malmö IF
Fort Wayne Komets
Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk
EHC Basel
HC Ambri-Piotta

| ntl_team = FIN

| position = Centre

| shoots = Left

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 0

| weight_lb = 190

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1972|4|21}}

| birth_place = Espoo, Finland

| draft = 232nd overall

| draft_year = 1994

| draft_team = Florida Panthers

| career_start = 1992

| career_end = 2007

}}

Tero Juhani Lehterä (born 21 April 1972) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey player who played the majority of his career in the SM-liiga. He played for Tappara, Jokerit, HPK, and Espoo Blues. He also had stints in Elitserien, the IHL, Russia, Switzerland and Germany. He also won a bronze medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics and World Championship with Finland's 1995 Ice Hockey World Championships team.{{cite web|url=https://www.is.fi/jaakiekko/art-2000008781567.html|title=Mitä kuuluu Suomi-kiekosta kadonneelle Tero Lehterälle, 50? "Olen nyt myös maailmanmestarin isä"|language=fi|work=is.fi|date=29 April 2022|access-date=3 August 2024}}

Lehterä switched into coaching after retiring his hockey career. He has been the head coach of SaiPa of the Finnish Liiga. He has also coached several Espoo Blues junior teams and worked as an assistant coach for Blues' first team during the 2015-16 season. He was supposed to become the head coach of Blues, but the team went bankrupt in 2016.

He has also worked as a hockey analyst for tv channels MTV3 and Nelonen.

During the 2022/23 season in Hockeyallsvenskan he took over as headcoach for Västerås IK after the team had a rough start-mid season which hadn't met the high expectations that the somewhat high-end lineup had amassed. Tero succeeded in taking the team to the quarterfinals where they lost to Björklövens IF. Tero would become known as "Tero the hero" amongst the Västerås fanbase and many people still hope for his return. One of the main reasons for the instant improvement in play for Västerås was his finish style of trap play.

During the 2023/24 season in Hockeyallsvenskan he coached Östersunds IK and cemented his finish style of trap play in Hockeyallsvenskan.

His nephew, Jori Lehterä, was drafted by the St. Louis Blues and currently plays for the Philadelphia Flyers. His daughter, Nea Lehterä, was in the winning team in the cheerleading world championships in 2022.