{{infobox hockey team , team = Karhu-Kissat , colour = background:#FFFFFF; border-top:firebrick 5px solid; border-bottom:green 5px solid; , colour text = black , logo = Karhu-Kissat ice hockey club.png , logosize = 200px , city =

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

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3. Divisioona 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * ''Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 n ...

, conference = , division = , founded = 1938 , operated = , arena = Kaarelan jäähalli , colours = {{Colorbox, firebrick {{Colorbox, green {{Colorbox, white , owner = Karhu-Kissat ry , GM = Jari Kostiainen , coach = Dan Wicklund , captain = Fredrik Wikström , affiliates = , parentclub = , farmclub = , website = {{URL, http://www.karhu-kissat.fi Karhu-Kissat is a Finnish

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 ...

club founded in 1938 and based at

. From 1942 until 1974 the club played in the top two levels of the Finnish ice hockey league system. Nowadays the club operates as a sports academy, investing especially in the provision of training and experience for young players. The club's activities take place mainly at the city's western region.

History

The first team was created by a group of teenagers from HJK who had played hockey in junior games. The founding meeting was held on October 19, 1938. The club's name was inspired by Bearcats, a notable Canadian club of that period. Karhu-Kissat played in the country's top-tier SM-sarja for the first time the season 1942–43. In February 6th of the next season, the match between Karhu-Kissat and TBK at Helsinki was stopped because the hockey field was bombed. As a result, a Karhu-Kissat's player was injured and never played hockey again. The seasons 1944–45, 1946–47 and 1948–49, the club also played in the top-tier but after all those seasons was relegated. They returned decisively in the top-tier the season 1951–52, and stayed there until the season 1956–57. This period the team managed to take second place in 1953-54 SM-sarja after losing both games to TBK at the final. Another participation in SM-sarja, the season 1971–72, ended in relegation. The club played for the last time in the top-tier the season 1973–74.after a merge with the HJK's ice hockey department The years that followed, financial difficulties never let the club take part in the top league categories. Currently the club plays in the

, the 5th-level league of Finland.

References

Ice hockey teams in Finland Former Liiga teams Sports clubs in Helsinki