Kärpät
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Kärpät | |
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| League | SM-liiga |
| Founded | 1946 |
| History | Kärpät 1946 - present |
| Arena | Oulun Energia Areena |
| City | Oulu, Finland |
| Team Colors | Yellow, black, white |
| General Manager | Juha Junno |
| Head Coach | Kari Jalonen |
| Team Captain | Jari Viuhkola |
Kärpät is an ice hockey team in the SM-liiga. They play in Oulu, Finland, at the Oulun Energia Areena (capacity 6,614) and their logo features a stoat (mustela erminea); "kärpät" is Finnish for stoats.
- League championships won: 3 (1981, 2004, 2005)
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[edit] History
In the spring of 1946, three young men decided to found a new sports club in Oulu. At the constitutional meeting on May 15, the club was named Oulun Kärpät 46. At first, Kärpät played football and its first winter sport was bandy.
In the first annual meeting in January 1947, an ice hockey section was established. At the beginning of the new decade, Kärpät was somewhat successful in ice hockey and it became the main sport of the club. The first game at the highest level was played on the December 4, 1960 against HJK but the visit to the highest level was short and Kärpät lost their position in the series. They made it to the highest level again in 1965-66, but lost their position again. The third try in 1967-68 did not produce a better performance, as Kärpät lost all of their games.
From the first years on, junior work was important for Kärpät. E-juniors won the first Finnish Championship for Kärpät in the spring of 1971. When the SM-liiga was founded in August 1975, Kärpät started in the first division. Their goal was to rise to the league. It didn’t happen in the first season, but in 1976. In the next season Kärpät was 7th and then last, but they still remained at the league with ease. After Kärpät acquired some good players, they won the bronze medals in 1980.
In the following year, Kärpät was third in the regular series but in the finals they defeated Tappara. Next year, the weakened team had to settle for 5th place, and the following year they were almost relegated. With a new coach, the goal was to win a medal and finally Kärpät won the bronze. The next goal was to win the championship, but Kärpät only managed to get bronze for the following two years. Kärpät won the regular series in 1987 but they lost to Tappara in the finals. Hopes were high for the next season, but Kärpät fell from the league.
The goal was to rise again shortly but it did not work out. Due to financial constraints, Kärpät went into bankruptcy, but in the fall of 1995 they made it to the first division again. In the first year they came 8th and lost in the play offs. Next year they went against KalPa for a place in the league but lost. In the following year, they lost against KalPa again. For the 1998-99 season, Kärpät acquired coach Juhani Tamminen. After they played very well in the regular series they lost to TuTo in the play offs.
The next year, Kärpät finally rose to the SM-liiga. The first year was full of ups and downs but Kärpät came 4th and the following year 6th. After that they finally made it to the finals but lost against Tappara just like in 1987. In the 2003-04 season, Kärpät played in the finals against TPS and finally won their second Finnish Championship. In 2004-05, Kärpät won the Finnish Championship again when they defeated Jokerit in the finals, winning 3 games out of 4 that were played. Each of these recent victories have been celebrated in Oulu by a party, in which tens of thousands of people attended.
When Oulun Kärpät Oy was founded in 2000 it took the responsibility off the representative team and A-juniors. Oulun Kärpät 46 ry focuses on other junior work.
[edit] Notable Players
- Niklas Bäckström
- Jussi Jokinen
- Lasse Kukkonen
- Janne Niinimaa
- Michael Nylander
- Joni Pitkänen
- Petr Tenkrat
[edit] Current Squad
As of December 12, 2006
- 1
- Jaakko Suomalainen - 31 - Tuomas Tarkki
- 2 - Oskari Korpikari
- 4 - Antti Ylönen
- 6 - Ilkka Mikkola
- 7 - Tommi Leinonen
- 9 - Topi Jaakola
- 16
- Ross Lupaschuk - 29 - Jouni Loponen
- 71 - Jukka-Pekka Laamanen
- 78
- Josef Boumedienne
- 8 - Hannes Hyvönen
- 11
- Victor Ujcik - 12 - Teemu Normio
- 17 - Mika Pyörälä
- 20 - Janne Pesonen
- 21 - Tommi Paakkolanvaara
- 22 - Jyri Junnila
- 24 - Jari Viuhkola
- 30 - Mikko Alikoski
- 36 - Michal Bros
- 41 - Kalle Sahlstedt
- 43 - Antti Aarnio
- 50 - Juhamatti Aaltonen
- 83 - Tomi Mustonen
[edit] Not to be Forgotten
- Niklas Bäckström
- Jussi Jokinen
- Brett Lievers
- Joni Pitkänen
- Pekka Rinne
- Petr Tenkrat
- Ari Vallin
[edit] Retired Numbers
- 10 - Reijo Ruotsalainen
[edit] Trivia
Heavy Metal Band Sentenced performed the song Routasydän, their only song in Finnish in 2003 for the team.
[edit] External links
- Kärpät official web site
- Kärpät junior official web site
- Kärpät official fan club
- NHL.com 'Across the Pond', article about Kärpät
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| SM-liiga teams : Ässät | Blues | HIFK | HPK | Ilves | Jokerit | JYP | KalPa | Kärpät | Lukko | Pelicans | SaiPa | Tappara | TPS | |
| Trophies and awards: Kultainen kypärä | Kalevi Numminen trophy | Jarmo Wasama memorial trophy | Matti Keinonen trophy | Raimo Kilpiö trophy | Urpo Ylönen trophy | Pekka Rautakallio trophy | Aarne Honkavaara trophy | Veli-Pekka Ketola trophy | Lasse Oksanen trophy | Jari Kurri trophy | |
| Former teams : FPS | Jokipojat | KooKoo | Koo-Vee | Sport | TuTo | |
| Other leagues and teams : Mestis | Suomi-sarja | Finnish national men's ice hockey team | Finnish national women's ice hockey team | |
