Espoo Blues
| Blues | |
|---|---|
| City | Espoo, Finland |
| League | SM-liiga |
| Founded | 1984 (1984) |
| Home arena | Barona Areena (capacity 7,036) |
| Colors | |
| Head coach | Petri Matikainen |
| Captain | Toni Kähkönen |
|
Website http://www.blues.fi/ |
|
| Franchise history | |
| 1984 - 1998 | Kiekko-Espoo |
| 1998 - present | Blues |
The Blues are an ice hockey team in the SM-liiga. They play in Espoo, Finland at the Barona Areena.
Contents |
Team 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.
Roster for 2009-10 season
| Goaltenders | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Player | Catches | Contract Length | Place of Birth | |
| 32 |  |
Mikko Tolvanen | L | 2011 | Vantaa, Finland |
| 35 | |
Iiro Tarkki | R | 2011 | Rauma, Finland |
| Defencemen | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Player | Shoots | Contract Length | Place of Birth | ||
| 3 | |
Santeri Heiskanen | R | 2011 | Helsinki, Finland | |
| 4 | |
Aleksi Laakso | L | 2011 | Seinäjoki, Finland | |
| 5 | |
Miika Huczkowski | L | 2010 | Jyväskylä Municipality, Finland | |
| 6 | |
Mikael Kurki | L | 2010 | Helsinki, Finland | |
| 7 | |
Ari Gröndahl | R | 2011 | Helsinki, Finland | |
| 8 | |
Joonas Rönnberg | L | 2010 | Vantaa, Finland | |
| 16 | |
Kristian Näkyvä | L | 2011 | Helsinki, Finland | |
| 22 | |
Rami Alanko | R | 2011 | Helsinki, Finland | |
| 25 |  |
Branislav Mezei | L | 2010 | Nitra, Czechoslovakia | |
| 30 | |
Petri Kokko | L | 2011 | Oulu, Finland | |
| 47 | |
Ville Lajunen | R | 2010 | Helsinki, Finland | |
| Forwards | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Player | Shoots | Position | Contract Length | Place of Birth | |
| 13 | |
Toni Häppölä | L | F | 2009 | Helsinki, Finland |
| 14 | |
Petri Lammassaari | R | W | 2010 | Eurajoki, Finland |
| 15 | |
Patrik Lostedt | L | W | 2010 | Helsinki, Finland |
| 17 | |
Juuso Puustinen | R | W | 2010 | Kuopio, Finland |
| 18 | |
Erkki Rajamäki | L | RW | 2009 | Vantaa, Finland |
| 23 | |
Jarkko Immonen | L | C | 2011 | Espoo, Finland |
| 24 | |
Jani Lajunen | L | F | 2011 | Espoo, Finland |
| 27 | |
Roope Ranta | R | F | 2010 | Helsinki, Finland |
| 28 | |
Tomi Ståhlhammar | L | F | 2010 | Turku, Finland |
| 29 | |
Joonas Nättinen | R | C | 2011 | Jämsä, Finland |
| 40 | |
Jaakko Uhlbäck | L | LW | 2010 | Kuopio, Finland |
| 41 | |
Stefan Öhman | L | C | 2011 | Örnsköldsvik, Sweden |
| 52 | |
Camilo Miettinen | L | F | 2010 | Medellín, Colombia |
| 57 | |
Tomi Sallinen | L | F | 2010 | Espoo, Finland |
| 71 | |
Sami Blomqvist | L | F | 2010 | Örnsköldsvik, Sweden |
| 77 | |
Gabriel Spilar | R | W | 2010 | Prague, Czechoslovakia |
| 80 | |
Jere Sallinen | L | F | 2010 | Espoo, Finland |
| 85 | |
Toni Kähkönen | L | F | 2010 | Espoo, Finland |
Team Captains (SM-liiga)
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 to date)
Head coaches (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 to date)
Retired Numbers
- 33 – Timo Hirvonen
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