Kiekko-Espoo is a Finnish ice hockey club founded in 1984. Kiekko-Espoo men's team plays 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'). ...

and the women's team plays in the

Naisten Liiga The Kansallinen Liiga ('National League') is the premier division of women's football in Finland. It was previously called the Jalkapallon naisten SM-sarja ('Women's Football Finnish Championship Series') during 1974 to 2006 and the Naisten Lii ...

. Kiekko-Espoo's junior teams play at national league levels in U16, U18 and U20 juniors. The junior teams of

Espoo Blues The Espoo Blues were an ice hockey team in the SM-liiga. They played in Espoo, Finland, at the Espoo Metro Areena. The club went bankrupt at the end of the 2015–16 Liiga season. History The club was established in February 1984 as Kiekko-Espoo ...

and Kiekko-Espoo played under Kiekko-Espoo Juniorit ry until 2014. In 2017, and , which split from the Blues's junior organization, launched their own junior representative team and founded Kiekko-Espoo ry. The team plays in U16, U18 and U20 junior leagues under the name Kiekko-Espoo. When Espoo United collapsed in the spring of 2018, the organization decided to also establish a representative team for adults in Kiekko-Espoo. It started playing in the 2018–2019 season in the

Suomi-sarja The Suomi-sarja is Finland's third-highest ice hockey league. Suomi-sarja has 14 teams. Suomi-sarja has been played since the 1999–2000 season. Prior to this, Finland's third league had been Division II since 1975 and before that the Provinci ...

. In the 2019–2020 season, the Blues women's representative team also moved to Kiekko-Espoo.

History

Establishment of Kiekko Espoo

On February 15, 1984, , Espoon Palloseura and merged into Kiekko-Espoo and inherited Jäähonka's place in the 2. Divisioona. K-Espoo's first arena was the Matinkylä Ice Hall.

Espoo Blues (1998–2016)

Kiekko-Espoo's name changed to

in the summer of 1998. The renamed team played the first half of the 1998–1999 season in the

Helsinki Ice Hall Helsinki Ice Hall ( fi, Helsingin jäähalli, sv, Helsingfors ishall) is an indoor arena located in Helsinki, Finland. The arena has a seating capacity of 8,200. History Helsinki Ice Hall has been the home arena of HIFK of Liiga since its cons ...

, because the Matinkylä Ice Hall no longer met the requirements of the

SM-liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') 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 leagu ...

. Länsiauto-arena was completed in January 1999 as the new home arena of the Espoo Blues. The district court of Espoo declared the club's background company Jääkiekko Espoo Oy

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debt ...

on March 21, 2016. The company's biggest creditors were the

Finnish Tax Administration , sv, Skatteförvaltningen , logo = , logo_width = , logo_caption = , seal = Finnish Tax Administration logo.svg , seal_width = , seal_caption = , formed = , dissolved = , superseding = , ...

and the pension insurance company , who had applied for Blues's bankruptcy already in November 2015. In April 2016, the total amount of the club's debts was made public at almost 4 million euros. After the bankruptcy decision, the Blues announced that the activities of the club's A-juniors will continue until the end of the current season. Blues's A-juniors played the playoffs of the

U20 SM-sarja The U20 SM-sarja ('Under-20 Finnish Championship Series') is the premier junior men’s ice hockey league in Finland. It was previously known as the A-nuorten SM-sarja ('Junior A Finnish Championship Series') during 1945 to 1991 and the Nuorten ...

and the team made it to the finals. In the final, Blues lost to

Ilves Ilves (; Finnish for " Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Tampere Deck Arena. The colors of Ilves, green, yellow, and black, were taken from what was then the coat of arms of the city ...

Re-establishment of Kiekko-Espoo

Kiekko-Espoo was re-established in 2018. The new Kiekko-Espoo played its first season in Suomi-sarja Kiekko-Espoo will try to enter Liiga in the 2024–2025 season. Kiekko-Espoo made it to the

finals in the 2021–22 season but lost to

Imatran Ketterä Imatran Ketterä is an ice hockey club based in Imatra, Finland. Ketterä plays in the Finnish second-tier league, Mestis, during the 2022–23 season. Ketterä has played in Mestis since 2017 and has won the championship three times (2019, 2021, ...

in 5 games.

Honours

Liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') 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 leagu ...

Runner-up ''(2)'' 2007–08, 2010–11

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'). ...

Runner-up ''(1)'' 2021–22

Finnish Cup The Finnish Cup ( fi, Suomen cup; sv, Finlands cup) is Finland's main national cup competition in football. This yearly competition is open for all member clubs of the FA of Finland and has been played since 1955. The winner qualifies for the ...

Winner (1): 2022
Runner-up (1): 2021

Notes

References

{{reflist Liiga teams 1984 establishments in Finland Ice hockey clubs established in 1984 Ice hockey teams in Finland