SaiPa

SaiPa
City Lappeenranta, Finland
League SM-liiga
Founded 1948 (1948)
Home arena Kisapuisto (capacity 4,847)
Colours Yellow, black
         
General manager Finland Riku Kallioniemi
Head coach Finland Ari Santanen
Captain Finland Ville Koho
Website www.saipa.fi

Saimaan Pallo (SaiPa) is an ice hockey team in the Finnish Liiga. They play their home games at Kisapuisto in Lappeenranta, Finland. SaiPa has many nicknames, such as "The Sputniks", "Sputnik", "miracle of the East" and "East giant."


SaiPa play home games in the yellow shirt, black pants, yellow socks and a black helmet. Away Matches SaiPa play in mostly the same costumes as the home games, but also have a black version of the jersey.

History

The team's best achievement is from the 1965-1966 season, when they won bronze medals for placing third. SaiPa also played in a bronze medal game in the 1998-1999 and 2013-14 seasons, but lost the games to HPK (7-2), and Lukko (3-2).

Saipa has participated twice in the Champions Hockey League. During the period 2014-2015 the team survived the quarterfinals, where they lost the return match against Oulu Weasels. During the period 2016-2017 SaiPa won their initial games by 11 points. The other teams were runners up-Eisbären Berlin and Luleå HF.

SaiPa has produced seven players who have played in the NHL: Antti Aalto, Jussi Markkanen, Petteri Nokelainen, Petri Skriko, Jussi Timonen, Vesa Viitakoski and Niklas Bäckström. Markkanen is also a part owner of the club.

Players

Current roster

Updated November 6, 2015.[1]

# Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
49 Finland Backman, SimonSimon Backman (A) D L 32 2008 Pietarsaari, Finland
22 Canada Carson, BrettBrett Carson D R 31 2015 Regina, SK, Canada
2 Finland Huhtanen, MiikaMiika Huhtanen D L 23 2013 Lappeenranta, Finland
10 Finland Hämäläinen, VilleVille Hämäläinen (A) F L 35 2012 Lappeenranta, Finland
42 Finland Jokinen, TommiTommi Jokinen F L 28 2012 Siilinjärvi, Finland
19 Finland Järveläinen, VilleVille Järveläinen F R 23 2015 Hämeenlinna, Finland
71 Finland Järvinen, MattiMatti Järvinen F L 27 2014 London, United Kingdom
51 Finland Kettunen, JanneJanne Kettunen F L 22 2015 Lappeenranta, Finland
8 Finland Koho, VilleVille Koho (C)  F L 34 2001 Imatra, Finland
78 Finland Kuronen, MikaelMikael Kuronen F L 24 2014 Tampere, Finland
56 Finland Lappalainen, LasseLasse Lappalainen D L 27 2014 Kuopio, Finland
5 Sweden Larsson, JohanJohan Larsson D R 30 2014 Lindesberg, Sweden
11 Finland Leivo, TomiTomi Leivo F L 27 2008 Lappeenranta, Finland
6 United States Lofquist, SamSam Lofquist D R 26 2014 Somerset, WI, United States
18 Finland Maalahti, KalleKalle Maalahti D L 25 2010 Lappeenranta, Finland
27 Finland Markkanen, JussiJussi Markkanen G L 41 2013 Imatra, Finland
7 Canada McIntyre, DavidDavid McIntyre F L 29 2014 Oakville, ON, Canada
77 Finland Mäkinen, WilliamWilliam Mäkinen D L 21 2014 Jämsänkoski, Finland
39 Finland Nieminen, JaniJani Nieminen G L 29 2015 Helsinki, Finland
29 Finland Nokelainen, PetteriPetteri Nokelainen  F R 30 2015 Imatra, Finland
17 United States Rau, ChadChad Rau F R 29 2014 Eden Prairie, MN, United States
38 Finland Riikola, Simo-PekkaSimo-Pekka Riikola D R 24 2012 Joensuu, Finland
12 Finland Strömberg, KimKim Strömberg F L 29 2015 Helsinki, Finland
88 Finland Vainikainen, VilleVille Vainikainen F L 22 2015 Kuopio, Finland
25 Finland Venäläinen, SamiSami Venäläinen F R 35 2013 Kangasala, Finland
21 Finland Virkkunen, ValtteriValtteri Virkkunen  F L 25 2014 Espoo, Finland

Retired numbers

NHL alumni

References

  1. ↑ "SaiPa". www.eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 2015-11-06.
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