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| Oulun Kärpät | |
|---|---|
 | |
| City | Oulu |
| League | Liiga |
| Founded | 1946 (1946) |
| Home arena | Oulun Energia Areena (capacity: 6,485) |
| Colours | Black, yellow, white |
| General manager | Tommi Virkkunen |
| Head coach | Petri Matikainen |
| Captain | Marko Anttila |
| Parent club(s) | Oulun Kärpät Oy |
| Website | karpat |
 | |
| Championships | |
| Playoff championships | 1981,2004,2005,2007,2008,2014,2015,2018 |
Oulun Kärpät (Finnish for "OuluErmines", sometimes referred to asKärpät Oulu) is a Finnish professionalice hockey team based inOulu and playing in the top-tier FinnishLiiga. Kärpät have won the Finnish championship title eight times, and is the most successful Finnish ice hockey team in the 21st century.
In the spring of 1946, three young men decided to found a new sports club in Oulu. At the constitutional meeting on May 15, 1946, the club was named "Oulun Kärpät 46". At first, Kärpät playedfootball (soccer) and its first winter sport wasbandy.
In the first annual meeting in January 1947, an ice hockey section was established. At the beginning of the new decade, Kärpät was somewhat successful in ice hockey and it became the main sport of the club. The first game at the highest level, then known as "SM-sarja" was played on the December 4, 1960, againstHJK ofHelsinki, but the visit to the highest level was short and Kärpät lost their position in the series. They made it to the highest level again in 1965–66, but again lost their position. The third attempt in 1967–68 did not produce a better performance, as Kärpät lost all their games.
From the first years onward, Kärpät placed emphasis on working with junior players. The team's E-juniors won the first Finnish championship in 1971.
When theSM-liiga was founded in August 1975, Kärpät were still playing level below in thefirst division. The team earned promotion to the elite league after the1976–77 season. In theirdebut season in SM-liiga, Kärpät managed to finish seventh out of ten teams. During their second season in the top level in1978–79, however, the team struggled and finished last in the regular season, but proved victorious in the relegation league and retained their place in the top league. On the positive side, Kärpät'sKari Jalonen was awardedJarmo Wasama memorial trophy for the best rookie in league after the season.
After having avoided relegation, Kärpät acquired more skilled players, such asMikko Leinonen. The team's performance greatly improved, and in the1979–80 season Kärpät made it to the playoffs where they proved victorious in the bronze medal game. This marked the first time when Kärpät claimed a medal on the national level. The emergence of young players was continued byPekka Arbelius who was titled rookie of the year.
In the following season,1980–81, Kärpät finished third in the regular series, and in the play-offs fought their way to the final series where they would faceTappara. Tappara started the best-out-of-five series in a strong manner, for instance by winning the third game by a score of 13–2. After this devastating loss the series was 2–1 for Tappara. Regardless, the Kärpät head coachKari Mäkinen managed to boost the team's morale, and consequently Kärpät won two consecutive games by scores of 6–1 and 5–2, respectively. Thus, Kärpät clinched the series 3–2 and celebrated the first title for the franchise. The winning goal was scored byKari Suoraniemi, and Kari Jalonen was named the MVP of the playoffs.
Before the1981–82 season, a number of key players' contracts expired and they decided to continue their careers elsewhere. To illustrate, the team lost key and core players such as Jalonen, Suoraniemi, Leinonen andKai Suikkanen, as well as cult playerReijo Ruotsalainen. With a weakened roster, Kärpät had to settle for fifth place and the following year, they were nearly relegated. During the era ofPentti Matikainen as a head coach, Kärpät remained a championship contender and won bronze medals in three consecutive years (1983–84,1984–85 and1985–86). In Matikainen's last season as a coach, in1986–87, Kärpät somewhat surprisingly won the regular season, but lost to Tappara in the finals. Matikainen was replaced by Kari Mäkinen in1987–88, but the team failed to make the play-offs.Esko Nokelainen was named as the new coach, but to little avail. In the following season, in1988–89, Kärpät reached a nadir and Nokelainen was sacked mid-season. Eventually, Kärpät were relegated from the SM-liiga as they lost toJokerit in the relegation league.
The goal was to rise again shortly, but it did not work out. Due to financial constraints, Kärpät went into bankruptcy, but in the fall of 1995, they made it to the first division again. In the first year, they came eighth and lost in the playoffs. The next year, they went againstKalPa for a place in the league, but ultimately lost. In the following year, they again lost to KalPa. For the 1998–99 season, Kärpät acquired coachJuhani Tamminen. After they played very well in the regular series, they lost toTuTo in the playoffs.
The next year, Kärpät finally qualified to the SM-liiga by beatingLahti Pelicans in the qualification series. The first season in the elite league was full of ups-and-downs, but Kärpät finished fourth and sixth in successive seasons. They then finally made it to the finals in, but lost to Tappara, similar to in 1987. In the 2003–04 season, Kärpät played in the finals againstTPS and finally won their second Finnish Championship. In 2004–05, Kärpät won the Finnish Championship again when they defeated Jokerit in the finals, winning the best-of-five series 3–1. They retained the championship title in the 2006–07 season by beating Jokerit in the finals (3–0) and winning all their games in the playoffs. The first three championships of the 2000s have been celebrated in Oulu with feasts, each gathering tens of thousands of people to rejoice. In the 2007–08 season, the organization won its second consecutive championship title, and the fourth within the last five years, by defeating Espoo Blues in the finals, 4–1.
After a six-year lull, Kärpät returned to the top of Finnish ice hockey under the guidance ofLauri Marjamäki, by winning two consecutive championship titles in the2013–14 and2014–15 seasons.[1][2] In both occasions, the team defeated Tappara in the play-off finals. Consequently, the team's Liiga championships tally was taken to seven. In the2015–16 season Kärpät failed to defend the championship title, but were able to win the bronze medal game.[3] In the same season, Kärpät finished runners-up in the2015–16 Champions Hockey League losing 2–1 in the final to Sweden'sFrölunda HC.[4]
After the successive tenure of Marjamäki,Kai Suikkanen was announced as the new head coach of Kärpät for the2016–17 season.[5] Kärpät ended the season tenth in the final results, and Suikkanen was relived of his duties after the season, and was replaced by assistant coachMikko Manner.[6] Manner's first season as the head coach proved highly successful, as Kärpät won the championship again, defeating Tappara in the finals.[7] The following season, the team advanced to the finals yet again, ultimately getting silver, after being defeated byHPK in the finals.[8]
In the third season under the tenure of Manner,2019–20, Kärpät won the regular season again,[9] but the playoffs were cancelled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[10] The following season proved to be the most difficult of Manner's seasons, as the team ended seventh in the regular season,[11] as well as in the final standings after losing in the quarter-finals toHIFK.[12] Manner was succeeded byLauri Mikkola for the2021–22 season,[13] but Mikkola ended up being replaced mid-season by returning Lauri Marjamäki.[14]
Marjamäki's return ended up unsuccessful, as the team's struggles continued, ending up seventh in 2021–22,[15] and ninth in the2022–23 season.[16] Marjamäki ended up being replaced by assistant coachVille Mäntymaa in the middle of the2023–24 season.[17][18] Mäntymaa helped the team get bronze medals at the end of the season,[19] but thefollowing season saw himself in turn being replaced byPetri Matikainen.[20] Kärpät ended the season thirteenth, failing to qualify for the playoffs.[21]
SM-liigaKanada-malja(8): 1981, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2014, 2015, 2018Finnish Liiga A-juniors (U20)(4): 1979, 1985, 2010, 2019
Runner-up (1):2016
Champion (1):2007Champion (1): 2003Other awards for the club:
Updated 23 September 2024.[22]
Sebastian Aho (2014–2016)
Jonas Andersson (2008–2009)Johan Backlund (2012–2013)Niklas Bäckström (2002–2006)
Drew Bannister (2002–2003)Josef Boumedienne (2004–2005, 2006–2007, 2013)Andy Chiodo (2008)Daniel Corso (2008–2009)Toni Dahlman (2008–2009)
Evgeny Davydov (2001)Jason Dawe (2003)Jason Demers (2012–2013)Joonas Donskoi (2009–2015)Mikael Granlund (2009)Kari Haakana (2008)Niklas Hagman (1999–2001, 2016–2017)
Jeff Hamilton (2001–2002)Jonathan Hedström (2010)
Ivan Huml (2011–2016)Hannes Hyvönen (1993–1994, 2006–2008)Kari Jalonen (1978–1982, 1985–1987, 1993)Martti Järventie (2008–2009)Jussi Jokinen (2001–2005, 2012–2013, 2019-present)Jere Karalahti (2007)Lukáš Kašpar (2009–2010)Kamil Kreps (2010–2011)Lasse Kukkonen (1999–2003, 2004–2006, 2013–present)Mikko Lehtonen (1999–2006, 2007–2008, 2009–2014)Ross Lupaschuk (2006–2007)
Ivan Majesky (2006–2007)Zdeněk Nedvěd (2004)Janne Niinimaa (1991–1993, 2004–2005)Markus Nutivaara (2014–2016)Michael Nylander (2004)Janne Pesonen (2001–2008)Lasse Pirjetä (1991–1993, 2001–2002)Esa Pirnes (1995–1999, 2014–2016)Joni Pitkänen (2000–2003)Tomáš Plíhal (2012–2013)Jesse Puljujärvi (2014–2016, 2019–2020)Mika Pyörälä (2001–2007, 2013–2017)Pekka Rinne (2003–2005)Pavel Rosa (2009–2011)Reijo Ruotsalainen (1975–1981, 1993, 1996–1998)Martin St. Pierre (2010)Denis Shvidki (2009)Ilkka Sinisalo (1993–1994)Brad Smyth (2003–2004)Jozef Stümpel (2012)Kai Suikkanen (1976–1981, 1983–1990)Petr Tenkrát (2002–2006, 2010–2011)Tim Thomas (2001–2002)Kyle Turris (2012)Dmitri Yushkevich (2009–2010)
