Janne Puhakka, Finland’s first openly gay hockey player, dead at 29; police make arrest on suspicion of murder

Former skilled hockey participant Janne Puhakka, Finland’s first brazenly homosexual hockey participant, was discovered lifeless in his residence in Espoo, Finland on Sunday. He was 29.

Finland’s prime skilled league, SM-liiga, launched a press release Monday on Puhakka, who performed 40 video games with the league’s Espoo Blues in 2015-16.

“The Finnish hockey neighborhood obtained unhappy information at this time when the information of Janne Puhaka’s passing turned public,” the assertion stated. “Puhakka was an vital position mannequin, and his braveness and openness left an indelible mark on Finnish hockey.”

Ilta-Sanomat, certainly one of Finland’s outstanding newspapers, studies that Puhakka was discovered lifeless in his house on Sunday. In keeping with Finnish police, he died of a gunshot wound and they’re investigating his dying as a murder, saying they’ve arrested a person as a possible suspect: Rolf Nordmo, 66, Puhakka’s companion, who lived with him in a semi-detached residence.

Puhakka got here out as homosexual in 2019 by an interview with Helsingin Sanomat.

“It could be preferrred if I didn’t have to speak about this,” Puhakka instructed the journal. “However so long as persons are silent on the topic, we should communicate up.”

Puhakka stated LGBTQ2S+ points are nonetheless taboo in hockey, and he wished he got here out whereas he was taking part in in SM-liiga.

“However I wasn’t adequate to have full safety in my job,” Puhakka stated. “That introduced uncertainty. I’m positive different gamers worry the problem due to their jobs as properly.”

In 40 video games with the Blues in 2015-16, Puhakka scored a purpose and an help. He additionally spent a season in Finland’s second-tier league with Espoo United, scoring 5 objectives and 7 assists for 12 factors in 49 regular-season video games.

Puhakka’s closing season {of professional} hockey got here in 2017-18, scoring three objectives and three assists for six factors in 25 video games with France’s Hole HC.

Earlier than turning skilled, Puhakka represented Finland within the Below-18 World Championships in 2013, incomes bronze. He would go on to play two seasons with the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League’s Chicoutimi Sagueneens, scoring 34 objectives and 34 assists for 68 factors in 131 regular-season video games.

Since retiring, Puhakka turned a widely known TV character in Finland, showing in two seasons of the Finnish version of the fact present The Traitors.