SaiPa

SaiPa
City	Lappeenranta, Finland
League	Liiga
Founded	1948 (1948)
Home arena	Kisapuisto (capacity: 4,820)
Colours	Yellow, black
General manager	Jussi Markkanen
Head coach	Ville Hämäläinen
Captain	Jarno Koskiranta
Affiliate	Imatran Ketterä (Mestis)
Website	www.saipa.fi

Saimaan Pallo (SaiPa) is an ice hockey team in the Finnish Liiga. They play their home games at Kisapuisto in Lappeenranta, Finland. SaiPa has many nicknames, such as "The Sputniks", "Sputnik", "miracle of the East" and "East giant."

SaiPa play home games in the yellow shirt, black pants, yellow socks, and a black helmet. SaiPa play away games in mostly the same costumes as the home games, but also have a black version of the jersey.

History

The team's best achievement is from the 1965-1966 season, when they won bronze medals for placing third. SaiPa also played in a bronze medal game in the 1998–1999 and 2013–14 seasons, but lost the games to HPK (7–2) and Lukko (3–2).

SaiPa has participated twice in the Champions Hockey League. During the 2014-2015 season, the team survived the quarterfinals, where they lost the return match against Oulun Kärpät. During the 2016–17 season, SaiPa won their initial games by 11 points. Eisbären Berlin and Luleå HF were the runners-up.

SaiPa has produced seven players who have played in the National Hockey League (NHL): Antti Aalto, Jussi Markkanen, Petteri Nokelainen, Petri Skriko, Jussi Timonen, Vesa Viitakoski, and Niklas Bäckström. Jussi Markkanen is also a part owner of the club.

Honours

Domestic

SM-sarja

• 3rd place (1): 1965–66

Pre-season

Finnish Cup

• Runners-up (3): 1958, 1965, 1971

Players

Current roster

As of March 10, 2022.

No.	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
60		Jaakko Haarti	D	R	25	2022	Helsinki, Finland
2		Miika Herrala	F	L	23	2021	Kotka, Finland
77		Henri Hietala	D	L	23	2019	Hamina, Finland
57		Otto Hokkanen	C	L	20	2021	Lappeenranta, Finland
4		Joona Huttula	D	L	27	2021	Tampere, Finland
63		Mikko Juusola	LW	L	26	2021	Kuusamo, Finland
11		Roni Karvinen	F	L	22	2020	Vantaa, Finland
59		Niko Kautiainen	F	R	23	2020	Helsinki, Finland
40		Jarno Koskiranta (C)	C	L	37	2020	Paimio, Finland
21		Elmeri Laakso	D	L	20	2021	Joensuu, Finland
90		Valtteri Lipiäinen	RW	R	27	2021	Lappeenranta, Finland
29		Veikko Loimaranta	C	L	23	2019	Vantaa, Finland
18		Kalle Maalahti (A)	D	L	33	2021	Lappeenranta, Finland
25		Tino Metsävainio	LW	L	28	2021	Haukipudas, Finland
74		Sergei Monakhov	LW	L	33	2021	St. Petersburg, Russia
70		Janne Naukkarinen	C	L	20	2021	Lappeenranta, Finland
39		Valtteri Ojantakanen	LW	R	24	2019	Helsinki, Finland
6		Joel Olkkonen	D	R	31	2019	Hyvinkää, Finland
23		Ville Petman	C	L	24	2020	Lappeenranta, Finland
31		Cody Porter	G	L	27	2022	North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
38		Simo-Pekka Riikola	D	R	32	2019	Joensuu, Finland
61		Hugo Rikkilä	D	L	23	2019	Espoo, Finland
86		Aapo Sarell	D	L	21	2020	Lappeenranta, Finland
82		Aleksi Sinkkonen	F	L	22	2021	Imatra, Finland
80		Ville Vainikainen	RW	L	30	2019	Kuopio, Finland
34		Nuutti Viitasalo	D	R	25	2021	Raisio, Finland
53		Niclas Westerholm	G	L	27	2017	Helsinki, Finland

50th anniversary of SaiPa's 1965-1966 bronze medal team

Retired numbers

SaiPa retired numbers

No.	Player	Position	Career
3	Lalli Partinen	D	1959–1969
8	Ville Koho	C	2001–2020
9	Petri Skriko	LW	1979–1984
20	Heikki Mälkiä	C	1975–1986 1988–1992

NHL alumni

• Antti Aalto
• Niklas Bäckström
• Frank Banham
• Richard Lintner
• Jussi Markkanen
• Dale McTavish
• Jarmo Myllys
• Petteri Nokelainen
• Antti Pihlström
• Martin Richter
• Petri Skriko
• Jussi Timonen
• Shayne Toporowski
• Vesa Viitakoski

External links

• SaiPa official website (in Finnish)
• SaiPa Fan Club (in Finnish)
• Idän Ihme fan site (in Finnish)