Savonlinnan Pallokerho (SaPKo) is an

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 from

Savonlinna Savonlinna (, , ; ) is a town in Finland, located in the eastern interior of the country. It lies in the Finnish Lakeland, the South Savo region. The population of Savonlinna is approximately , while the Savonlinna sub-region, sub-region has a pop ...

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, ...

, they currently play in 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 ...

. It plays its home matches at the Talvisalo ice rink. The sports club Savonlinnan Pallokerho was founded in 1929. First it consisted

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and

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 ...

sections, but since the 1960s ice hockey has been the main sport. In 1960s SaPKo played four seasons in the highest tier of Finnish ice hockey ''SM-sarja'' but was relegated to Suomi-sarja in 1971. In 1974 the new First Division was formed and SaPKo was one of the teams participating. SaPKo soon established itself as the team of I-divisioona expect few visits to Second Division. In 1968 SaPKo worked its way to the final of Finnish Cup, but lost the final to KooVee 10–2. Later bigger success came in the season 1994/1995 when SaPKo had very good regular season with players like

Team Canada Canadian National Team or Team Canada may refer to: Canada at multi-sport events * Canada at the Olympics ** Canadian Olympic Committee * Canada at the Paralympics ** Canadian Paralympic Committee * Canada at the Commonwealth Games * Canada at ...

captain Brian Tutt and was close to promotion to the

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 ...

. It played tight promotion playoffs 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, ...

but failed to promote. After the success started downtrend which culminated to relegation to ''Suomi-sarja''. At the end of the 2005/2006 season SaPKo finally gained promotion back to the second tier,

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 ...

. In 2022, the club filed for bankruptcy after acquiring a debt of 227,000 euros. However, fifteen entrepreneurs helped fund and re-establish the club for the 2023-24 season and they were approved to play in the

, where they placed fourth that season.

Honours

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 ...

* ''(1)'': 2017 * ''(1)'': 2018

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 ...

* ''(1)'': 2003 * ''(1)'': 2006

Finnish cup The Finnish Cup (; ) is Finland's main national cup competition in football. This yearly competition is open for all member clubs of the FA of Finland and has been played since 1955. The winner qualifies for the UEFA Europa Conference League ...

* ''(3)'': 1967, 1968, 2017

Notable players

* Arto Heiskanen *

Jarkko Immonen Jarkko Immonen (born April 19, 1982) is a Finnish professional ice hockey forward currently playing for Mikkelin Jukurit of the Liiga. Playing career Immonen made his debut in Finland's second-tier league Mestis with TuTo Hockey during the 20 ...

* *

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 ...

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 Liiga, colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional i ...

Ville Leino Ville Hans Viking Leino (born 6 October 1983) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey Forward (ice hockey), forward. He has played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Detroit Red Wings, Philadelphia Flyers and Buffalo Sabres. Playin ...

* Steve MacDonald *

Randy Maxwell Randy Maxwell is an American politician serving as a member of the Indiana Senate from the 43rd district. He assumed office on September 28, 2023. Academic and Athletic Journey Maxwell gained recognition for his outstanding performance on the ...

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 ...

Tuukka Rask Tuukka Mikael Rask (born 10 March 1987) is a Finns, Finnish former professional ice hockey Goaltender (ice hockey), goaltender. Rask was drafted 21st overall in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs before being traded to the Boston ...

Seppo Repo Seppo Hannu Antero Repo (born September 21, 1947 in Joensuu, Finland) is a retired professional ice hockey player who played in the SM-liiga. He played for Jokerit, SaPKo, and TPS. He was inducted into the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame in 1990. ...

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 ...

Antti Tirkkonen Antti is a Finnish masculine given name derived from the Greek name ''Andreas''. In Estonia, the variant Anti is more common. It is uncommon as a surname. People with the name include: Given name * Antti Autti (born 1985), Finnish snowboarde ...

Pekka Tirkkonen Pekka Tirkkonen (born July 17, 1968) is a Finnish ice hockey coach and former professional ice hockey player. He most recently served as head coach of EHC Kloten of the National League (NL). Tirkkonen was selected by the Boston Bruins in the 2n ...

Paavo Tirkkonen Paavo Juhani Tirkkonen (2 December 1947 – 5 August 2012) was a Finnish ice hockey defenceman and Olympian. Tirkkonen played with Team Finland at the 1968 Winter Olympics held in Grenoble, France. He previously played for SaPKo Savonlinna in ...

* Tommi Turunen * Seppo Aksila * Brian Tutt * Viktor Tyumenev *

Jan-Mikael Järvinen Jan-Mikael Järvinen (born 26 February 1988) is a Finnish professional ice hockey forward who is currently playing with the Porin Ässät in the Liiga. Playing career Järvinen grew up playing as a youth with Ilves Tampere . In 2006, he won ...

Retired numbers

* 2

* 3 Jyrki Turunen * 5 Ahti Ruohoaho * 10 Raimo Turkulainen

References

External links

Official website
Mestis teams Savonlinna Association football clubs established in 1929 Bandy clubs established in 1929 Ice hockey clubs established in 1929 1929 establishments in Finland Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 2022 2022 disestablishments in Finland Sport in South Savo {{Finland-sport-team-stub