Which Finnish Hockey Team Should You Root For?

We’re continuing with our celebration of Finland today by bringing things back around to hockey. If you’re anything like the BCI hockey crew, you have accepted Finland as your second national hockey team thanks to BC’s Finnish players. (Sorry, many Canadian BC hockey players, but we can’t root for Canada.) So today seemed like the perfect day to investigate the professional hockey teams in Finland to help fans decide which team to begin cheering for...

Men’s Hockey

HIFK
Pros: They play in Helsinki and have many famous program alums.
Cons: No fun mascot/team name. Tim Thomas played for them.

HPK
Pros: They were founded in 1929 but didn’t win a championship until 2006 - everybody loves an underdog. Tacky orange uniforms with a creepy knight logo. Former Bruin Hannu Toivonen played for them.
Cons: Who knows how long it’ll be before they win another championship? Also knights are a pretty generic mascot.

Ilves
Pros: Mascot is the Lynx. The hometown team of BC’s 3 Finns.
Cons: The Ilves logo is a hot mess.

Jukurit
Pros: Look at this logo.
Cons: They’ve never won a title and they missed the playoffs this year - an underdog is one thing, but you don’t want to choose a team that will just make you suffer.

JYP
Pros: They have a partnership with the Bruins.
Cons: Their uniforms look like worse versions of the Carolina Hurricanes uniforms.

KalPa
Pros: Originally located in Sortavala, which was annexed by the Soviet Union and is now part of Russia.
Cons: They’ve never won a championship despite being a decent team.

KooKoo
Pros: Do you need a better reason than the fact that the team name is KooKoo?
Cons: The team colors include what appears to be basically neon orange.

Kärpät
Pros: They are the Ermines and have an awesome logo.
Cons: Tons of NHL players on their alumni list means they probably have former players you really don’t like.

Lukko
Pros: Lukko means “lock” so the team has this weird fancy logo. Having a team called “lock” also opens up a lot of puns.
Cons: The Lukko uniforms are reminiscent of Sweden uniforms - do you want that to be true of your favorite Finnish team?

Lahti Pelicans
Pros: They are the Pelicans. Awesome uniforms plus a fun/weird logo.
Cons: The are the Pelicans. They’ve had a tumultuous history and have struggled to find success.

SaiPa
Pros: Dave Spina played for SaiPa. Also known as “The Sputniks”. Cool uniforms.
Cons: Not particularly good. Last in the league last season and have never won a championship.

Vaasan Sport
Pros: Mike Brennan played for Sport. Logo is an eagle.
Cons: Came in second to last this past season and have never won a championship.

Tappara
Pros: Very good. Won the championship last season. The most successful Finnish hockey team. Name means “battle axe”.
Cons: It’s kind of boring to just pick the best team as your favorite. The rival team of the BC Finns’ hometown team.

TPS
Pros: Dave Spina played for TPS. Has won 10 championships and is tied for most successful Finnish team since 1975.
Cons: The logo is definitely a basketball.

Ässät
Pros: A fun team name. Pat Mullane played for Ässät for a year.
Cons: Colors are red, black, and white. Too similar to our Hockey East foes.

Jokerit
Pros: Terrifying mascot.
Cons: KHL. Eeli Tolvanen plays for them (*endless tears that he isn’t at BC*).

Women’s Hockey

I wanted to write about the women’s teams too, but there is barely any up to date, English information about the Finnish women’s league that is easy to find. So I say root for Team Kuortane because look at how fun they are!