Vaasan Sport

Vaasan Sport
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City	Vaasa, Finland
League	Liiga
Founded	1939 1962 (the ice hockey team)
Home arena	Vaasa Arena
Colors
Owner(s)	HT Vaasan Sport Oy
General manager	Ari-Pekka Pajuluoma
Head coach	´ Tomek Valtonen
Captain	Antti Uitto

Sport, known by its full name as Hockey Team Vaasan Sport OY, is a Finnish ice hockey team playing in Liiga, and is based at Vaasa Arena (capacity 4448) in Vaasa. The team was established in 1939 as IF Sport (Idrottsföreningen Sport).

History

Vaasan Sport was founded in 1939 as IF Sport. The team was involved in the founding of the Finnish top division Liiga, formerly known as SM-Liiga, in 1975, but was relegated only one year later after the 1975-1976 season (roster for their first and only SM-Liiga season).

After the relegation Sport played in the Finnish 1st Division (since then renamed to Mestis), until they were relegated in 1991-1992 to the Finnish Second Division. Climbing back up to the 1st division proved to be a tough task and wasn't accomplished until spring 1997, with the game-winning goal of the deciding game against Kiekko-67 being scored by Kari Teräväinen in overtime.

The 2008-09 season was a success as Sport won the Mestis championship. However, in the league qualification series the team lost the last game to Ässät in a best-of-7 format, thus remaining in Mestis. The overall qualification series were close as Sport at one point was a single goal away from beating Ässät in overtime and being promoted to Liiga, but was unable to score.

Sport struggled with bad economy during the 2000s, which almost led the club to bankruptcy. The club board made improvements to secure the future of the club, cutting down on the budget for the whole new season, as well as installing new head coach and former world ice hockey champion Antti Törmänen, who started to build a new young team from scratch. Eventually the club surfaced from its financial struggles and went ahead to consistently fight for the championship victory again.

In 2014, during the 2013-2014 Mestis season, it was confirmed that Sport would be promoted to Liiga for the 2014-2015 season, regardless of the outcome of the ongoing championship. This was due to former Liiga team Jokerit transferring to KHL, leaving an open slot in the Finnish top division.

Fans

The official fan club is called Red army. The fan club Ultras 06 function as non-official supporters.

Current roster

Updated March 13, 2015.

#	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
3		Charles Bertrand	LW	R	33	2014	Paris, France
4		Mike Brennan (A)	D	R	38	2014	Smithtown, New York, United States
81		Ari Gröndahl	D	R	34	2011	Helsinki, Finland
87		Jarkko Hattunen	LW	L	37	2013	Kajaani, Finland
16		Teemu Henritius	LW	L	31	2014	Helsinki, Finland
35		Ville Hostikka	G	L	39	2014	Lappeenranta, Finland
23		Jarkko Immonen (A)	C	L	40	2014	Kouvola, Finland
51		Antti Kangasniemi	C	L	38	2013	Tampere, Finland
		Otto Karvinen	RW	L	34	2015	Vantaa, Finland
28		Samuli Kivimäki	RW	R	35	2013	Vaasa, Finland
25		Joel Kiviranta	LW	L	28	2014	Vantaa, Finland
82		Henrik Koivisto	C	L	34	2015	Kerava, Finland
36		Lassi Kokkala	C	L	35	2013	Turku, Finland
21		Tomi Körkkö	RW	L	33	2014	Oulu, Finland
		Michal Krištof	C	L	31	2014	Nitra, Slovakia
34		Aleksi Laakso	D	L	33	2014	Seinäjoki, Finland
89		Petri Lammassaari	RW	R	38	2014	Oulu, Finland
57		Toni Leinonen	LW	L	32	2015	Helsinki, Finland
12		Ville Leskinen	RW	R	30	2014	Eurajoki, Finland
24		Miko Malkamäki (C)	D	L	35	2014	Kokkola, Finland
41		Oskari Manninen	D	L	33	2014	Vantaa, Finland
79		Jake Newton	D	L	35	2015	San Jacinto, California, United States
39		Jussi Pesonen	RW	L	44	2014	Muurame, Finland
48		Mikko Pukka	D	L	41	2014	Suodenniemi, Finland
31		Jesse Rantamäki	F	R	27	2013	Seinäjoki, Finland
18		Aleksi Rekonen	C	L	30	2014	Helsinki, Finland
13		Erik Riska (A)	RW	L	34	2014	Jakobstad, Finland
32		Robin Salo	D	L	25	2011	Espoo, Finland
38		Teemu Tallberg	LW	L	32	2014	Helsinki, Finland
43		Juha Tarkkanen	D	L	30	2015	Helsinki, Finland
		Tommi Tikka	F	L	28	2013	Helsinki, Finland
33		Hannu Toivonen	G	L	39	2014	Kalvola, Finland
10		Antti Uitto	D	L	41	2008	Seinäjoki, Finland
8		Joonas Valkonen	D	L	30	2014	Vantaa, Finland
27		Jesse Väkelä	D	R	28	2014	Vaasa, Finland
		Tuomas Vänttinen	C	R	40	2015	Savonlinna, Finland

Retired numbers

• # 29 Håkan Hjerpe
• # 27 Tomi Väkelä
• # 14 Sami Laaksoharju (not officially retired, but number has been off rotation after the death of Laaksoharju)

Former notable players

• Chris Allen
• Matthieu Descoteaux
• Dale Dunbar
• Glen Gulutzan
• Tero Leinonen
• Ian MacNeil
• Oskar Osala
• David Saunders
• Janis Sprukts
• Juho-Tuomas Appel
• Vjačeslavs Fanduļs
• Oļegs Sorokins
• Toni Sihvonen

Former notable coaches

• Juhani Tamminen
• Jukka Jalonen
• Kari Heikkilä

Website

• www.vaasansport.fi (Finnish)
• www.vaasansport.fi In English (English)