The sports club Savonlinnan Pallokerho was founded in 1929. First it consisted football and bandy sections, but since the 1960s ice hockey has been the main sport.
In 1960s SaPKo played four seasons in the highest tier of Finnish ice hockey SM-sarja but was relegated to Suomi-sarja in 1971. In 1974 the new First Division was formed and SaPKo was one of the teams participating. SaPKo soon established itself as the team of I-divisioona expect few visits to Second Division. In 1968 SaPKo worked its way to the final of Finnish Cup, but lost the final to KooVee 10–2.
Later bigger success came in the season 1994/1995 when SaPKo had very good regular season with players like Team Canada captain Brian Tutt and was close to promotion to the SM-liiga. It played tight promotion playoffs against Ilves but failed to promote. After the success started downtrend which culminated to relegation to Suomi-sarja. At the end of the 2005/2006 season SaPKo finally gained promotion back to the second tier, Mestis. On 22 June 2022 SaPKo filed for bankruptcy, due to Financial difficulties
Savonlinna is a town and a municipality of 32,551 inhabitants in the southeast of Finland, in the heart of the Saimaa lake region, which is why the city is also nicknamed the "Capital of Saimaa". Together with Mikkeli, it is one of the largest towns in the South Savonia region and one of the concentrations in the region's hospital districts. The town is internationally known for its medieval St. Olaf's Castle and the annual Savonlinna Opera Festival. Its surrounding the enclaved municipality of Enonkoski.
The SM-liiga, colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding leagues of the Champions Hockey League and currently allocated five spots - the maximum number - based on success in previous editions. It was created in 1975 to replace the SM-sarja, which was fundamentally an amateur league. The SM-liiga is not directly overseen by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, but the league and association have an agreement of cooperation. SM is a common abbreviation for Suomen mestaruus, "Finnish championship".
Ilves is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Tampere Deck Arena.
Hockey Club Kierkkonummen Salamat or HCK Salamat are a Finnish ice hockey team in the III-divisioona, the fifth-tier men's ice hockey league in Finland. They play in Kirkkonummi, a municipality in the western Greater Helsinki region, at Varubode-areena. The club was founded in 2002 as HC Salamat and played in the Mestis during 2003 to 2008.
Mestis is the second-highest men's ice hockey league in Finland. The league was established by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association in 2000 to replace the I-divisioona.
The Jääurheiluseura Hawks, commonly known as the Haukat ('Hawks'), is a men's ice hockey team in the Suomi-sarja, the third-tier professional ice hockey league in Finland. The team is based in Järvenpää, in the Uusimaa region of southern Finland, and their home arena is the Järvenpää Ice Hall.
Kotkan Titaanit is an ice-hockey club founded in 1974 in Kotka, which at its best has played four season at Finland's second highest level. Titaanit play their home match at Ilona Areena, which can hold nearly two thousand (1958) viewers.
Mikkelin Jukurit is a professional ice hockey team in Liiga, the top tier Finnish ice hockey league. They play in Mikkeli, Finland, at the Kalevankankaan jäähalli. The team has won 7 Mestis championships.
Pekka Tirkkonen is a Finnish ice hockey coach and former professional ice hockey player. He most recently served as head coach of EHC Kloten of the National League (NL). Tirkkonen was selected by the Boston Bruins in the 2nd round of the 1986 NHL Entry Draft.
Paavo Juhani Tirkkonen was a Finnish ice hockey defenceman and Olympian.
The U20 SM-sarja is the premier junior men’s ice hockey league in Finland. It was previously known as the A-nuorten SM-sarja during 1945 to 1991 and the Nuorten SM-liiga during 1991 to 2020. The league was founded by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association in 1945 and a Finnish Champion in men’s under-20 ice hockey has been named annually since the league’s inaugural season – with the exception of the 2019–20 season, in which the playoffs were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eighteen to twenty teams compete in the U20 SM-sarja regular season, which is played in a preliminary ranking stage followed by a divisional or group stage.
The 2016–17 Mestis season was the 17th season of Mestis, the second highest level of ice hockey in Finland after Liiga. Previous seasons champion Jukurit got a place in the Liiga. IPK got promoted from Suomi-sarja at the end of last season. Espoo United got a place in Mestis after Espoo Blues suffered bankruptcy and the league was exceptionally played with 13 teams.
The 2018–19 Mestis season is the 19th season of Mestis, the second highest level of ice hockey in Finland after Liiga. KOOVEE was promoted from Suomi-sarja due to Espoo United declaring bankruptcy at the end of last season.
Ice hockey is the most popular sport in Finland in terms of television viewership and game attendance figures. It is third most popular sport in participation amongst children. As of 2020, approximately 1.3% of the Finnish population was registered with the International Ice Hockey Federation, ranking Finland second in the world for percentage of population participating in ice hockey and the highest percentage of any country outside of North America.
Naisten Mestis is the second-highest women's ice hockey league in Finland. The league was founded as Naisten I-divisioona in 1985 by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association when the number of teams playing in the Naisten SM-sarja was limited. It was renamed Naisten Mestis prior to the 2012-13 season.
Vaasan Sport Naiset were a women's ice hockey team in Finland. They played in Vaasa, on the west coast of Finland, at the Vaasan Sähkö Areena. Founded in 1983, the team most recently played in the Naisten Liiga from the 2018–19 season until being relegated at the conclusion of the 2021–22 season. The team was dissolved following relegation.
The 2020–21 Mestis season was the 21st season of Mestis, the second highest level of ice hockey in Finland after Liiga. Due to promotion/relegation games being cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic in the last season both semi-finalists from last seasons Suomi-sarja were promoted to Mestis. Therefore this seasons consisted of 14 teams.
Teemu Lepaus is a Finnish professional ice hockey player who plays for Bietigheim Steelers in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). He also plays roller in-line hockey last time playing for Team Haippi winning the Finnish championships. He has also played for the Finnish men's team winning silver in 2017 world championships.
The 2021–22 Mestis season was the 22nd season of Mestis, the second highest level of ice hockey in Finland after Liiga. Therefore, this season there would be 14 teams.
The Naisten Suomi-sarja, distinguished as the Jääkiekon naisten Suomi-sarja, is the third-tier women's ice hockey league in Finland and the autonomous region of Åland. It was founded by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association in 2003. The league is the lowest-ranked tier of national ice hockey competition, below the premier Naisten Liiga and secondary Naisten Mestis but above the women's regional hobby leagues.
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