Finland’s First Openly Gay Hockey Player, Janne Puhakka, 29, Murdered By His Ex-Boyfriend, 66

Rolf Nordmo, a Norwegian veterinarian, has confessed to the murder of his ex-boyfriend, Janne Puhakka, formerly Finland’s first openly gay hockey player.

Puhakka, 29, died in his home last week when Nordmo, 66, killed him with a hunting shotgun. One of the lead officers on the investigation reported that Puhakka and Nordmo’s relationship had ended several weeks beforehand, and Puhakka had since moved out of their shared home. Upon his return to the house for “the arrangement of practical matters,” Nordmo, who had a license to own a gun in Norway, shot him.

Police confirmed the motive for the crime was “the ending of the relationship between the victim and the suspect.”

Puhakka met Nordmo online in 2014, and the two began dating in secret. Nordmo initially insisted that their relationship was “just a summer fling” due to their 37-year age difference. However, as the pair continued spending time together and spending a lot of money on plane tickets to see one another, their relationship became more serious.

Puhakka played for the Espoo Blues and Espoo United before he retired from the game following the 2017-2018 season. Puhakka was the first Finnish hockey player to be open about his LGBTQ sexual identity. Initially closeted from his family, teammates, and the public, he explained to South West News Service in 2022 that he was “scared of the way I would be perceived in the ultra-masculine sporting world.” 

On the subject of his and Nordmo’s relationship, Puhakka said, “I had to keep him a secret — and it isn’t a nice thing to hide the person you love.” In the interview, Puhakka reported that when he did eventually come out to his family about his sexual orientation and 37-year-senior boyfriend, they took it well.