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

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 within 12 teams. In the 1994–95 season, the team made playoffs for the first time, losing to Lukko in quarter-finals. In 1997–98, Kiekko-Espoo caused 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. Blues missed the playoffs in 2001 and 2005. In 2002–03, Blues had its best regular season, finishing in fourth place, only to lose against eventual champions 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 straight in three games, and the bronze medal game against HPK. During the 2007–08 season, 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 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 to the Champions Hockey League, where Blues lost in the semi-finals against eventual champions ZSC Lions of Switzerland. The 2009–10 season was difficult for the team, and Blues failed to reach 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 be 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, Blues continued upsets and beat regular season winners JYP in five games. In the finals, HIFK swept the series in four games, and Blues was awarded the silver medal for the second time in team history.

In the 2011–12 season, Blues finished eighth in the regular season. After beating Lukko in the wild card round, team faced KalPa in the quarter-finals. 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, Pelicans beat Blues 4–1.

Honors

Champions

Runners-up

Players

Current roster

Updated Dec 10, 2015.[1]

# Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
15 Finland Aaltonen, MiroMiro Aaltonen C L 22 2011 Joensuu, Finland
44 Finland Hirschovits, KimKim Hirschovits (C) C L 33 2013 Varkaus, Finland
17 Finland Iossafov, ArtemArtem Iossafov LW R 25 2014 Kalinin, Soviet Union
9 Canada Mahbod, SamsonSamson Mahbod RW R 27 2015 Montreal, Canada
6 Finland Rantakari, OtsoOtso Rantakari D R 22 2013 Helsinki, Finland
88 Estonia Rooba, RobertRobert Rooba LW L 22 2011 Tallinn, Estonia
18 Finland Rutanen, AleksiAleksi Rutanen RW L 21 2012 Espoo, Finland
12 Finland Sailio, JariJari Sailio LW L 30 2014 Hyvinkää, Finland
4 Finland Seppälä, JereJere Seppälä D L 23 2013 Kemi, Finland
39 Finland Tiivola, PeterPeter Tiivola LW L 22 2013 Helsinki, Finland
55 Finland Tikkinen, NiklasNiklas Tikkinen D L 21 2012 Espoo, Finland
21 Finland Virkkunen, ValtteriValtteri Virkkunen C L 25 2009 Espoo, Finland
28 Finland Westermarck, VictorVictor Westermarck D R 22 2014 Espoo, Finland
24 Czech Republic Zámorský, PetrPetr Zámorský D R 23 2014 Zlín, Czechoslovakia
45 Finland Vainio, VeetiVeeti Vainio D R 18 2014 Espoo, Finland

Honored members

Notable alumni

Captains history

16 players have been named Captain of the team.

Head coaches

References

  1. ↑ "Joukkue / Espoo Blues" (in Finnish). www.blues.fi. Retrieved 2012-12-09.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, April 15, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.