Kalevan Pallo (KalPa) is a professional

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 ...

team which competes in the Finnish

Liiga The Liiga, colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. The league comprises 16 teams from all around Finland with relegation and promotion between the Mesti ...

. They play in

Kuopio Kuopio ( , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of North Savo. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Kuopio is approximately , while the Kuopio sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately . It is the mos ...

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, ...

at the Olvi Areena.

Team history

Established in 1929 as ''Sortavalan Palloseura'' in

Sortavala Sortavala (; Finnish language, Finnish and ; ), previously known as Serdobol () until 1918, is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located at the northern tip of Lake Ladoga near the Finland, Finni ...

, the club relocated to

in 1945 after its original hometown had been annexed by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. During its Sortavala years, the club was not active in ice hockey, but competed in

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two team sport, teams wearing Ice skates#Bandy skates, ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The playin ...

, and

pesäpallo Pesäpallo (; ; , colloquially known in Finnish as pesis and also referred to as Finnish baseball) is a fast-moving bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport that is often referred to as the national sport of Finland and has some presence in other ...

instead. Ice hockey was introduced in 1947, and in 1956 KalPa officially replaced the more traditional Kuopio club

KuPS Kuopion Palloseura, commonly referred to as KuPS, is a Finnish professional football club based in Kuopio. KuPS competes in Veikkausliiga, the top flight of Finnish football. The team plays its home matches at Kuopio Football Stadium. KuPS ha ...

in that sport thus specializing in hockey – minor league football was still continued until 1974 as a farm team of sorts for KuPS. The full name of the company that runs the representative team today is ''KalPa Hockey Oy''. The majority of the company is owned by former

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

players

Sami Kapanen Sami Hannu Antero Kapanen (born 14 June 1973) is a Finnish professional ice hockey coach and former player. He played 12 NHL seasons for the Hartford Whalers, Carolina Hurricanes and Philadelphia Flyers. He is the majority owner of ...

and Kimmo Timonen. Kapanen is the majority owner, controlling 50.5% of the franchise. Timonen owns 8%, while Timonen's former teammate

Scott Hartnell Scott Wesley Hartnell (born April 18, 1982) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger who played 17 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Nashville Predators, Philadelphia Flyers and Columbus Blue Jackets. Hartnell ...

owns 5%. Hartnell purchased a minority share of the team after getting financial advice from Kimmo Timonen during a road trip to Boston. During the

2004–05 NHL lockout The 2004–05 NHL lockout was a labor lockout that resulted in the cancellation of the National Hockey League (NHL) season, which would have been its 88th season of play. The main dispute was the league's desire to implement a salary cap to ...

, Timonen, Kapanen, and fellow NHL player Adam Hall were playing for KalPa. After winning the

Mestis Mestis (from , meaning 'Championship series', stylized as MEST1S) 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 ...

championship, KalPa returned to

SM-liiga The Liiga, colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. The league comprises 16 teams from all around Finland with relegation and promotion between the Mest ...

for the 2005–06 season, after being relegated six years earlier in 1999. KalPa has won a total of four medals in Liiga: a gold in the 2024–25 season, silvers in the 1990–91 and 2016–17 seasons and a bronze in the 2008–09 season. KalPa has also won the Spengler Cup, in 2018.

Honors

SM-liiga

(

Kanada-malja The Kanada-malja, or Poika (Literally "''Boy''" or "''Son''"), is an ice hockey club championship trophy, awarded annually to the winner of the Finnish SM-liiga playoffs. Kanada-malja is Finnish language, Finnish for "Canada Bowl"; the trophy is s ...

): 2024–25 * SM-liiga: 1990–91, 2016-17 * SM-liiga: 2008–09

Mestis

: 2003-04, 2004–05

Finnish Liiga A-juniors (U20)

* Finnish Liiga A-juniors (U20): 2007–08, 2017–18

Spengler Cup The Spengler Cup is an annual invitational ice hockey tournament held in Davos, Switzerland. First held in 1923, the Spengler Cup is often cited as the oldest invitational ice hockey tournament in the world. The event is hosted by the Swiss team ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Players

Current roster

Honored members

*1 - Pasi Kuivalainen *24 -

*27 - Jouni Rinne *37 -

Eero Kilpeläinen Eero Kilpeläinen (born May 7, 1985) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey goaltender who last played for KalPa in the SM-liiga. He was selected by the Dallas Stars in the 5th round (144th overall) of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft. Kilpelä ...

*44 - Kimmo Timonen

NHL alumni

* Adam Hall (2004–05) * Teemu Hartikainen (2008–10) *

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 the Ne ...

(1994–95) *

Kasperi Kapanen Samu Kasperi Kapanen (born 23 July 1996) is a Finnish professional ice hockey right wing for the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He made his Liiga debut playing with KalPa during the 2012–13 SM-liiga season. Kapanen was se ...

(2012–15) *

(1990–94, 2004–05, 2008–10, 2011–14) * Jarmo Kekäläinen (1983–85, 1991–92) * Mikko Koskinen (2011–13) *

Artturi Lehkonen Artturi Aleksanteri Lehkonen (born 4 July 1995) is a Finnish professional ice hockey player for the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected in the second round, 55th overall, by the Montreal Canadiens in the 2013 N ...

(2012–14) * Juuso Riikola (2012–18) * Craig Smith (2012) * Derek Stepan (2012–13) * Jeremy Stevenson (2007–08) * Alexandre Texier (2017–19) * Kimmo Timonen (1991–94, 2004–05) * Jussi Timonen (2001–02, 2008–17) Canada Ryan Wilson,2018-2020

References

External links

*
KalPa junior official web site
* Meltzer, Bil
NHL.com article on KalPa
Retrieved 2007-11-07. Sport in Kuopio Liiga teams 1929 establishments in Finland KalPa {{Finland-sport-team-stub