Aravirta was born in Savonlinna, and made his first professional appearance in the 1973–1974 season, playing 35 games for TuTo in the SM-liiga.

Aravirta left Oulu and Finland as he went to Södertälje SK to play in Swedish Allsvenskan.

After the success of 1996 Aravirta left his position in Jokerit to concentrate in his national team assistant coaching job.

Aravirta returned to the SM-liiga for the 2003–2004 season when he was hired to coach former Helsinki rivals HIFK.

[3] In 1992 Aravirta was hired as assistant coach in Finnish national men's ice hockey team Aravirta's first international success came in the 1994 Winter Olympics where Finland was 3rd, winning its second Olympic medal in ice hockey.

1998 Ice Hockey World Championships featured Finland going against Sweden in the two game finals.

The 2000 tournament was a step backwards; the Finnish team was beaten by Slovakia in the semifinals so Finland was to face Canada in the bronze game.

The 2002 Olympic tournament saw the Finnish team lose to Canada in the quarterfinals 2-1 and the 2002 World Championships didn't have a better ending for Finns.

The 2003 Ice Hockey World Championships marked the last tournament for Hannu Aravirta as the head coach of team Finland.