Hockey Club Kirkkonummen Salamat or HCK Salamat are a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

team in the III-divisioona, the fifth-tier men's ice hockey league in Finland. They play in

Kirkkonummi Kirkkonummi (; sv, Kyrkslätt, , Sweden ) is a Municipalities of Finland, municipality of inhabitants () in southern Finland. The literal meaning of the words "''Kirkkonummi''" and "''Kyrkslätt''" in English language, English is "church heath". ...

, a municipality in the western

Greater Helsinki Greater Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin seutu, Suur-Helsinki, Swedish: ''Helsingforsregionen'', ''Storhelsingfors'') is the metropolitan area surrounding Helsinki, the capital city of Finland. It includes the smaller Capital Region (''Pääkaupunkiseutu' ...

region, at Varuboden-areena. The club was founded in 2002 as HC Salamat and played in the

Mestis Mestis (from fi, Mestaruussarja, meaning 'Championship series') 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 ('First Division'). ...

during 2003 to 2008.

History

Salamat was created when the rights for the men's representative ice hockey team of the

Espoo Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärvi ...

-based sports club Espoo Palloseura (EPS; 'Espoo Ball Club') were purchased by the City of Kirkkonummi in 2001. EPS played in the Suomi-sarja, the third-highest men's ice hockey league in Finland. In 2002, the team relocated to Kirkkonummi, a neighboring municipality of Espoo, and was rebranded as Salamat ('Lightning'). In their first season, Salamat drew international attention when they signed

Hayley Wickenheiser Hayley Wickenheiser (born August 12, 1978) is a Canadian former ice hockey player, resident physician and assistant general manager for the Toronto Maple Leafs. She was the first woman to play full-time professional men’s hockey in a positio ...

, star of the

Canadian women's national ice hockey team The Canadian women's national ice hockey team is the ice hockey team representing Canada in women's hockey. The team is overseen by Hockey Canada, a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation and participates in international competitions ...

, making her the first female

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

to be rostered by a professional ice hockey team. At the conclusion of their first season, HC Salamat earned promotion from the Suomi-sarja to the second-tier Mestis. Former

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

player

Teemu Selänne Teemu Ilmari Selänne (; born July 3, 1970) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey winger. He began his professional career in 1989–90 with Jokerit of the SM-liiga and played 21 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Wi ...

owned a one-third stake in the team, beginning in 2002, but reportedly sold his share of the team in December 2006. Salamat played in the Mestis from 2003 until being

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

to the Suomi-sarja in 2008. In August 2009, after a poor season in the Suomi-sarja, the owning (limited company) of the team, HC Kirkkonummen Salamat Oy, was declared bankrupt and ceased operations. Due to its status as a distinct non-profit registered association, HCK Salamat Juniorit ry, the former junior affiliate of HC Kirkkonummen Salamat Oy, continued to function following the bankruptcy. In 2011, the club formed a representative men’s team and Salamat returned to the ice in the III-divisioona. In their first season, HCK Salamat gained promotion to the II-divisioona, where they remained until being relegated at the conclusion of the 2018–19 season. They have played in the III-divisoona since 2019.

Players and personnel

Notable alumni

* * Viktors Bļinovs, 2004–05 * Janne Jalasvaara, 2004–05 * * Eetu Koivistoinen, 2014–15 *

Jarno Koskiranta Jarno Koskiranta (born December 9, 1986) is a Finnish professional ice hockey forward. He is currently playing with SaiPa of the Liiga. Playing career Koskiranta made his Finnish SM-liiga debut playing with SaiPa during the 2009–10 SM-liiga ...

, 2007–08 *

Tero Koskiranta Tero Koskiranta (born June 18, 1984) is a Finnish ice hockey player who currently plays professionally in Germany for Ravensburg Towerstars of the DEL2 DEL2 (also known as DEL II) is the second tier ice hockey league in Germany, below the ...

, 2005–2008 *

Tero Lehterä Tero Juhani Lehterä (born 21 April 1972) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey player who played the majority of his career in the SM-liiga. He played for Tappara, Jokerit, HPK, and Espoo Blues. He also had stints in Elitserien, the IHL ...

, 2004–05 *

Jan Lundell Jan Lundell (born ) is a Finnish retired ice hockey goaltender who last played in IFK Helsinki of Liiga. He is currently the goaltending coach for IFK Helsinki. Lundell holds the record of being the oldest to play in a Liiga game at 46 years old ...

, 2004–05 *

Ville Uusitalo Ville Uusitalo (born July 6, 1979) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey defenceman. Uusitalo played in Liiga for Jokerit, Pelicans Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. T ...

, 2003–04 & 2005–06 *

, 2003–04 Source: Elite Prospects

Notable youth products

Niclas Almari Niclas Almari (born 11 May 1998) is a Finnish professional ice hockey defenceman currently playing with Lukko of the Liiga. Almari was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the fifth round, 151st overall, in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft. Playing ca ...

* Heikki Huttunen *

Matilda Nilsson Matilda Nilsson (born 2 March 1997) is a Finnish ice hockey player, playing in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) with Frölunda HC Dam. As a member of the Finnish national ice hockey team, she won a bronze medal at the 2021 IIHF Women' ...

Matias Nisula Matias is a form of the given name Matthew. In German-speaking Europe it is most often written as Matthias. It appears in this form in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. Alternate spellings are: Mathias, Mattias, Mattis, Mats and Matti. Matia ...

* Oskari Uomala Source: Elite Prospects

Head coaches

Matti Hagman Matti Risto Tapio "Hakki" Hagman (21 September 1955 – 11 October 2016) was a Finnish professional ice hockey player. Hagman was the first Finnish-born and Finnish-trained player to play in the National Hockey League (NHL) and the first to play ...

, 2002–2004 * Vesa Surenkin, 2004–2005 * Niki Andersson, 2005–2006 * Jyrki Tuukkanen, 2006–2007 * Jarmo Jamalainen, 2007–2008 * Petro Koivunen, 2015–2018 * Immo Suutarinen, 2019–

References

External links

Official website
Ice hockey teams in Finland Kirkkonummi Mestis teams Suomi-sarja teams 2002 establishments in Finland {{Finland-sport-stub