KalPa

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

KalPa
CityKuopio
LeagueLiiga
Founded1929 (1929)
Home arenaOlvi Areena
ColoursBlack, gold
   
Head coachTommi Miettinen
CaptainTuomas Kiiskinen
AffiliateIPK
Websitekalpa.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)

  • 1st place, gold medalist(s) 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 Canada Gabe Bast D R 27 2021-22 Red Deer, Canada
18 France Hugo Gallet D L 25 2021-22 Amiens, France
32 Finland Juha Jatkola G L 21 2020-21 Kuopio, Finland
45 Sweden Eric Hjorth D R 22 2021-22 Göteborg, Sweden
34 Finland Severi Immonen F L 23 2020-21 Tuusniemi, Finland
71 Finland Matti Järvinen C L 34 2021-22 London, United Kingdom
91 Finland Oliver Kapanen C R 20 2021-22 Timrå, Sweden
37 Finland Eero Kilpeläinen G L 38 2019-20 Juva, Finland
19 Finland Tuomas Kiiskinen LW L 21 2021-22 Kuopio, Finland
20 Finland Aleksi Klemetti LW L 24 2018-19 Kuhmo, Finland
29 Finland Henri Knuutinen LW L 25 2018-19 Kiuruvesi, Finland
17 Finland Benjamin Korhonen RW L 22 2020-21 Ylivieska, Finland
41 Finland Juuso Könönen LW L 25 2019-20 Kuopio, Finland
52 Finland Roope Laavainen D R 25 2020-21 Helsinki, Finland
55 Finland Lasse Lappalainen D L 34 2018-19 Kuopio, Finland
26 Finland Jesper Mattila D L 26 2020-21 Tampere, Finland
9 Finland Juuso Mäenpää C L 21 2020-21 Helsinki, Finland
67 Finland Kasper Puutio D L 21 2021-22 Vaasa, Finland
6 Finland Joona Riekkinen D L 24 2019-20 Kuopio, Finland
22 Finland Aapeli Räsänen D R 25 2020-21 Tampere, Finland
Finland Erkka Seppälä C L 24 2021-22 Hämeenlinna, Finland
12 Finland Kasper Simontaival RW R 21 2021-22 Orivesi, Finland
74 Finland Sami Tavernier RW R 26 2020-21 Annemasse, France
13 Finland Tuomas Vartiainen RW L 27 2019-20 Oulu, Finland

Honored members

NHL alumni

References

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