Career
He played majority of his career in Ilves, but had also stints in Sweden (Vita Hästen and Luleå High Frequency) and in Italy, where he ended his career in 1994. After that he started coaching. In Master of Science-liiga he has coached HPK in autumn 1997 before being sacked, as well as Kärpät in 2001-2004 and Blues in 2005-2007.
He has also coached Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in Russia, with major success.
In 2005 he coached them to bronze, in 2008 and 2009 to silver. On August 16, 2010 Kari Heikkilä signed three-year contract with the Belarusian Ice Hockey Association.
Was is currently the head coach of Dinamo Riga Latvian hockey team, playing in KHL.