Vaasan Sport

Sport, known by its full name as Hockey Team Vaasan Sport OY or simply Vaasan Sport, is a Finnish ice hockey team playing in Liiga, and is based at Vaasa Arena (capacity 4448) in Vaasa. The team was established in 1939 as IF Sport (Idrottsföreningen Sport).

This article is about the men's ice hockey team. For the women's team competing in the Naisten Liiga, see Vaasan Sport Naiset.

Vaasan Sport
CityVaasa
LeagueLiiga
Founded1939
1962 (the ice hockey team)
Home arenaVaasa Arena
ColorsRed, black, white
     
Owner(s)HT Vaasan Sport Oy
General managerAri-Pekka Pajuluoma
Head coachRisto Dufva
CaptainErik Riska
Websitevaasansport.fi

History

Vaasan Sport was founded in 1939 as IF Sport. The team was involved in the founding of the Finnish top division Liiga, formerly known as SM-Liiga, in 1975, but was relegated only one year later after the 1975-1976 season.[1]

After the relegation, Sport played in the Finnish First Division (since then renamed to Mestis), until they were relegated in 1991-1992 to the Finnish Second Division. Climbing back up to the First division proved to be a tough task and wasn't accomplished until spring 1997, with the game-winning goal of the deciding game against Kiekko-67 being scored by Kari Teräväinen in overtime.

The 2008-09 season was a success as Sport won the Mestis championship. However, in the league qualification series the team lost the last game to Ässät in a best-of-7 format, thus remaining in Mestis. The overall qualification series were close as Sport at one point was a single goal away from beating Ässät in overtime and being promoted to Liiga, but was unable to score.

Sport struggled with bad economy during the 2000s, which almost led the club to bankruptcy. The club board made improvements to secure the future of the club, cutting down on the budget for the whole new season, as well as installing new head coach and former world ice hockey champion Antti Törmänen, who started to build a new young team from scratch. Eventually, the club surfaced from its financial struggles and went ahead to consistently fight for the championship victory again.

In 2014, during the 2013-2014 Mestis season, it was confirmed that Sport would be promoted to Liiga for the 2014-2015 season, regardless of the outcome of the ongoing championship. This was due to former Liiga team Jokerit transferring to KHL, leaving an open slot in the Finnish top division.

Supporters

The official fan club is called Red Army.[2] The fan club Ultras 06 function as non-official supporters.[3]

Players

Current roster

Updated December 4, 2020.[4]

No. Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
23 Finland Turo Asplund C L 38 2019 Jyväskylä, Finland
73 Finland Eemil Erholtz RW R 23 2017 Mikkeli, Finland
81 Finland Ari Gröndahl D R 34 2019 Helsinki, Finland
– United States Tyler Nanne D R 27 2021 Edina, Minnesota, United States
21 Finland Santeri Haarala LW L 23 Korsholm, Finland
32 Finland Niko Hovinen G L 35 2019 Helsinki, Finland
71 Finland Michael Keränen LW L 33 2020 Stockholm, Sweden
46 Finland Juho Liuksiala RW R 27 2019 Vammala, Finland
10 Finland Niclas Lucenius C L 34 2020 Turku, Finland
7 Finland Aleksi Mäkelä D R 30 2020 Kiiminki, Finland
57 Finland Niklas Nevalainen D L 30 2017 Nakkila, Finland
72 Finland Mika Partanen LW L 31 2020 Helsinki, Finland
16 Finland Jesse Paukku LW L 29 2016 Joensuu, Finland
22 Canada Stuart Percy D L 30 2020 Oakville, ON, Canada
60 Finland Rasmus Reijola G L 30 2020 Vantaa, Finland
13 Finland Erik Riska (C) C L 34 2014 Jakobstad, Finland
24 Finland Filip Riska C L 38 2019 Jakobstad, Finland
17 Sweden Sebastian Stålberg RW R 33 2020 Lerum, Sweden
12 Finland Simon Suoranta LW L 31 2020 Vaasa, Finland
20 Finland Roope Talaja LW L 35 2018 Kuopio, Finland
36 Finland Juho Tommila D R 30 2019 Lappi, Finland
44 Finland Olli Vanttaja D L 24 2020 Oulu, Finland
92 Finland Aaro Vidgren RW L 26 2019 Lohja, Finland
8 Finland Valtteri Viljanen (A) D R 29 2018 Pori, Finland
3 Finland Jonne Virtanen (A) C L 35 2020 Turku, Finland
28 Finland Victor Westermarck D R 29 2018 Espoo, Finland
77 Finland Eemeli Ylitalo D L 25 2015 Kauhava, Finland
Jarno Laitinen representing Sport in 2012.

Retired numbers
  • # 29 Håkan Hjerpe
  • # 27 Tomi Väkelä
  • # 14 Sami Laaksoharju (not officially retired, but number has been off rotation after the death of Laaksoharju)

Notable alumni

Notable coaches

References
  1. "Roster". Archived from the original on 23 January 2003.
  2. "RedArmy.fi | Vaasan Sportin kannattajat ry".
  3. "Ultras 06". Archived from the original on 3 May 2008.
  4. "Joukkue / Vaasan Sport" (in Finnish). www.sport.fi. Retrieved 9 December 2012.
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