Kajaanin Hokki 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 h ...

team based at

Kajaani Kajaani (; sv, Kajana) is the most populous town and the capital of the Kainuu Region of Finland. It is located southeast of Lake Oulu (Oulujärvi), which drains into the Gulf of Bothnia through the Oulu River (Oulujoki). As of , it had a pop ...

. The team was founded in 1968.

The club

Hokki was promoted from Suomi-sarja to Mestis in the end of season 2001–02 after beating Diskos of

Jyväskylä Jyväskylä () is a city and municipality in Finland in the western part of the Finnish Lakeland. It is located about 150 km north-east from Tampere, the third largest city in Finland; and about 270 km north from Helsinki, the capital of ...

in qualifications. Hokki's home venue is located in Vimpelinlaakso and has the capacity of 1,591.

Cooperation

Among key factors to the team's success have been the co-operation contract with Kärpät and the army unit of

Kainuu Brigade Kainuu brigade (Finnish Kainuun prikaati) is a Finnish Army unit situated in Kajaani. The brigade is one of the biggest army units, training approximately 4000 conscripts annually. The Kainuu Brigade is one of the three readiness brigades in the ...

. Co-operation with Kärpät consists mostly of player exchange between

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 ...

and

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' ...

, which enhances player development as younger players from Kärpät gain experience playing amongst men in Hokki. The players in Hokki in turn get the opportunity to train and play with Kärpät enhancing their chances of playing hockey in Finland's highest tier. Examples of players switching between these teams include Janne Pesonen, Tommi Paakkolanvaara, Tuomas Tarkki, Antti Ylönen, and Jyri Junnila. Hokki and Kainuu Brigade have made it possible to young players to do their mandatory military service while training and playing competitive ice hockey.

Current team

Updated December 14, 2013

Team officials

Updated December 14, 2013

References

Mestis teams Ice hockey clubs established in 1968 Kajaani 1968 establishments in Finland {{Europe-icehockey-team-stub