Tuomas Tarkki was a dominant goaltender for the Northern Michigan University Wildcats from 2001 to 2005. His senior year, the 2004-2005 season, was his most successful. Tarkki was a Top 3 finalist for the Hobey Baker Award and was recognized as the CCHA Player of the Year and a Second-Team All-American. That season, he posted a remarkable 2.07 goals-against average and a .930 save percentage. He finished his collegiate career at the top of the Northern Michigan record books with a career goals-against average of 2.24 and a career save percentage of .924.

After his impressive college career, Tarkki played professionally for over a decade. He spent one season in North America with the Chicago Wolves (AHL) and the Gwinnett Gladiators (ECHL) before returning to Finland, where he had a long and successful career in the SM-liiga. Tarkki won the Urpo Ylönen Trophy, awarded to the league’s best goaltender, in 2007 and 2008 and was also a member of the Finnish national team. He also played in Sweden, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Denmark before retiring in 2017. He has since become a goaltending coach.