Heinolan Peliitat (''formerly Heinolan Kiekko'') is an ice hockey club based in

Heinola Heinola () is a town and a municipality of inhabitants () located in the eastern part of the Päijänne Tavastia region, Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to t ...

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 club is made up of 11 teams with the top team playing in the 2. Divisioona, the 4th tier of ice hockey in Finland. They play their home games in the Versowood Areena, which has a capacity of 2,975 (with 1,500 seated). The club is affiliated with the

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 ...

side

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 ...

History

The original Peliitat was founded in 1969 and played in 1983–1987 and 1988–1989 in the

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 ...

. The club's activities ended with relegation from the I-Divisioona and bankruptcy in 1989. After the bankruptcy of Peliitat, Heinola Kiekko, founded in 1984, became the leading ice hockey club in

. HeKi played for a long time in the 2. Divisioona and got promoted in 1999 into the

Suomi-sarja The Suomi-sarja is Finland's third highest ice hockey league. Suomi-sarja has 14 teams. Suomi-sarja has been played since the 1999–2000 season. Prior to this, Finland's third league had been Division II since 1975 and before that the Provi ...

. Success finally came in the 2004–05 season, when HeKi finished second in the series. In the finals, HeKi still had to face a loss to the Seinäjoki Hockey Team. In the 2005–06 season, HeKi won the Suomi-sarja championship and also 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 ...

qualifiers, beating Kokkolan Hermes, among others. For the 2006–07 season, HeKi rose to the second-highest league in Finland. At the same time, the activities of the representative team were separated from the junior teams. In April 2011, the operation of HeKi's representative team was incorporated as Heinola Edustuskiekon Tuki Oy, and at the same time, the name Heinolan Peliitat, considered nostalgic in the city, was taken to use again. After the 2022–23 Mestis season, Peliitat played Nokian Pyry in the Mestis qualifiers and avoided relegation. Peliitat later went bankrupt and did not receive a Mestis license for the 2023–24 season and thus got relegated down two tiers into the 2. Divisioona.

Retired numbers

* #16 - Marko Nyman * #19 - Vesa Welling * #27 - Steven MacDonald

Peliitat alumni

* Tim Army * John Donnelly * Marko Ek * Donald Fraser * Niko Hovinen * Jani Keinänen * Kurt Kleinendorst * Ville-Matti Koponen * Steve MacDonald * Lauri Mononen *

Erkki Mäkelä Erkki is a Finnish and Estonian given name (derived from Erik). Notable people with the name include: A–K * Erkki Aadli (born 1974), Estonian orienteer * Erkki Aaltonen (1910–1990), Finnish composer * Erkki Ala-Könni (1911– 1996), Finn ...

* Juha Ovaska * Seppo Repo *

Karri Rämö Karri Rämö (born July 1, 1986) is a Finnish professional ice hockey goaltender who is currently an unrestricted free agent. He began his professional career in the SM-Liiga, initially with the Lahti Pelicans and then HPK, where he was a membe ...

* Janne Sinkkonen * Antti Tyrväinen

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peliitat Heinola Sport in Heinola Ice hockey teams in Finland Ice hockey clubs established in 1984 1984 establishments in Finland