Ilves (; Finnish for "

Lynx A lynx is a type of wild cat. Lynx may also refer to: Astronomy * Lynx (constellation) * Lynx (Chinese astronomy) * Lynx X-ray Observatory, a NASA-funded mission concept for a next-generation X-ray space observatory Places Canada * Lynx, Ontar ...

") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Tampere Deck Arena. Nokia Arenan avajaiset 14

The colors of Ilves, green, yellow, and black, were taken from what was then the coat of arms of the city of Tampere.

History

With sixteen championships, Ilves is the second most successful hockey team in the Finnish championship league, the Liiga, after their local rival Tappara. The club was founded in the spring of 1931, and it played its first game against Tampereen Palloilijat the next winter. In the late 1930s, Ilves won three Finnish championship titles as the first Tampere-based hockey team. After World War II, Ilves started playing its home games at the then new Koulukatu ice rink. It had another championship spree in 1945–47 when it stayed undefeated for over four years (albeit playing only 36 games during that period). In 1954, Ilves was for the first and so far only time relegated to the second highest level of Finnish hockey but managed to return to the top tier only one year later. The current logo was designed by Rauno Broms in 1963. In 1965, Ilves moved, along with its local rivals Tappara and KooVee, to the new Hakametsä arena, where they played until 2021. The last Finnish Cup competition in hockey was held in 1971. Ilves won the title and has therefore been the reigning champion since. In 1972, it also won another league championship; its 15th championship in total. During the late 1970s, Ilves went through lean times. Finally, when Koovee, which was in no better condition, was relegated at the end of the 1979–80 season, the two clubs decided to sign an agreement of cooperation. The best players of Koovee moved to Ilves, the most notable of them being Risto Jalo. In 1985, Ilves claimed its 16th and most recent championship. Along with Risto Jalo, the key players of that team were Raimo Helminen, Mikko Mäkelä, Ville Siren, and

Jukka Tammi Jukka () is a common Finnish given name for males. History Jukka is an old variant of the name Johannes, a biblical name spread over to Finland through Sweden with the introduction of Christianity. Jukka remained a nickname for people registered ...

. Repeating this success proved difficult, however, when in the following summer four players left the team to play in the NHL. In the late 1980s, Ilves had another brief stint of moderate success when coached by

Sakari Pietilä Sakari Pietilä (born 21 June 1954) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey player. Pietilä was a SM-liiga head coach with HPK for the 1995–96 SM-liiga season and Jokerit for the 1997–98 SM-liiga season. He was the head coach of the Es ...

. It finished first after the regular season in 1988 but was eliminated in the first round of playoffs. The next year it came away with a bronze medal, and finally in 1990 it reached the finals, only to lose to

TPS TPS or Tps may refer to: In arts and entertainment *Télévision Par Satellite, a French satellite television company *Third-person shooter, a game genre * Torsonic Polarity Syndrome, in ''South Park'' animation * Trailer Park Sex, a band from ...

. For most of the 1990s, the club struggled with financial problems and unclear issues concerning ownership. In sports performance, the low point was in the spring of 1995, when Ilves finished last in the SM-liiga and had to fight the lower league teams SaPKo and SaiPa for their place among the elite for the next year. Ilves managed to avoid relegation and was promptly reborn as a viable championship candidate, reaching the semifinals in 1997 and the finals a year after that. The 2000s were a fairly mediocre period in Ilves history. After their bronze medal win in 2001, Ilves lost in the first round of the playoffs in six of the next seven seasons and missing the playoffs altogether in 2003. They managed to avoid relegation in 2010, 2012 and 2013.

Honors

SM-sarja

* SM-sarja Aaro Kivilinna memorial award: 1936, 1937, 1938, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1950, 1951, 1952 * SM-sarja Kanada-malja: 1957, 1958, 1960, 1962, 1966, 1972 * SM-sarja Aaro Kivilinna memorial award: 1935, 1948, 1949 * SM-sarja Kanada-malja: 1965, 1968, 1969, 1970 * SM-sarja Aaro Kivilinna memorial award: 1934, 1939, 1941, 1943 * SM-sarja Kanada-malja: 1963, 1964, 1967, 1974, 1975

SM-liiga

* SM-liiga Kanada-malja: 1985 * SM-liiga Kanada-malja: 1990, 1998 * SM-liiga Kanada-malja: 1983, 1989, 2001, 2022

Players

2020/2021 season roster

Honored members

Jarmo Wasama Jarmo Sakari Wasama (December 2, 1943 in Elimäki, Finland – February 2, 1966 in Tampere, Finland) was an ice hockey player who played in the SM-sarja. He played for Ilves. He was inducted into the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame in 1985. Wa ...

Aarne Honkavaara Aarne Väinö Edvard Honkavaara (June 7, 1924 – March 22, 2016) was a Finnish ice hockey player and coach. He was born in Tampere, Finland. Playing career Honkavaara played his first game of ice hockey when he was 12 years old. The team whic ...

*13 Risto Jalo *14 Lasse Oksanen *16

Jorma Peltonen Jorma Kalevi Peltonen (January 11, 1944 – April 30, 2010) was a Finland, Finnish professional ice hockey player who played in the SM-liiga. Born in Messukylä, Finland, he played for Ilves, Jokerit, and Lukko. He was inducted into the Finnish ...

, Marianne Ihalainen *30

*41 Raimo Helminen Source: Ilves-Historia Number 24 has not been officially retired, but is not in use. It was last worn by Veikko Suominen, who died during the 1978–79 season.

Coaches

Current staff

* Head Coach:

Antti Pennanen Antti Pennanen (born 5 February 1979) is a Finnish former ice hockey player and current head coach for Ilves of the Finnish Liiga and Finland men's national junior ice hockey team. He previously served as the head coach for Jukurit and HPK in the ...

* Assistant Coach: Raimo Helminen * Assistant Coach:

Pasi Saarinen Pasi may refer to: * Pasi (caste), a Hindu caste of northern India * ''Pasi'' (film), a 1979 Tamil film * Pasi (given name) * Pasi (surname), a surname of the Pasi community * Pasi, Papua New Guinea, a settlement near the coast of Sandaun Provinc ...

* Assistant Coach: Jarkko Näppilä * Goaltending Coach: Markus Korhonen * Team Manager: Timo Peltomaa

All-time head coaches

Niilo Tammisalo Niilo Rudolf Tammisalo (originally Ekbom; 15 October 1894 - 5 February 1982) was an influential figure in Finnish sports in the first half of the 20th century. He was a versatile athlete who represented Finland as a player with the national teams ...

1931–37 *

Risto Lindroos Risto ( sr, Ристо) is a masculine given name, found in Finnish, Estonian and South Slavic. In South Slavic, it is a hypocorism derived from '' Hristofor'' or ''Hristivoje''. It may refer to: Estonia * Risto Järv (born 1971), folklorist * ...

1937–46, 1949–53 *

1952–61, 1967–68 *

Henry Kvist Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) *Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

1946–49 * Seppo Helle 1961–64 *

Rauli Virtanen Rauli Virtanen (born 28 June 1948) is a Finnish writer, freelance journalist, lecturer and television producer. He has covered wars and conflicts since the days of Vietnam and has travelled in 194 countries. He has been a foreign correspondent base ...

1964–65 * Erkki Koiso 1965–66 *

Raimo Vasama Raimo is a masculine given name. People named Raimo include: *Raimo Aas (born 1953), Estonian humorist *Raimo Grönberg (born 1953), Finnish actor *Raimo Hämäläinen (born 1948), Finnish professor of Applied Mathematics and Operations Resea ...

1968–71, 1972–75 * Juhani Ruusunen 1971–72, 1976–80 * Len Lunde 1972–73 *

Matti Reunamäki Matti Johannes Reunamäki (born July 25, 1940 in Tampere, Finland) is a retired professional ice hockey player who played in the SM-liiga. He played for KooVee. He was inducted into the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame The Finnish Hockey Hall o ...

1974–75 * Esko Mäkinen 1974–76 *

Raimo Määttänen Raimo is a masculine given name. People named Raimo include: *Raimo Aas (born 1953), Estonian humorist *Raimo Grönberg (born 1953), Finnish actor *Raimo Hämäläinen (born 1948), Finnish professor of Applied Mathematics and Operations Resea ...

1980–82 *

Seppo Hiitelä Seppo is a masculine given name of Finnish origin. It has two distinct origins; Seppo is a character in the Kalevala, whose name is derived from the Finnish word ''seppä'', meaning smith, and the name is also a diminutive for Sebastian in Finla ...

1982–87, 1990–91 * Matti Kaario 1986–87, 1990–91, 1999* *

1987–90, 2006–2009 * Anatoli Bogdanov 1991–93 * Jukka Jalonen 1992–95 *

Heikki Vesala Heikki is a Finnish and Estonian male given name. It derives from a medieval vernacular form of the name Henrik. Notable people with the name include: *Heikki Aho (footballer) (born 1983), Finnish footballer *Heikki A. Alikoski (1912–1997), F ...

1994–95 * Vladimir Jursinov Jr. 1995–99 * Heikki Mälkiä 1999–2001, 2009–10* * Ari-Pekka Selin 2001–03 * Teijo Räsänen 2002–03 * Vaclav Sykora 2003–05 *

Curt Lindström Curt "Curre" Lindström (born 26 November 1940) is a Swedish ice hockey coach. Career on international level He coached Team Finland from 1993 to 1997, winning Finland's first Ice Hockey World Championships gold medal in 1995, and a silver world ...

2004–05 *

Kari Eloranta Kari Pekka Eloranta (born February 29, 1956) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey player who played over 20 years in numerous leagues throughout Europe and North America. Among top-level leagues, he played with Reipas Lahti in the Finnish ...

2005–06 *

Petteri Hirvonen Petteri is a Finnish masculine given name, meaning Peter. People with this name include: * Petteri Forsell (born 1990), Finnish footballer * Petteri Iivonen (born 1987), Finnish violinist * Petteri Koponen (born 1988), Finnish professional baske ...

2006* *

2006–09 *

Juha Pajuoja Juha-Pekka Pajuoja (born 31 March 1967, in Tampere) is a Finnish former ice hockey player and current coach. Pajuoja was the coach of the HC TPS in Liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') colloquially c ...

2010–12* *

2011–12 * Raimo Helminen 2012–2013 *

Tuomas Tuokkola Tuomas Tuokkola (born January 20, 1970) is a Finnish former ice hockey defenceman. He is currently the head coach of KooKoo in the Finnish Liiga. Tuokkola took over the head coaching duties for Ilves on January 21, 2013, as a mid-season replacem ...

2013–2016 January *

Kari Heikkilä Kari Heikkilä (born 10 January 1960) is a Finnish former ice hockey player and coach. He played majority of his career in Ilves, but had also stints in Sweden (HC Vita Hästen and Luleå HF) and in Italy, where he ended his career in 1994. Af ...

2016 January–March * Kari Kivi 2017–2020 September *

Jouko Myrrä Jouko is a masculine Finnish given name and may refer to: *Jouko Ahola (born 1970), Finnish strongman, powerlifter and actor * Jouko Grip (born 1949), Finnish paralympic athlete *Jouko Halmekoski (born 1937), Finnish writer * Jouko Hassi (born 1959 ...

2020 October–2022 October *

2022 October–present (* = interim coach)

Other sports

In addition to hockey and football, Ilves has a futsal team in Finnish league which has won the Finnish championship five times (2004, 2005, 2007, 2010, and 2011) and the cup competition twice (2006, 2010), a

floorball Floorball is a type of floor hockey with five players and a goalkeeper in each team. Men and women play indoors with sticks and a plastic ball with holes. Matches are played in three twenty-minute periods. The sport of bandy also played a role ...

team at second highest level and a women's ringette team. It has numerous boys' and girls' junior teams in ice hockey, soccer, floorball (boys only), and ringette (girls only), making the organization the largest sports club in Finland. In the past, Ilves has also competed in American football, basketball, bowling, figure skating,

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

, and volleyball. It has won a bronze medal in American football and a silver one in handball. Also, Ilves has won the Finnish Cup in handball.

References

External links

* {{SM-liiga Sport in Tampere Liiga teams Ice hockey clubs established in 1931 1931 establishments in Finland Liiga