Helsingin Jääkiekkoklubi () or HJK for short is an

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

club located in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. The team was formed in 1972 when the ice hockey department of

Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (), commonly known as HJK Helsinki (), or simply as HJK (), is a Finnish Association football, football club based in Helsinki. The club competes in Veikkausliiga, the top division of the Finnish football league system. ...

was disestablished, but they are considered as different clubs as HJK does not claim any of the previous championships. Nowadays the club mainly focuses on their junior teams. HJK played in the

SM-sarja SM-Sarja was the top level of ice hockey in Finland from 1928 to 1975. SM-sarja is a common abbreviation for ''Suomen mestaruussarja'', "Finnish Championship Series". There was variable number of teams playing for the Finnish championship dur ...

during the 1972–73 season. HJK has won two women's championships in the 1980s, but the women's department is now not active.

History

The hockey team of the

was promoted to the SM-sarja for the 1970–1971 season after being in the Suomensarja for a few years. HJK immediately tried to take part in the championship competition and started recruiting new top players such as Jorma Vehmanen and

Matti Keinonen Matti Keinonen (6 November 1941 – 27 November 2021) was a Finnish professional ice hockey player and coach. During his career he played in the SM-sarja with Lukko, Lukko Rauma, RU-38 (sports club), RU-38, Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi, HJK Helsink ...

. The competition for players in the metropolitan area was fierce and a considerable amount of money was spent on purchases. Despite the acquisitions, the season did not go according to plan. HJK ranked fifth and the financial losses from hockey were significant for HJK. The championship hurry continued the following season and expenses were increased. This time, HJK finished second, but despite the increased ticket revenue, the club's loss was substantial. At the same time, the state of HJK's football had deteriorated significantly. It was even supposed to fall out of the league and the club's financial resources were no longer enough to strengthen the team. At the end of the 1971–1972 season, HJK had to declare that it was no longer able to run hockey. In the spring, three Helsinki clubs, HJK,

Jokerit Helsingin Jokerit (, English: Joker (playing card), Jokers or Jesters of Helsinki) is a professional ice hockey team based in Helsinki, Finland, which competes in Mestis. Jokerit plays its home games at the Helsinki Ice Hall and Helsinki Halli in ...

and

Karhu-Kissat Karhu-Kissat is a Finnish ice hockey club founded in 1938 and based at Helsinki. 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 especial ...

, agreed on a merger that was announced in March 1972. However, the merger collapsed three weeks later after the Jokerit withdrew. Following the failure of the merger, HJK's situation was financially gloomy. Debt had accumulated for almost half a million

FIM FIM may refer to: Organizations and companies * Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, the International Motorcycling Federation * Flint Institute of Music, in Michigan, United States * Fox Interactive Media, now News Corp. Digital Media * ...

. In order to save the club, HJK decided to cut down hockey, among other things. Merger negotiations resumed, this time only with the Karhu-Kissat. Finally, in May 1972, the clubs established a joint umbrella organization under which hockey activities were combined. HJK's hockey operations were separated into its own association, the Helsingin Jääkiekkoklubi. In the 1972–1973 season, the joint team finished fifth, but after that, HJK started to play independently. The following season, it dropped out of the league.

Honours

Naisten SM-sarja

* (2)

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Helsingin Jääkiekkoklubi 1972 establishments in Finland Ice hockey teams in Finland Naisten Liiga (ice hockey) teams Sports clubs and teams in Helsinki Ice hockey clubs established in 1972