| KalPa | |
|---|---|
| 👁 Image | |
| City | Kuopio |
| League | Liiga |
| Founded | 1929 (1929) |
| Home arena | Olvi Areena (capacity: 5,300) |
| Colours | Black, gold |
| Head coach | Petri Karjalainen |
| Captain | Tuomas Kiiskinen |
| Affiliates | IPK |
| Website | kalpa.fi |
| 👁 Image | |
| Championships | |
| Playoff championships | 2025 |
Kalevan Pallo (KalPa) is a professional ice hockey team which competes in the Finnish Liiga. They play in Kuopio, Finland at the Olvi Areena.
Team history
[edit]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 a total of four medals in Liiga: a gold in the 2024–25 season, silvers in the 1990–91 and 2016–17 seasons and a bronze in the 2008–09 season.[1][2] KalPa has also won the Spengler Cup, in 2018.[3]
Honors
[edit]SM-liiga
[edit]- 👁 1st place, gold medalist(s)
SM-liiga (Kanada-malja): 2024–25 - 👁 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
SM-liiga: 1990–91, 2016-17 - 👁 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
SM-liiga: 2008–09
Mestis
[edit]Finnish Liiga A-juniors (U20)
[edit]- 👁 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Finnish Liiga A-juniors (U20): 2007–08, 2017–18
Players
[edit]Current roster
[edit]As of 9 February 2025.[4]
Honored members
[edit]- 1 - Pasi Kuivalainen
- 24 - Sami Kapanen
- 27 - Jouni Rinne
- 37 - Eero Kilpeläinen
- 44 - Kimmo Timonen
NHL alumni
[edit]
- 👁 United States
Adam Hall (2004–05) - 👁 Finland
Teemu Hartikainen (2008–10) - 👁 Finland
Olli Jokinen (1994–95) - 👁 Finland
Kasperi Kapanen (2012–15) - 👁 Finland
Sami Kapanen (1990–94, 2004–05, 2008–10, 2011–14) - 👁 Finland
Jarmo Kekäläinen (1983–85, 1991–92) - 👁 Finland
Mikko Koskinen (2011–13) - 👁 Finland
Artturi Lehkonen (2012–14) - 👁 Finland
Juuso Riikola (2012–18) - 👁 United States
Craig Smith (2012) - 👁 United States
Derek Stepan (2012–13) - 👁 Canada
Jeremy Stevenson (2007–08) - 👁 France
Alexandre Texier (2017–19) - 👁 Finland
Kimmo Timonen (1991–94, 2004–05) - 👁 Finland
Jussi Timonen (2001–02, 2008–17) Canada Ryan Wilson,2018-2020
References
[edit]- ^ "Historiallinen Suomen mestaruus Kuopioon ja KalPalle – kuuluisan kiekkosuvun jäsen äimän käkenä Ylelle". Yle Urheilu (in Finnish). 2025-05-03. Retrieved 2025-05-06.
- ^ "KalPa vei kiekkopronssit - Ässät ratkaisi toisessa jatkoerässä". mtvuutiset.fi (in Finnish). Retrieved 2025-05-06.
- ^ "KalPa Kuopio Makes History as First Finnish Team to Win Spengler Cup in Thrilling Shoot-Out Victory". www.spenglercup.ch. Retrieved 2025-05-06.
- ^ "Team Roster / KalPa". www.eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 2025-02-09.
External links
[edit]- Official website (in Finnish)
- KalPa junior official web site (in Finnish)
- Meltzer, Bill NHL.com article on KalPa. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
