Background
He was born in Tampere, Finland.
He was born in Tampere, Finland.
Honkavaara played his first game of ice hockey when he was 12 years old. The team which he represented was Tampereen Kisa-Veikot. He participated in the Continuation War between 1942–1944 and played his first actual Master of Science-sarja game in 1944 against HSK. He played for Ilves, which was. along with TBK, one Tampere"s top teams.
He played his entire career for Ilves with the exception of a short visit Canada, where he played in two Exhibition games for Sarnia Sailors.
His playing career ended in 1953 when he broke his shin after a Polish player fell onto it during a National Team match between Finland and Poland. After retiring, he made a two-season return to playing staff while he was the head coach for Ilves in 1956.
He re-retired in 1958 after a single game during his second season after comeback. After retiring as a full-time player, Honkavaara went on to coach Ilves to three Finnish Championships (gold medal) and one silver medal (runner-up).
He was also the National Team Coach of Finland between 1954 and 1959.
Honkavaara was part of the Finnish national team and played 47 games for Finland, scoring 46 goals. International statistics.