KalPa

The Kalevan Pallo (KalPa) is a professional ice hockey team which competes in the Finnish Liiga. They play in Kuopio, Finland at the Olvi Areena.

This article is about the Finnish hockey team. For other uses, see Kalpa (disambiguation).
KalPa
CityKuopio
LeagueLiiga
Founded1929 (1929)
Home arenaOlvi Areena
ColoursBlack, gold
   
Head coachTommi Miettinen
CaptainTuomas Kiiskinen
Affiliate(s)IPK
Websitewww.kalpa.fi

Team history

Established in 1929 as Sortavalan Palloseura in Sortavala, the club relocated to Kuopio in 1945 after its original hometown had been annexed by the Soviet Union. During its Sortavala years, the club was not active in ice hockey, but competed in association football, bandy, and pesäpallo instead. Ice hockey was introduced in 1947, and in 1956 KalPa officially replaced the more traditional Kuopio club KuPS in that sport thus specializing in hockey – minor league football was still continued until 1974 as a farm team of sorts for KuPS.

The full name of the company that runs the representative team today is KalPa Hockey Oy. The majority of the company is owned by former NHL players Sami Kapanen and Kimmo Timonen. Kapanen is the majority owner, controlling 50.5% of the franchise. Timonen owns 8%, while Timonen's former teammate Scott Hartnell owns 5%. Hartnell purchased a minority share of the team after getting financial advice from Kimmo Timonen during a road trip to Boston.

During the 2004–05 NHL lockout, Timonen, Kapanen, and fellow NHL player Adam Hall were playing for KalPa. After winning the Mestis championship, KalPa returned to SM-liiga for the 2005–06 season, after being relegated six years earlier in 1999.

KalPa has won three medals: silvers in the 1990–91 and 2016–17 seasons and a bronze in the 2008–09 season. KalPa has also won the Spengler Cup, in year 2018.

Honors

SM-liiga

Mestis

Finnish Liiga A-juniors (U20)
  • Finnish Liiga A-juniors (U20): 2007–08, 2017–18

Spengler Cup

Players

Current roster

Source: eliteprospects.com[1]As of July 28, 2021.

No. Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
10 Gabe Bast D R 25 2021-22 Red Deer, Canada
18 Hugo Gallet D L 24 2021-22 Kuopio, Finland
32 Juha Jatkola G L 19 2020-21 Amiens, France
45 Eric Hjorth D R 21 2021-22 Göteborg, Sweden
34 Severi Immonen F L 21 2020-21 Tuusniemi, Finland
71 Matti Järvinen C L 32 2021-22 London, United Kingdom
91 Oliver Kapanen C R 18 2021-22 Timrå, Sweden
37 Eero Kilpeläinen G L 36 2019-20 Juva, Finland
19 Tuomas Kiiskinen LW L 19 2021-22 Kuopio, Finland
20 Aleksi Klemetti LW L 23 2018-19 Kuhmo, Finland
29 Henri Knuutinen LW L 24 2018-19 Kiuruvesi, Finland
17 Benjamin Korhonen RW L 20 2020-21 Ylivieska, Finland
41 Juuso Könönen LW L 23 2019-20 Kuopio, Finland
52 Roope Laavainen D R 23 2020-21 Helsinki, Finland
55 Lasse Lappalainen D L 32 2018-19 Kuopio, Finland
26 Jesper Mattila D L 24 2020-21 Tampere, Finland
9 Juuso Mäenpää C L 20 2020-21 Helsinki, Finland
67 Kasper Puutio D L 19 2021-22 Vaasa, Finland
6 Joona Riekkinen D L 23 2019-20 Kuopio, Finland
22 Aapeli Räsänen D R 23 2020-21 Tampere, Finland
– Erkka Seppälä C L 22 2021-22 Hämeenlinna, Finland
12 Kasper Simontaival RW R 20 2021-22 Orivesi, Finland
74 Sami Tavernier RW R 25 2020-21 Annemasse, France
– Connor LaCouvee G L 27 2021 Qualicum Beach, British Columbia, Canada
13 Tuomas Vartiainen RW L 25 2019-20 Oulu, Finland

Honored members

NHL alumni

References
  1. "Team Roster / KalPa". www.eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 2020-02-12.
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