KooKoo is a Finnish

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 playing in the first level of Finnish ice hockey league

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 ...

. KooKoo plays in the Lumon arena (capacity 5,950), in

Kouvola Kouvola () is a city in Finland and the administrative capital of Kymenlaakso. It is located in the southeastern interior of the country. The population of Kouvola is approximately . It is the most populous municipality in Finland, and the 17th m ...

. The team was established in

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

and the previous name of the club is ''Kouvolan Kiekko-65''.

Franchise history

KooKoo was established by the Kouvolan Pallonlyöjät and Sudet in

on 3 November 1965. The first official match was played on November 17, 1965 when KooKoo won the Kuusankoski Puhti goals 4–2. A new club for ice hockey skills got plenty from

Lappeenranta Lappeenranta (; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of South Karelia. It is located in the southeastern interior of the country and in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Lappeenranta is approximately , while the Lappeenranta sub-r ...

, where many of its first-year players and coaches came from.

Early years

KooKoo started its career in the official series of the Association in the 1966–1967 season, when it participated in the Southern Finland division of Maakuntasarja. During the 1967–1968 season, KooKoo played in the Greater Savo division of Maakuntasarja, where it ranked fourth. In the 1969–1970 season, KooKoo ranked second in the Kymenlaakso division and reached the Suomensarja qualifier but wasn't promoted.

Time in the I Division

KooKoo rise to the second highest level in the series, the Suomensarja for the season 1971–1972. It was also included in the 1974 newly created series, the I Division. In 1982, an ice rink was built in Kouvola, which greatly improved the operating conditions. The first match in November 1982 between KooKoo and SaPKo ended in KooKoo's 7–4 victory in front of over 4,000 spectators. KooKoo was able to attempt qualifying to SM-liiga for the first time in the 1984–1985 season, after ranking third in the season. However, KooKoo didn't make it. During the 1985–1986 season, KooKoo was coached by Reino Ruotsalainen, and was ranked third in the regular season. In the four-team league qualifying, Kookoo also ranked third and was forced to continue in the I Division. In the 1986–1987 season, the club celebrated its first league victory after winning the division's regular season before

TuTo Hockey TUTO Hockey (Turun Toverit) is a Finland, Finnish ice hockey team based at the Kupittaan jäähalli (capacity 2,875, inauguration in November 2006). Established in 1929 in sports, 1929, TUTO plays in Turku, Finland, and is one of two clubs in th ...

Time in SM-Liiga

KooKoo's first season in the SM-Liiga was difficult. In the spring of 1988, KooKoo played a very tight five-game relegation series with Lahden Kiekkoreipas. The fourth game extended to the overtime until Lasse Tasala settled the match to KooKoo. After that, KooKoo easily retained its place in the crucial fifth match played at home. In their second season, KooKoo played in the 1988–1989 season with

Urpo Ylönen Urpo Yrjö Juhani Ylönen (born 25 May 1943 in Käkisalmi, Finland) is a goaltending coach and a retired professional ice hockey player who played in the SM-liiga. He played for TuTo and TPS. He was inducted into the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fa ...

. The team reached its best results as ninth of the league. The team's last season in the league was very weak and it was relegated back to the first division after losing to the qualifying round for Hockey Reipas.

Back to Division and Fall in Division II

KooKoo started the 1990s in the first division. In spring 1992–93 SM-Liiga qualifiers, KooKoo was one point away from being promoted to the SM-Liiga for the next season. KooKoo was relegated in 1997 when the first division team was downsized by four. The unambiguous aim of the club was to get back to the first division. The team survived until qualifying, but Hyvinkää Ahmat was better off with 3–2.

Back to Division and Mestis

In the 1998–1999 season, KooKoo came out again in qualifying. It succeeded in winning the Uudenkaupungin Jää-Kotkat in the matches 3-2 and was promoted to the first division after the two-year absence. In 2000, the team moved to the newly established Mestis. In the spring of 2005, the club announced that it would close down the representation team, but the team with new organization. In 2009–2010 season, KooKoo won the Mestis Regular Series for the first time in 23 years. At the end of the season KooKoo reached bronze medals by winning LeKi 4–2. In the season 2013–2014, KooKoo won Jukurit in finals.

Return to the SM-Liiga

In October 2014, information about KooKoo return to the SM-Liiga for the 2015-2016 season was published. At the 2017–2018 season, KooKoo made history in the SM-Liiga by leading the series for the first time. At the time, there were 15 teams who had reached the top spot in the regular season. KooKoo made the 2019–2020 season Kouvola's hockey history for the first time making to the league playoffs. However, the playoffs were not played during the season due to the

Coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In 2020–2021 season KooKoo reached playoffs Wild-card round against

Ilves Tampereen Ilves, commonly known as Ilves, (; Finnish language, Finnish for "Eurasian lynx, Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Nokia Arena (Tampere), Nokia Arena. The colors of Ilves, ...

. KooKoo's season ended in 9th place and Ilves advanced to the quarterfinals. At the 2021–2022 season, KooKoo advanced for the third time to the playoffs, in Wild-card round ended up against a familiar local opponent

Lahti Pelicans The Lahti Pelicans are a Finnish professional ice hockey team playing in the Liiga, Finland. Founded in 1996, they play in the city of Lahti at Isku Arena. The team is co-owned by (among others) former National Hockey League (NHL) goaltender Pasi ...

. KooKoo's season continued after defeating Pelicans with a total score of 2-1 after two games and KooKoo advanced to the quarterfinals against old Mestis rival Jukurit.

Current roster

Captains

Honours

Champions

* Mestis ''(1)'': 2013-14 *

I-Divisioona I-Divisioona was the second tier of ice hockey in Finland from 1974 to 2000. It replaced the previous league Suomensarja that ran from 1936 to 1974. I-Divisioona was known as the Finland-liiga (1992–1994) and the Fazer liiga (1994–1996) due ...

''(1)'': 1986-87 * Maakuntasarja (II-Divisioona) ''(1)'': 1972

Runners-up

* Mestis ''(3)'': 2001-02, 2012-13, 2014-15 *

(Fazer-liiga) ''(1)'': 1994–95 * Mestis ''(3)'': 2002-03, 2009-10, 2011-12 * I-Divisioona ''(5)'': 1982–83, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1991–92, 1992–93 ''Other awards for the club:'' *Imatra Bauer Tournament winner ''(1)'': 2016 *Vaasa Cup winner ''(1)'': 2013 *

Tampere Cup Tampere Cup is an annual ice hockey tournament held in Tampere, Finland. It is hosted by two local teams, Tappara and Ilves. The most successful team is one of the hosts, Tappara with four titles. Metallurg Magnitogorsk has won the tourname ...

winner ''(1)'': 2021

Ranking in the SM-Liiga

* 1987–88 – 10. * 1988–89 – 9. * 1989–90 – 11. * 2015–16 – 11. * 2016-17 – 13. * 2017–18 – 14. * 2018–19 - 13. * 2019–20 - 5. *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

- 9. * 2021–22 - 4. *

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

- 8. * 2023–24 - 12. * 2024–25 - 9. * 2025–26 -

NHL alumni

* Mika Alatalo *

Hannu Kamppuri Hannu Juhani Kamppuri (born 1 July 1957) is a former professional ice hockey goaltender. Kamppuri, who was born in Helsinki, was an accomplished SM-liiga goaltender, who played from 1975 to 1990, and was one of the first Finnish goaltende ...

* Marko Kiprusoff *

Jarno Kultanen Jarno Kultanen (born January 8, 1973) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey player who played between 1994 and 2010. He played in the SM-liiga for KalPa and HIFK, and in the National Hockey League for Boston Bruins. In Sweden played for Söd ...

Anssi Melametsä Anssi Ilari Melametsä (born June 21, 1961) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League and SM-liiga. He played for Jokerit, where he was captain, as well as HIFK, and the Winnipeg Jets. Internat ...

Jarmo Myllys Jarmo Pentti Kalevi Myllys (born 29 May 1965) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey goaltender. He was drafted by the Minnesota North Stars as their ninth-round pick, #172 overall, in the 1987 NHL Entry Draft. He is currently the goalkeepi ...

Joni Ortio Joni Ortio (born April 16, 1991) is a Finnish professional ice hockey goaltender who plays for HC Ässät Pori of the Liiga, Finnish Elite League. He has previously played for the Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was a sixt ...

Petri Varis Petri Johannes Varis (born May 13, 1969) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey forward. He was drafted by the San Jose Sharks as their 6th-round pick in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft. Playing career Starting his pro career with Karhu-Kissat i ...

Brett Carson Brett Carson (born November 29, 1985) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman. He is currently a free agent. He previously played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Carolina Hurricanes and the Calgary Flames. Playing career Ca ...

* Josh Green *

Leland Irving Leland Bruce Irving (born April 11, 1988) is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender, currently an unrestricted free agent. He most recently played for HC Lugano in the National League (NL). He was a first-round selection of the Calgary F ...

* Christian Thomas * Gary Yaremchuk * Jim Leavins * Steve Peters * Matt Watkins *

Tommy Wingels Thomas Wingels (born April 12, 1988) is an American former professional ice hockey Forward (ice hockey), forward and current player development coach for the San Jose Sharks. He played most of his career in the National Hockey League (NHL) for th ...

* Niklas Treutle *

Libor Šulák Libor Šulák (born 4 March 1994) is a Czech professional ice hockey defenceman currently playing for Admiral Vladivostok of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). He has formerly played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Detroit Red Wing ...

Other former notable players

* / Viktor Tyumenev * / Siim Liivik * /

Frederic Cloutier Frédéric Cloutier (born May 14, 1981) is a Canadians, Canadian-born Italian professional ice hockey goaltender who plays for HC Merano of the Alps Hockey League. Undrafted by a National Hockey League (NHL) team, Cloutier played for the Bridgepo ...

Reino Soijärvi Reino Soijärvi (born October 30, 1975) is a Finnish former ice hockey forward. Soijärvi played in the Finnish lower leagues for Warkis, SaPKo and IPK before joining KooKoo of Mestis Mestis (from , meaning 'Championship series', styli ...

Alexander Bonsaksen Alexander Bonsaksen (born January 24, 1987) is a Norwegian professional ice hockey defenceman. He is currently playing with KooKoo in the Finnish Liiga. Playing career Bonsaksen joined the Vålerenga Ishockey organization in 2003, pl ...

Malte Strömwall Malte Strömwall (born 24 August 1994) is a Swedish professional ice hockey forward who is currently playing for Frölunda HC in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). Playing career Undrafted, Strömwall played in the 2015–16 season with AIK IF ...

Timo Susi Timo Antero Susi (born January 25, 1959, in Kouvola, Finland) is a retired professional ice hockey player who played in the SM-liiga. He played for Tappara. He was inducted into the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame The Finnish Hockey H ...

Ari Vallin Ari Vallin (born March 21, 1978) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey defenceman. In summer 2015, he was transferred from Oulun Kärpät to KooKoo. In the 2003–2004 SM-liiga playoff finals in Finland against TPS TPS or Tps may refer to ...

Juha-Pekka Haataja Juha-Pekka Haataja (born October 31, 1982) is a Finnish professional ice hockey winger. He currently plays for KooKoo of the Finnish Liiga. Playing career In the 2012–13 season, he had the most points in the SM-Liiga at 59 while playing for Ou ...

Retired numbers

References

External links

Official website (Finnish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kouvolan Edustuskiekko) Mestis teams Kouvola 1965 establishments in Finland Ice hockey clubs established in 1965 Liiga teams Sport in Kymenlaakso