FINLAND - In the round up of Finnish SM-Liiga teams, we first take a look at Espoo Blues. The Blues (formerly known as Kiekko-Espoo) is one of the youngest teams taking part in the SM-Liiga competition. Established in 1984 as Kiekko-Espoo (loose translation: Hocey-Espoo), the team has seen somewhat of a stellar rise to the SM-Liiga level.

Inception and early days

Upon its inception the team was in 1984 it competed in the Finnish second division and after four years in the second division, Kiekko-Espoo achieved promotion to the First Division in 1988. The promotion to SM-Liiga came in 1992, after the team beat Joensuun Kiekkopojat 3-2 in a best-of-five series.

The promotion to SM-Liiga didn’t mean instant success though and the teams first two seasons only produced 11^th position out of 12. The first play-off appearance came in the 1994-95 season when Kiekko-Espoo were defeated by Lukko Rauma in the quarter final stage. This set the precedent for success and in the 1997-98 season play-offs Kiekko-Espoo staged a major upset by beating TPS Turku in the quarter finals; that year TPS had won the SM-Liiga regular season and were the power house of the SM-Liiga.

Rebrand

The name Kiekko-Espoo disappeared into Finnish hockey history in the summer of 1998 when the team re-branded itself as Espoo Blues. The name has no reference to St. Louis Blues of the NHL but refers to the dominant blue colour of the team’s uniform.

The 1998-99 season saw the team move from its humble rink in Matinkyla where yours truly learnt how to skate and play, to a modern, state of the art Lansi-Auto Arena. Much like the New Jersey Devils in their new home arena the Blues struggled out of the gate despite many big name players carrying the teams colours. Blues next big success came in 2002-03 when the team finished 4^th in the regular season. The team lost to Tappara Tampere the eventual champions that year in game seven of the quarter finals.

In 2006-07, the Blues reached the semi-finals for the first time in its history losing to Karpat Oulu. The first time the Blues made it in to the finals in 2007-08 they lost to Karpat Oulu 4-1 in the best-of-seven series.

Further re-branding

The Lansi-Auto Arena was re-branded to Barona Arena in 2009 due to Lansi-Auto not renewing its sponsorship agreement with the team.

After the appearance in the finals the Blues bettered its highest finish in the regular season 2008-2009 when the team finish second in the league and recorded 100 points for the first time in the franchise’s history. The team failed to capitalize on its regular season success though and lost against Kalpa Kuopio in the bronze medal final, finishing 4th over-all

City: Espoo, Finland

Founded: 1984

Home Arena and Capacity: Barona Arena, 7,036

Colours: Blue, White, Yellow

Championships: None (1 silver)

Notable Players:  Jere Lehtinen of the Dallas Stars started his professional career with Kiekko-Espoo, Niklas Hagman of the Calgary Flames used to play for the Kiekko-Espoo/ Espoo Blues organisation. Former Espoo Blues player Oskar Osala plays for the Albany River Rats in the AHL. Steve Kariya, who has played for a number of teams in Finland and is the brother of St Louis Blues’ forward Paul Kariya.

Contact: janne.virtanen@prohockeynews.com