HIFK Hockey

HIFK
HIFK
City	Helsinki
League	SM-liiga
Founded	1897
Home arena	Helsingin jäähalli
Colours	Red, white, dark blue;
Owner(s)	HIFK Ligaföreningen rf.
General manager	Jukka Valtanen
Head coach	Ville Peltonen
Captain	Jori Lehterä
Parent club(s)	HIFK
Farm club(s)	Jokipojat
Website	hifk.fi
Championships
Playoff championships	1969, 1970, 1974, 1980, 1983, 1998, 2011

HIFK (a traditional abbreviation of the Swedish name Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna, Helsingfors, English: "Sporting Society Comrades, Helsinki") is a professional ice hockey team based in Helsinki, Finland that plays in the SM-liiga, the sport's top-level league in Finland. The team plays at Helsinki Ice Hall.

History

The club was founded in 1897 and started participating in ice hockey in 1928. Since then, HIFK has won the Finnish national championship seven times, of which three (1969, 1970, 1974) were in SM-sarja and four (1980, 1983, 1998, 2011) were in the SM-liiga. HIFK has the highest number of audience in the SM-liiga and is one of the wealthiest sports clubs in Finland.^{[citation needed]}

The derbies against local rivals Jokerit were often sold out and were in the later years among the fiercest in Nordic ice hockey, but are no longer played following Jokerit's withdrawal from Liiga after the 2013–14 season to join the Russian-based Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Following a history of even series of games, HIFK won the game total with 106–105 after a 2–1 victory in a classical outdoor game in March 2014, claiming the title of Helsinki's dominion.^[1]

HIFK's general manager starting from May 1, 2008, is Jukka Valtanen. He is the successor of Pentti Matikainen, who coached Team Finland to its first hockey Olympic medal (silver) in Calgary 1988.

The championship team from 1998 is widely recognized as one of the best ever to have skated together in the top flight of Finnish ice hockey.^{[citation needed]} Players on the 1998 championship team included a number of future (and former) NHL players – including Tim Thomas, Jan Čaloun, Johan Davidsson, Bob Halkidis, Olli Jokinen, Jere Karalahti, Jarno Kultanen, Brian Rafalski, Christian Ruuttu, Jarkko Ruutu, Kimmo Timonen and Marko Tuomainen.

History

One of the major influences to HIFK was the NHL veteran and Stanley Cup winner Carl Brewer. Hired in 1968 as a playing coach, he advocated a North American style of play which has persisted in HIFK since. Brewer's influence on the way ice hockey is played in Finland led to his posthumous induction to the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame in 2003.

Team information

Logos and jerseys

HIFK uses a shield for their logo, with a four pointed star and text I.F.K. and year of formation 1897 on it. They wear red, white and blue colored jerseys, and have worn those colors since their beginnings. For the 1993-94 season, HIFK changed their logo to a five pointed star with text saying HIFK Hockey on it. Unpopular with fans, and HIFK wanting to modernize their brand, changed their logo again in 1996 to a red big cat on a blue circle. Commonly referred to as "petologo" (English: "beast logo") among fans. When the beast logo became HIFK's primary logo for the 1996-97 season, they reintroduced the original shield logo to become their jersey's new shoulder patches. For the 2008-09 season, HIFK made their original shield logo the primary logo once again. It would swap places with the beast logo on the jerseys, making the beast logo their new shoulder patches until 2017, when the beast logo was eliminated from the jerseys entirely.

HIFK's shield logo, used as their primary logo in 1928-1993, 2008-present; a well as their secondary logo in 1996-2008.
HIFK's star logo, used as their primary logo in 1993-1996.

Home arena

HIFK play their home games at Helsinki Ice Hall. The stadium opened in 1966, and seats up to 8 200 spectators. The arena was also used and shared by rival team Jokerit until 1997, when they moved to the Hartwall Arena. HIFK is well known for playing classic hard rock music during games in Helsinki Ice Hall.

Goal song: "Flamethrower" by The J. Geils Band.
Opening songs: "Hail To The King" by Avenged Sevenfold, "Ghost Riders" by Steve Hunter, and "Whatever You Want" by Status Quo.
Penalty songs: "Who Are You" by The Who when the visiting team takes a penalty. "Bad To The Bone" by George Thorogood when the home team takes a penalty.
Other noteworthy songs: "Let's Play Hockey" by Bill Misener, "Red White & Blue" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Go IFK" by Jake & Co.

Honors

SM-sarja

SM-sarja Kanada-malja: 1969, 1970, 1974
SM-sarja Kanada-malja: 1973, 1975
SM-sarja Kanada-malja: 1955, 1959, 1971, 1972

SM-liiga

SM-liiga Kanada-malja: 1980, 1983, 1998, 2011
SM-liiga Kanada-malja: 1986, 1999, 2016
SM-liiga Kanada-malja: 1982, 1987, 1988, 1992, 2004, 2018, 2021

International

Ahearne Cup (1): 1970
Tampere Cup (2): 1994, 2015
IIHF European Cup (1): 1980–81
Nordic Trophy (1): 2008

Other awards for the club:

Harry Lindblad trophy (SM-Liiga regular season winner, since 1975): 2016

Players

Current roster

Updated November 2022.^[2]


No.	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Birthplace
53	Niilo Halonen	G	L	25	Loppi
30	Roope Taponen	G	L	23	Espoo
90	Eemil Vinni	G	L	18	Vantaa
55	Kasper Kotkansalo	D	L	25	Helsinki
42	Eddie Larsson	D	L	33	Mariestad (SWE)
73	Joona Lehmus	D	L	22	Lempäälä
83	Einari Luhanka	D	L	24	Helsinki
82	Mico Luoto	D	L	22	Vantaa
6	Joonas Lyytinen	D	L	29	Espoo
11	Ilari Melart	D	L	35	Helsinki
57	Johan Motin	D	R	34	Karlskoga (SWE)
41	Otto Salin	D	R	20	Helsinki
54	Sebastian Dyk	F	R	31	Malmö (SWE)
25	Kasper Halttunen	F	R	18	Helsinki
19	Kasper Lundell	F	L	20	Espoo
78	Jesse Seppälä	F	L	22	Espoo
74	Julius Nättinen	F	L	27	Jyväskylä
29	Tuomas Uronen	F	R	19	Kerava
24	Aleksanteri Kaskimäki	F	L	20	Espoo
81	Iiro Pakarinen	F	R	32	Suonenjoki
79	Olli Palola	F	R	36	Oulu
33	Roni Hirvonen	F	L	22	Espoo
21	Otto Karvinen	F	L	34	Vantaa
31	Eetu Koivistoinen	F	L	28	Tampere
71	Leevi Teissala	F	R	23	Turku
44	Miro Väänänen	F	L	25	Joensuu
13	Otto Paajanen	F	L	31	Loppi
18	Teemu Tallberg	F	L	32	Helsinki
45	Micke-Max Åsten	F	L	31	Helsinki
51	Juha Jääskä	F	L	26	Helsinki
10	Kristian Vesalainen	F	L	24	Helsinki

Honored members

1 Stig Wetzell, 1972–83
5 Heikki Riihiranta, 1967–83
7 Simo Saarinen, 1980–96
9 Kimmo Kuhta, 1996–2013
17 Matti Murto, 1964–83
20 Matti Hagman, 1972–92
22 Mika Kortelainen, 1987–2002
23 Pertti Lehtonen, 1976–98
35 Sakari Lindfors, 1985–2002

NHL alumni

Other notable alumni

Dave Siciliano, player-coach during the 1971–72 season^[3]^[4]

References

^ "HIFK vei ikuisen Stadin herruuden (in Finnish)". Ilta-Sanomat. 1 March 2014. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
^ https://hifk.fi/pelaajat/
^ "Dave Siciliano". Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame. Thunder Bay, Ontario. 1995. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
^ Turchansky, Ray (September 20, 1996). "From bantam to junior in single bound". Edmonton Journal. Edmonton, Alberta. p. 26.

External links

Official website (in Finnish)

[1] "HIFK vei ikuisen Stadin herruuden (in Finnish)". Ilta-Sanomat. 1 March 2014. Retrieved 21 April 2018.

[2] ttps://hifk.fi/pelaajat/

[3] "Dave Siciliano". Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame. Thunder Bay, Ontario. 1995. Retrieved August 7, 2021.

[4] Turchansky, Ray (September 20, 1996). "From bantam to junior in single bound". Edmonton Journal. Edmonton, Alberta. p. 26.

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[2]

[3]

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v t e Liiga
Seasons	1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
Current teams (2023–24)	HIFK HPK Ilves Mikkelin Jukurit JYP Jyväskylä KalPa KooKoo Oulun Kärpät Lukko Lahti Pelicans SaiPa Vaasan Sport Tappara HC TPS Porin Ässät
Former teams	Espoo Blues FPS Jokerit Jokipojat Koovee TUTO Hockey
Trophies and awards	Kanada-malja Kultainen kypärä Kalevi Numminen Jarmo Wasama memorial Matti Keinonen Raimo Kilpiö Urpo Ylönen Pekka Rautakallio Aarne Honkavaara Veli-Pekka Ketola Lasse Oksanen Jari Kurri Unto Wiitala
Other	Mestis Suomi-sarja 2. Divisioona 3. Divisioona Finland men's national ice hockey team SM-sarja (defunct) Naisten Liiga Naisten Mestis Finland women's national ice hockey team U20 SM-sarja Finland men's national junior ice hockey team
IIHF IIHF Continental Cup IIHF European Champions Cup

Authority control databases
International	ISNI
National	Finland