Mikkelin Jukurit is a professional

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 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 lea ...

, the top tier Finnish ice hockey league. They play in

Mikkeli Mikkeli (; sv, S:t Michel; la, Michaelia) is a town and municipality in Finland. It is located in what used to be the province of Eastern Finland and is part of the Etelä-Savo region. The municipality has a population of () (around 34,000 ...

, Finland, at the

Kalevankankaan jäähalli Kalevankankaan jäähalli, also known as Ikioma Areena for sponsorship reasons, is a multipurpose indoor arena located in the Kalevankangas neighborhood in Mikkeli, Finland used most importantly for ice sports. The arena opened in 1982 and is the ...

(known since 2016 as Ikioma Areena). The team has won 7

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' ...

(2nd highest level) championships (2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2013, 2015, and 2016).

History

Mikkelin Jukurit was founded in 1970. During the 1970s Jukurit played on the second highest level but the 80's and 90's they spent on lower levels. The season of 1998-99 was a turning point for the team, when Matti Turunen became the executive director and

Risto Dufva Risto Dufva (born May 1, 1963) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey goaltender. He is currently the head coach of Vaasan Sport of the Finnish ice hockey league (Liiga). Dufva played with JYP Jyväskylä during the 1990–91 SM-liiga seas ...

from

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 ...

became head coach. In the 1999–2000 season they won their first championship in the newly established Suomi-sarja league, and returned to the

after a 20-year break. Jukurit won the Mestis championship on their first three seasons in Mestis and made the semifinals consecutively on their first 8 seasons. When Jukurit had won a fourth championship in spring 2006, Risto Dufva left the team. After this, Finnish hockey legend

Reijo Ruotsalainen Reijo Ruotsalainen (born April 1, 1960) is a Finnish former ice hockey defenceman. He was twice named Finland's top defenceman, and won two Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers, in 1987 and 1990. Playing career Ruotsalainen started his career ...

was hired as head coach but he was replaced mid-season by a long-time assistant coach Pekka Lipiäinen. The season 2008-2009 was the only Mestis season Jukurit didn't make the playoffs. In 2009 an incorporation Jukurit HC Oy was founded. Until this the team had operated as an association. After hiring Jarno Pikkarainen as head coach for the 2010-11 season, Jukurit returned to the finals but lost to

Sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

. Under Pikkarainen Jukurit won another championship in 2012-13 and two more in 2015 and 2016 with Antti Pennanen as head coach. After the team's 7th

championship, Jukurit was granted a permission to purchase a licence to Liiga, the top league in Finnish ice hockey. During the team's 16 seasons in Mestis, they achieved 7 gold medals, 4 silver medals, and one bronze medal. Since the season 2016-2017 Jukurit has played in

. During the first 4 seasons, the team has yet to make the playoffs, finishing 11th, 13th, 14th, and 13th in the regular season. Coached by former NHL player

Olli Jokinen Olli Veli Pekka Jokinen (born December 5, 1978) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey player. He was selected by the Los Angeles Kings third overall in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, with whom he made his NHL debut. He has also played for th ...

, Jukurit sensationally finished second in the regular season of 2021-2022, reaching their first ever playoff spot.

Personnel

Current roster

Updated February 13, 2022

Team officials

Updated January 8, 2022

Retired numbers

*# 12 Antti Laakso *# 22 Martti Salminen *# 24 Lasse Kanerva *# 31 Petri Lehtonen Number 21 is not in circulation, it belonged to Sami Lehmusmetsä who died in a traffic accident.

Captains

Head coaches

Notable players

*G Tero Leinonen *G Mikko Strömberg *D

Kalle Kaijomaa Kalle Kaijomaa (born June 1, 1984) is a Finnish professional ice hockey defenceman who is currently an unrestricted free agent. He most recently played for Schwenninger Wild Wings of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). Playing career Undrafted, Ka ...

Marko Kauppinen Marko Kauppinen (born 23 March 1979) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the Liiga and Swedish Hockey League (SHL). Kauppinen was selected by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 8th round (214th overall) of the 1997 ...

*D Tommi Kovanen *D

Jukka-Pekka Laamanen Jukka Laamanen (born October 4, 1976) is a Finnish professional ice hockey player who currently plays for HPK in the SM-liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') colloquially called the Finnish Elite Lea ...

*D Mikko Mäenpää *D Simo Mälkiä *D Joni Tuominen *D Ilkka Vaarasuo *F Mikko Hakkarainen *F Iivo Hokkanen *F

Juha-Pekka Hytönen Juha-Pekka Hytönen (born May 22, 1981) is a Finnish ice hockey forward currently playing for JYP Jyväskylä. Career Juha-Pekka Hytönen started his career in JYP Jyväskylä junior teams. In 1999 he was chosen to Finnish national U18 team and n ...

*F Petri Koskinen *F

Niko Laakkonen Niko Laakkonen (born June 15, 1988) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey winger. Laakkonen began his career with KalPa's Jr. teams between 2003 and 2009. Unable to make it to KalPa's main roster, he signed for SaPKo in Mestis. After four ...

*F Pentti Nöyränen *F Olli Sipiläinen *F

Erkka Westerlund Erkka Westerlund (born 30 March 1957, in Pernå, Finland) was the head coach of the Finnish national men's ice hockey team. He was appointed head coach on November 1, 2004, and his contract ended in May 2007, after winning World Championship Sil ...

*F,C

Pentti Matikainen Pentti Matikainen (born October 5, 1950 in Joensuu, Finland) is a Finnish hockey coach and general manager. He was selected the SM-liiga coach of the year in 1984. As the coach of the Finnish national ice hockey team, he led Finla ...

*C Sergei Krivokrasov *HC

*HC

Notes: G = Goaltender, D = Defenceman, F = Forward, HC = Head coach, C = Coach

References

External links

* {{SM-liiga Mestis teams Mikkeli Liiga teams 1970 establishments in Finland Liiga