Espoo Blues

Espoo Blues
City	Espoo, Finland
League	Liiga
Founded	1984 (1984)
Home arena	Barona Areena (capacity 7,017)
Colours
Owner(s)	Jääkiekko Espoo Oy
General manager	Peter Ahola
Website	Espoo Blues
Franchise history
1984–1998	Kiekko-Espoo
1998–2016	Espoo Blues

The Espoo Blues were an ice hockey team in the SM-liiga. They played in Espoo, Finland, at the Barona Areena. The club went bankrupt at the end of the 2015–16 Liiga season.

History

The club was established in February 1984 as Kiekko-Espoo and played their first season in 1984–85 in the Finnish Second Division. In 1988, they achieved promotion to the Finnish First Division and in 1992 celebrated their promotion to the SM-liiga by beating Joensuun Kiekkopojat with a 3–2 series win in a best-of-five format. Tero Lehterä scored the winning goal and Jere Lehtinen assisted.

Kiekko-Espoo ended its first two seasons in SM-liiga in 11th place out of 12 teams. In the 1994–95 season, the team made the playoffs for the first time, losing to Lukko in quarter-finals. In 1997–98, Kiekko-Espoo caused a huge upset by beating regular season winner TPS in the quarter-finals. Kiekko-Espoo ended the season in fourth place. In the next summer, the team name was changed. The name came from the dominant colour of their home jersey.

During the 1998–99 season, the team moved to its current home, LänsiAuto Areena (renamed in 2009 to Barona Areena due to sponsorship change). The first seasons in their new home were difficult despite the team signing many big names. The Blues missed the playoffs in 2001 and 2005. In 2002–03, the Blues had their best regular season, finishing in fourth place, only to lose against eventual champion Tappara in overtime of the seventh quarter-final.

The team took a step forward in 2006–07 when they reached the semi-finals for the first time, although they lost against Kärpät in three straight games, and lost the bronze medal game against HPK. During the 2007–08 season, the Blues set a new team record by winning 12 games in a row. They finally ended the regular season in second place and beat local rivals HIFK in the quarter-finals and other local rivals Jokerit in the semi-finals, proceeding to the finals and thus ensuring their first medal ever. The team eventually ended up second after losing in the finals to Kärpät.

In the next season, the team was again second after the regular season, but lost against Kärpät in the semi-finals, as well as the bronze medal game against KalPa. The season also included participation in the Champions Hockey League, where the Blues lost in the semi-finals against eventual champion ZSC Lions of Switzerland. The 2009–10 season was difficult for the team, and the Blues failed to reach the quarter-finals. In 2010–11, the team ended the regular season in ninth place and then beat eighth-placed Kärpät in the wild card round of the playoffs. The team then made history by becoming the first team in the SM-liiga to advance from the wild card round to the semi-finals, eventually beating Ässät in six games. In the semi-finals, the Blues continued their string of upsets and beat regular season winners JYP in five games. In the finals, HIFK swept the series in four games, and the Blues were awarded the silver medal for the second time in team history.

In the 2011–12 season, the Blues finished eighth in the regular season. After beating Lukko in the wild card round, the team faced KalPa in the quarter-finals. The Blues made history again, becoming the first team in SM-liiga history to win the series after being down 0–3. In the semi-finals, the Pelicans beat the Blues 4–1.

Honors

Champions

• A-juniors (20-year-olds) (4): 1989, 1990, 2009, 2014
• B-juniors (18-year-olds) (3): 1988, 1993, 2011
• C-juniors (16-year-olds) (3): 2011, 2012, 2014
• Aaro Kivilinna Memorial Trophy (7): 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015

Runners-up

• Kanada-malja (2): 2008, 2011

Players

Honored members

• 10 – Jere Lehtinen
• 33 – Timo Hirvonen

Notable alumni

Captains history

16 players have been named Captain of the team.

• Jan Långbacka (1992–1994)
• Hannu Järvenpää (1994)
• Peter Ahola (1994–1995)
• Jarmo Muukkonen (fi) (1995–1996)
• Teemu Sillanpää (1996–1997)
• Juha Ikonen (1997–1999)
• Peter Ahola (1999–2001)
• Valeri Krykov (fi) (2001–2002)
• Juha Ylönen (2002–2003)
• Rami Alanko (2003–2005)
• Timo Hirvonen (2005, stepped down as captain in November 2005)
• Markku Hurme (fi) (2005–2006, replaced Hirvonen as captain mid-season)
• Joakim Eriksson (2006)
• Markku Hurme, Ville Viitaluoma, Erkki Rajamäki, Kent Manderville (2006–2007, rotating captaincy)
• Rami Alanko (2007–2009)
• Toni Kähkönen (2009–2012)
• Arto Laatikainen (2012–2013)
• Kim Hirschovits (2013–2016)

Head coaches

• Martti Merra (1992–1994, replaced in January)
• Hannu Saintula (fi) (1994, mid-season replacement)
• Harri Rindell (1994–1996)
• Håkan Nygren (sv) (1996–1998, replaced in February)
• Hannu Saintula (1998, mid-season replacement)
• Pekka Rautakallio (1998, replaced in November)
• Hannu Saintula (1998–1999, mid-season replacement)
• Jukka Holtari (fi) (1999–2000, replaced in January)
• Jari Härkälä (fi) (2000, mid-season replacement)
• Timo Tuomi (2000–2001, replaced in September of second season)
• Hannu Kapanen (2001–2003, mid-season replacement, continued in the next season)
• Ted Sator (2003, replaced in October)
• Hannu Virta (2003–2004, mid-season replacement, replaced in the October of second season)
• Pekka Rautakallio (2004–2005)
• Kari Heikkilä (2005–2007)
• Petri Matikainen (2007–2011)
• Lauri Marjamäki (2011–2013, replaced in February)
• Mikko Saarinen (fi) (2013, mid-season replacement)
• Jyrki Aho (2013–2016)

References

External links

• (Finnish) Official team website