{"id":5192,"date":"2026-05-08T15:30:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T14:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.icehawks.at\/hockeyclub\/?p=5192"},"modified":"2026-05-08T15:30:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T14:30:26","slug":"omar-kimonen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.icehawks.at\/hockeyclub\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/omar-kimonen\/","title":{"rendered":"Omar Kimonen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I started my career in Sweden at the age of 11. A year later, when I was 12, I moved to Finland with my mother. Back then, everything was new, but I already knew what I wanted\u2014I had a dream and I was ready to work for it.<\/p>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">I played in the junior teams of Lukko until the 9th grade. During those years, I often felt that I didn&#8217;t get the recognition I believed I had earned, and I wasn&#8217;t able to break into the top team. That was a tough moment for me, but it also pushed me to make an important decision: it was time to look for a new path.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Earlier, I had trained on the ice with Pasi Kataja, and I knew him fairly well. I respected his philosophy\u2014he truly cared about developing players, not just systems or results. For him, the most important thing was that players improve and grow. At 15, I made a big decision: I moved alone to Tampere to train under him. I will always be grateful for that opportunity, and especially thankful to my mother for supporting me and allowing me to chase my dreams.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">After that season, I returned to my hometown and played for a local team. But deep down, I knew I wanted something more. I was hungry for a new challenge, something different. I spoke with Pasi again, and at that time he had just moved to Austria to join Icehawks. It didn&#8217;t take long for me to decide\u2014I would follow my dreams and go there too.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">My first season wasn&#8217;t easy. It was the club&#8217;s very first academy year, so not everything worked perfectly at the beginning. But thanks to Pasi&#8217;s ambition and the dedication of the staff, things changed quickly. In just a few months, the organization transformed completely. The conditions improved, and everything started to fall into place.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The following season, the team performed at a high level\u2014it truly felt like playing in a professional environment. By my third season, I was honored to be named team captain. That role taught me a lot. Through challenges and responsibility, I learned what leadership really means: it&#8217;s about bringing everyone together and making sure no one is left behind.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">I spent four seasons wearing the Icehawks jersey, playing over 100 games. I will always be grateful for that time. I made lifelong friends from all around the world, and I wouldn&#8217;t change a single moment.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">I&#8217;m forever proud and thankful that I had the chance to wear that jersey. And a special thank you to everyone who was part of the journey\u2014teammates, staff, supporters, and especially Pasi.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Thank you.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I started my career in Sweden at the age of 11. A year later, when I was 12, I moved to Finland with my mother. Back then, everything was new, but I already knew what I wanted\u2014I had a dream and I was ready to work for it. I played in the junior teams of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5193,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icehawks.at\/hockeyclub\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icehawks.at\/hockeyclub\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icehawks.at\/hockeyclub\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icehawks.at\/hockeyclub\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icehawks.at\/hockeyclub\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5192"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.icehawks.at\/hockeyclub\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5194,"href":"https:\/\/www.icehawks.at\/hockeyclub\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5192\/revisions\/5194"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icehawks.at\/hockeyclub\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icehawks.at\/hockeyclub\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icehawks.at\/hockeyclub\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icehawks.at\/hockeyclub\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}