Sport, known by its full name as ''Hockey Team Vaasan Sport OY'', is 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 playing in

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 ...

, and is based at

Vaasa Arena Vaasan Sähkö Areena (, Vaasa Energy Arena) is a multipurpose arena in Vaasa, Finland. It was previously called the ''Kuparisaaren jäähalli'' (Copper Island Ice Rink) and locals often use the old name in conversation. The arena first opened i ...

(capacity 4448) in

Vaasa Vaasa (; sv, Vasa, , Sweden ), in the years 1855–1917 as Nikolainkaupunki ( sv, Nikolajstad; literally meaning "city of Nicholas),

. The team was established in

1939 This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Third Reich *** Jews are forbidden to ...

as IF Sport (Idrottsföreningen Sport).

History

Vaasan Sport was founded in 1939 as IF Sport. The team was involved in the founding of the Finnish top division

, formerly known as SM-Liiga, in 1975, but was relegated only one year later after the 1975-1976 season. After the relegation, Sport played in the Finnish First Division (since then renamed to

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'). ...

), until they were relegated in 1991-1992 to the Finnish Second Division. Climbing back up to the First division proved to be a tough task and wasn't accomplished until spring 1997, with the game-winning goal of the deciding game against Kiekko-67 being scored by Kari Teräväinen in overtime. The 2008-09 season was a success as Sport won the Mestis championship. However, in the league qualification series the team lost the last game to

Ässät Ässät or Ässä may refer to: * HC Ässät Pori Oy, Finnish sports club ** Porin Ässät (men's ice hockey) ** Porin Ässät (women's ice hockey) ** Porin Ässät (men's football) ** PATA (esports) *, Finnish band from Oulu *S Group, Finnish Con ...

in a best-of-7 format, thus remaining in Mestis. The overall qualification series were close as Sport at one point was a single goal away from beating Ässät in overtime and being promoted to Liiga, but was unable to score. Sport struggled with bad economy during the 2000s, which almost led the club to bankruptcy. The club board made improvements to secure the future of the club, cutting down on the budget for the whole new season, as well as installing new head coach and former world ice hockey champion

Antti Törmänen Antti Ilari Törmänen (born September 19, 1970) is a retired professional ice hockey player and current head coach of EHC Biel in Switzerland's National League. He played for the Ottawa Senators, Jokerit, HV71 and Södertälje SK over 14 seaso ...

, who started to build a new young team from scratch. Eventually, the club surfaced from its financial struggles and went ahead to consistently fight for the championship victory again. In 2014, during the 2013-2014 Mestis season, it was confirmed that Sport would be promoted to Liiga for the 2014-2015 season, regardless of the outcome of the ongoing championship. This was due to former Liiga team

Jokerit Helsingin Jokerit (English: Jokers or Jesters) are a professional ice hockey team based in Helsinki, Finland. The team won six league championships as a member of the Finnish SM-liiga (1973, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997, and 2002). Jokerit plays its ...

transferring to

KHL The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs ba ...

, leaving an open slot in the Finnish top division.

Supporters

The official fan club is called Red Army. The fan club Ultras 06 function as non-official supporters.

Players

Current roster

Retired numbers

*# 29 Håkan Hjerpe *# 27 Tomi Väkelä *# 14 Sami Laaksoharju (not officially retired, but number has been off rotation after the death of Laaksoharju)

Notable alumni

* Chris Allen *

Matthieu Descoteaux Matthieu Andre Jean Marc Luc Descoteaux (born September 23, 1977) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Montreal Canadiens. Playing career As a youth, Descoteaux played i ...

Dale Dunbar Dale R. Dunbar (born October 14, 1961) is a retired American professional ice hockey defenseman who briefly played in the National Hockey League during the 1980s. Playing career Never drafted, Dunbar had a solid college career at Boston Univers ...

Glen Gulutzan Glen Gulutzan (born August 12, 1971) is a Canadian ice hockey coach and former player. He is currently an assistant coach for the Edmonton Oilers. Playing career Gulutzan played junior hockey with the Moose Jaw Warriors, Brandon Wheat Kings and ...

Tero Leinonen Tero Leinonen (born 9 March 1975 in Mikkeli, Finland) is a retired ice hockey goaltender who was last playing with the Iserlohn Roosters The Iserlohn Roosters are a professional ice hockey team based in Iserlohn, North Rhine-Westphalia. They ar ...

* Ian MacNeil *

Oskar Osala Oskar Osala (born 26 December 1987) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey player. He played in three National Hockey League (NHL) games with the Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes and represented Finland in Olympic Winter Games 20 ...

* David Saunders *

Janis Sprukts Janis may refer to: As a first name *Janis Amatuzio (born 1950), American forensic pathologist * Janis Antonovics (born 1942), Latvian-British-American biologist *Janis Babson (1950–1961), Canadian child, organ donation *Janis Carter (1913–1 ...

Juho-Tuomas Appel Juho-Tuomas Appel (born January 23, 1983) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey forward. Appel began his career with Kärpät and played 13 regular games in the SM-liiga for the team over two seasons between 2001 and 2003.Vjačeslavs Fanduļs Vjačeslavs Fanduļs (russian: Вячеслав Викторович Фандуль; born March 17, 1969 in Leningrad, Soviet Union) is a Latvian former professional ice hockey forward. Playing career Fanduļs began his career with RASMS Riga ...

Oļegs Sorokins Olegs Sorokins (born 4 January 1974 in Riga, Soviet Union) is a retired Latvian professional ice hockey defender. He played in HK Ozolnieki/Monarhs team in Latvian Hockey League in 2008, before joining Dinamo Riga of KHL The Kontinental H ...

Toni Sihvonen Toni, Toñi or Tóni is a unisex given name. In Spanish, Italian, Croatian and Finnish, it is a masculine given name used as a short form of the names derived from Antonius like Antonio, Ante or Anttoni. In Danish, English, Finnish, Norwegi ...

Notable coaches

Juhani Tamminen Manu Juhani Tamminen (born May 26, 1950) is a Finnish people, Finnish retired professional ice hockey player who played in the SM-liiga and World Hockey Association. He played for TPS (ice hockey), TPS, HJK Helsinki, HJK, HIFK (ice hockey), HIFK ...

Jukka Jalonen Jukka Pertti Juhani Jalonen (born November 2, 1962 in Riihimäki, Finland) is a Finland, Finnish professional ice hockey coach (sport), coach and former player. In 2011 IIHF World Championship, 2011, 2019 IIHF World Champion ...

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 ...

References

External links

* {{SM-liiga Mestis teams Vaasa Sport in Vaasa 1939 establishments in Finland 1962 establishments in Finland Liiga Liiga teams