Espoo Blues
| Blues | |
|---|---|
| City | Espoo, Finland |
| League | SM-liiga |
| Founded | 1984 |
| Home arena | Barona Areena (capacity 7,017) |
| Colors | |
| Owner(s) | Jussi Salonoja |
| Head coach | Lauri Marjamäki |
| Captain |  Toni Kähkönen |
| Affiliate(s) | Kiekko-Vantaa (Mestis) |
|
Website www.blues.fi |
|
| Franchise history | |
| 1984 - 1998 | Kiekko-Espoo |
| 1998 - present | Espoo Blues |
The Espoo Blues are an ice hockey team in the SM-liiga. They play in Espoo, Finland at the Barona Areena.
Contents |
[edit] History
The club was established in February 1984 as Kiekko-Espoo and played their first season in 1984-1985 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 wins 3-2 in best-of-five-series.
Kiekko-Espoo ended its first two seasons in SM-liiga in 11th place within 12 teams. In 1994-95 season team made playoffs for the first time, losing to Lukko in quarter-finals. In 1997-98 season Kiekko-Espoo caused huge upset by beating regular season winner TPS in quarter-finals. Kiekko-Espoo ended the season in fourth place. In the next summer, team name was changed. The name came from the dominant colour of their home jersey.
During the 1998-99 season, team moved to its current home, LänsiAuto Areena (renamed in 2009 due to sponsorship change). The first seasons in their new home were difficult despite team signing many big names. Blues missed the playoffs in 2001 and 2005. In 2002-03 season Blues had its best regular season until that day with fourth place, only to lose against eventual champions Tappara in overtime of the seventh quarter-final.
The team took step forward in 2006-07 when they reached the semi-finals for the first time in nine years, although they lost against Kärpät straight in three games and bronze medal game against HPK. During 2007-08 Blues set a new team record by winning 12 games in a row. They finally ended the regular season in 2nd place and beat HIFK in quarter-finals and Jokerit in semi-finals, proceeding to the finals and thus ensuring the first medal in franchise history. The team eventually ended up second after losing the finals to Kärpät.
In the next season, the team was again 2nd in regular season but lost against Kärpät in semi-finals, and also lost bronze medal game against KalPa. The season included also participation to Champions Hockey League where Blues lost in semi-finals against eventual champions ZSC Lions. 2009-10 season was difficult and Blues failed to reach quarter-finals. In 2010-11 team ended regular season in 9th and then beat 8th placed Kärpät in the wild card round of playoffs. Then team made history be becoming first team in SM-liiga to advance from wild card round to semi-finals, beating Ässät in six games. In the semi-finals Blues continued upsets and beat regular season winners JYP in five games. In the finals, HIFK sweeped the series in four games, so Blues was awarded silver medals for the second time in team history.
[edit] Honors
[edit] Champions
- A-juniors (20-year-olds) (3): 1989, 1990, 2009
- B-juniors (18-year-olds) (3): 1988, 1993, 2011
- C-juniors (16-year-olds) (1): 2011
- Aaro Kivilinna Memorial Trophy (3): 2007, 2009, 2011
[edit] Runners-up
- Kanada-malja (2): 2008, 2011
[edit] Players
[edit] Current roster
Updated February 6, 2012.[1]
[edit] Honored members
- 33 – Timo Hirvonen
[edit] Notable alumni
- Peter Ahola
- Tyler Arnason
- Frank Banham
- Timo Blomqvist
- Scott Brower
- Bernd Brückler
- Jan Čaloun
- Mariusz Czerkawski
- Johan Davidsson
- Tom Draper
- Ben Eaves
- Nils Ekman
- Joakim Eriksson
- Kari Haakana
- Niklas Hagman
- Timo Hirvonen
- Juha Ikonen
- Otakar Janecký
- Joonas Jääskeläinen
- Jere Karalahti
- Martin Kariya
- Steve Kariya
- Ryan Keller
- Ladislav Kohn
- Krystofer Kolanos
- Ľubomír Kolník
- Arto Laatikainen
- Jani Lajunen
- Tero Lehterä
- Jere Lehtinen
- Jan Långbacka
- Mikko Lehtonen
- Donald MacLean
- Ryan Malone
- Kent Manderville
- Dale McTavish
- Shawn McEachern
- Branislav Mezei
- Cory Murphy
- Jarmo Myllys
- Sami Nuutinen
- Stefan Öhman
- Oskar Osala
- Antti Pihlström
- Esa Pirnes
- Sergei Pryakhin
- Erkki Rajamäki
- Mike Ribeiro
- Christian Ruuttu
- Ilkka Sinisalo
- Petri Skriko
- Iiro Tarkki
- Petr Ton
- Lauri Tukonen
- Antti Törmänen
- Jiří Vykoukal
- Landon Wilson
- Juha Ylönen
[edit] Captains history
15 players have been named Captain of the team.
- Jan Långbacka (1992–94)
- Hannu Järvenpää (1994)
- Peter Ahola (1994–95)
- Jarmo Muukkonen (1995–96)
- Teemu Sillanpää (1996–97)
- Juha Ikonen (1997–99)
- Peter Ahola (1999–2001)
- Valeri Krykov (2001–02)
- Juha Ylönen (2002–03)
- Rami Alanko (2003–05)
- Timo Hirvonen (2005, stepped down as captain in November 2005)
- Markku Hurme (2005–2006, replaced Hirvonen as captain mid-season)
- Joakim Eriksson (2006)
- Markku Hurme, Ville Viitaluoma, Erkki Rajamäki, Kent Manderville (2006–07, rotating captaincy)
- Rami Alanko (2007–09)
- Toni Kähkönen (2009–present)
[edit] Head coaches
[edit] SM-liiga
The Blues have had 18 head coaches since the teams inception.
- Martti Merra (1992–94, replaced in January)
- Hannu Saintula (1994, mid-season replacement)
- Harri Rindell (1994–96)
- Håkan Nygren (1996–98, replaced in February)
- Hannu Saintula (1998, mid-season replacement)
- Pekka Rautakallio (1998, replaced in November)
- Hannu Saintula (1998–99, mid-season replacement)
- Jukka Holtari (1999–2000, replaced in January)
- Jari Härkälä (2000, mid-season replacement)
- Timo Tuomi (2000–01, replaced in September of second season)
- Hannu Kapanen (2001–03, mid-season replacement, continued in the next season)
- Ted Sator (2003, replaced in October)
- Hannu Virta (2003–04, mid-season replacement, replaced in the October of second season)
- Pekka Rautakallio (2004–05)
- Kari Heikkilä (2005–07)
- Petri Matikainen (2007-11)
- Lauri Marjamäki (2011-present)
[edit] References
- ^ "Joukkue / Espoo Blues" (in Finnish). www.blues.fi. http://www.blues.fi/joukkue/miehet/. Retrieved 2012-01-28.
[edit] External links
- (Finnish) Official team website
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