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 coachPetri Karjalainen
CaptainTuomas Kiiskinen
AffiliateIPK
Websitekalpa.fi

Team history

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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

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SM-liiga

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Mestis

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Finnish Liiga A-juniors (U20)

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  •   Finnish Liiga A-juniors (U20): 2007–08, 2017–18

Players

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Current roster

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Source: eliteprospects.com[1]As of July 28, 2021.

No. Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
10   Gabe Bast D R 28 2021-22 Red Deer, Canada
18   Hugo Gallet D L 26 2021-22 Amiens, France
32   Juha Jatkola G L 22 2020-21 Kuopio, Finland
45   Eric Hjorth D R 23 2021-22 Göteborg, Sweden
34   Severi Immonen F L 24 2020-21 Tuusniemi, Finland
71   Matti Järvinen C L 35 2021-22 London, United Kingdom
91   Oliver Kapanen C R 21 2021-22 Timrå, Sweden
37   Eero Kilpeläinen G L 39 2019-20 Juva, Finland
19   Tuomas Kiiskinen LW L 22 2021-22 Kuopio, Finland
20   Aleksi Klemetti LW L 25 2018-19 Kuhmo, Finland
29   Henri Knuutinen LW L 26 2018-19 Kiuruvesi, Finland
17   Benjamin Korhonen RW L 23 2020-21 Ylivieska, Finland
41   Juuso Könönen LW L 26 2019-20 Kuopio, Finland
52   Roope Laavainen D R 26 2020-21 Helsinki, Finland
55   Lasse Lappalainen D L 35 2018-19 Kuopio, Finland
26   Jesper Mattila D L 27 2020-21 Tampere, Finland
9   Juuso Mäenpää C L 22 2020-21 Helsinki, Finland
67   Kasper Puutio D L 22 2021-22 Vaasa, Finland
6   Joona Riekkinen D L 25 2019-20 Kuopio, Finland
22   Aapeli Räsänen D R 26 2020-21 Tampere, Finland
  Erkka Seppälä C L 25 2021-22 Hämeenlinna, Finland
12   Kasper Simontaival RW R 22 2021-22 Orivesi, Finland
74   Sami Tavernier RW R 27 2020-21 Annemasse, France
13   Tuomas Vartiainen RW L 28 2019-20 Oulu, Finland

Honored members

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NHL alumni

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References

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