#kärpät

[annunen]

Was watching old Liiga Läpimurto content last night. Justus Annunen 2019/20 photodump <333

As extra: some funny lines from him in the videos i watched.

“My helmet is custom made because my head is so big.”

“Wanna buy my pads? 2k. 5k and you'll get my glove too - no, 4k. You can sell them forward for 10k if you sign them. Get Pekka Rinne's autograph on them. Yeah, not every goalie has scored a goal.”

Justus, lying on his back in the crease: “Pläääääh.”

Who has the worst jokes in the locker room?

Justus "Jupe" Annunen: “Jasse”

Jasper "Jasse" Patrikainen: “Jupe”

Who's your favorite Leijona*?

Jasper: “Jupe”

Justus: “Not Jasse”

Is Petopodi** your favorite podcast?

“I'm gonna say no so i don't have to do more interviews with them.”

*Team Finland is called "Leijonat", Lions.

**Petopodi is the Kärpät podcast.

[innudoggy]

(Scroll down for English)

Sain joululomalla ”hienon” idean tehdä Suomen jääkeikkoliigan joukkueista Dungeons and Dragons -hahmoja. Inspiraation lähteenä käytin sekä nykyisiä että vanhoja joukkuelogoja sekä itse kaupunkeja, joista ne ovat. Alla ovat jo valmiiksi saadut hahmot.

In English:

I had a “great” idea of drawing the teams of the Finnish hockey league as Dungeons and Dragons characters. I used both recent and older logos of the teams as well as the cities themselves a source of inspiration. The already finished characters can be found below.

[liigainenglish]

Team Finland at World Championships in Czechia 2024

GOALTENDERS

Harri Säteri, 34, Biel-Bienne

Emil Larmi, 27, Växjö Lakers

Lassi Lehtinen, 25, MoDo

DEFENCE

Olli Määttä, 29, Detroit Red Wings

Mikko Lehtonen, 30, ZSC Lions

Rasmus Rissanen, 32, Örebro

Oliwer Kaski, 28, HV71

Juuso Riikola, 30, SCL Tigers

Vili Saarijärvi, 26, SCL Tigers

Veli-Matti Vittasmäki, 33, Tappara

Jesper Mattila, 26, Kalpa

FORWARDS

Juha Jääskä, 26, HIFK

Mikael Granlund, 32, San Jose Sharks

Valtteri Puustinen, 24, Pittsburgh Penguins

Jere Innala, 26, Frölunda

Oliver Kapanen, 20, KalPa

Jesse Puljujärvi, 26, Pittsburgh Penguins

Patrik Puistola, 23, Jukurit

Arttu Hyry, 23, Kärpät

Pekka Jormakka, 33, Jukurit

Saku Mäenalanen, 29, SCL Tigers

Hannes Björninen, 28, Örebro

Iiro Pakarinen, 32, HIFK

Konsta Helenius, 17, Jukurit

Ahti Oksanen, 31, IK Oskarshamn

[liigapolls]

Before the next one gets fired - who is the hottest head coach in the Finnish Liiga?

This one's purely about looks, not the teams or coaching skills, though you can always try to boost your chosen candidate with some hot competence propaganda. Who doesn't love a capable team dad right?

How the tournament works: The coaches have been divided into four groups. The winner from each group will advance into semifinals, and the final will be between the top 2 candidates in the semifinals. Each poll will run for a week, so plenty of time to convince everyone of the worthiness of your fave dude!

No idea what these people look like? Not to worry; to save you from googling, there's two pictures of each coach under the cut, one official photo (this or previous Liiga season) and one recent-ish unofficial photo.

Ville Mäntymaa

Johan Pennerborn

Marko Tuomainen

Petri Karjalainen

[badhockeymom]

How it was to play against the small teenager Sebastian Aho before his NHL years, told by Jonne Virtanen from TPS, (b 1988, 197 cm/6'6, 118 kg/260) in the Kalju Corner podcast:

One player that I remember was Sebastian Aho, his first full Liiga season - he had scored the winning goal in the previous spring, but the first full season. We targeted him, of course, a young boy, let's see how he takes it. Damn, he was hit and chirped all the way, Stone found some 2000's dictionary and let him hear every word. But he didn't even bat an eye, he kept doing his thing completely unfazed, making game-winning moves. -- It was that series, our coaches said to us, try to come up with something, and we'd say, we're trying but he's so damn good, we're dealt unfair cards here!

(TPS fell totally apart to Kärpät in their 2016 playoff series, old-school-goonish Virtanen being one of the top PIM hotheads)

[fuvkrutherford]

Why do some International Hockey Coaches look like that??? Good golly....

It's giving People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive 2015 David Beckham

And we have a lot of this in North America:

[blur-from-the-north]

March 4, 2023. Oulu, Finland. Ricoh GR III. Stylistic processing.

One last look at the previous Liiga hockey season. If we ain't winning, at least we've still got the sausages, right? Right.

[grantmentis]

Women’s hockey roundup: 10/31-12/9

As per usual, this covers the PWHL but also all professional women’s hockey and some international news with some added focus on international leagues. It does not cover college due to time constraints but happy to point to any resources if needed. 100% confirmed news only

Also did something a bit different this month and tried to order points from what I think is most newsworthy at the top but it’s not a super strict order

PWHL (USA/Canada):

I covered a lot in my primer in terms of rule changes and broadcasting and neutral site games, so this will focus on everything else for the most part:

Official rosters are in. All rosters available here (toggle drop down menu to change teams)

The Sirens signed Kayla Vespa and Olivia Knowles after initial roster announcements

Maggie Flaherty (Minnesota Frost) was suspended two games for her hit on Alina Müller

Taylor House signs a SPA with the Ottawa Charge

Current players on injured reserve: Jill Saulnier (NY), Ella Shelton (NY), Dominika Lásková (MTL), Kennedy Marchand (MTL), Hadley Hartmetz (BOS), Natalie Spooner (TOR), Megan Carter (TOR.), Alexa Vasko (Ottawa Charge)

The PWHL is testing out other streaming platforms in the United States, including Twitch. If you are having trouble finding a PWHL stream outside of Canada, make sure to check the PWHL social media for updates!

SDHL (Sweden)

SDHL leading point leader Elisa Holopainen extends her contract with Frölunda. She joins Linnéa Pettersson Dove who extended for two seasons and Sofie Lundin (who’s sixth in the SDHL in points) and Ella Hellman who extended for one season. This waves of signings comes off of Frölundas two year rise since their inception and demonstration of significant financial investment to individual players and the team

Haruka Toko, team Japan star and last years top scorer for Linköping, has season ending surgery due to a cruciate ligament injury

Peter Elander, prominent former Swedish hockey player, former Swedens women’s national team coach, and most recently an assistant coach for Ohio states women’s hockey program, has accepted a job as coach for SDE

Emma Nordin (Luleå) became the all time points leader in the SDHL, surpassing Denise Altmann's record from 2020. Congratulations to Emma, who has 566 points in 461 games

Sarah Bujold, who played with Montreal victoire last year, signed with luleå

Alexa Gruschow, who played with the New York sirens last year, signed with MoDo hockey

Savannah Norcross, who played with the New York sirens last year, signed with luleå

Maude Poulin labelle, who played with the Toronto sceptres last year, signed with Brynäs

Audrey-Anne Veillette, who was with the Ottawa Charge last year but did not play due to injury, joins HV71

Sanni Vanhanen of Brynäs and the Finnish national team committed to play with Ohio state university next season

Czech goaltender Blanka Skodova joined Skellefteå

Standings updates: Frölunda sits in first place, but Luleå and MoDo are extremly close behind. HV71 and Leksands are in the relegation spots right now, with Linköping pretty comfortably ahead of them

Top Players/Players i want to highlight: -Stephanie Neatby (Fröluda), Frida Axell (Luleå), and Kassidy Sauvé (SDE) are all neck and neck for best goaltending stats -Elisa Holopainen (Frölunda) continues to lead in scoring with 31 points, with Petra Nieminen (Luleå) and Hanna Olson (Frölunda) close behind at 25 -Lovisa Engström (MoDo) has been the most impactful U18 player, scoring 8 goals thus far in her age 17 season and rookie year

AuroraLiiga (Finland)

Ella Välikangas rejoins HPK. She played there last season and had 23 points in 32 games played

Czech forward Anna Kalová of RoKi is out for the season.

Mentioned in my last roundup, but Saija Tarkki officially had her jersey! Congratulations to Saija on this incredible accomplishment

Six teams have clinched a playoff spot: Kiekko-Espoo, HPK, HIFK, Team Kuortane, Ilves, and Karpa. TPS, Kärpät, and Roki are left to battle out the remaining spots and avoid relegation. Kiekko-Espoo has a comfortable first place lead

RoKi got their first win of the season!

Top players: - After a bit of a down year last year, Salla Sivula (KalPa) has a .944 save percentage while facing the highest workload of any goalie in the league, and has four shutouts on the year. Sivula has been in the league since 2018-2019 and is currently on pace to set career highs on her new team - 21 year old Lisette Täks continues to make her case for the national team after playing at an elite level in auroraliiga the past two years. She has 46 points in 24 games at Kiekko-Espoo -18 year old Czech forward Barbora Juříčková is having a breakout year with HPK, already doubling her point total from last year. in 23 games this year, she has 40 points -Emma Nuutinen, a league veteran, is your current points leader with 49 points in 22 games for Kiekko-Espoo

SWHL A/ Postfinance Women's League (Switzerland)

The league is showing a wonderful increase in attendance, with a new record attendance set in a game between EV Zug and HC Davos Ladies on November 17th: 2,163 !

ALL WOMEN'S LEAGUES GAMES ARE ONCE AGAIN FREE TO STREAM FOR ALL HERE: https://www.red.sport/en-ch/page/womens-league this includes full replays, highlights, and interviews!!!

New playoff format: the 1st and 2nd placed tams will get a by to the semi-finals. The 3rd to 6th placed teams will play in best of three series to determine who goes on to the semi-finals. The bottom two teams in the table will have a best-of-five playoff series to determine relegation. The semi-finals and the final will be best of five, and there will be a one game bronze medal match.

Coach Johanna Ikonen of HC Davos Ladies signs an extension through 2026/2027. The former Finnish National Team Player is in her first year coaching the HC Davos Ladies, but has a wealth of experience coaching women's pro teams. HC Davos Ladies are currently in second place, a major improvement from last year when they were in fifth place with a negative goal differential.

Swiss hockey hall of famer Evelina Raselli, who captained Team Switzerland, won five swhl championships, and won an Isobel Cup with the Boston Pride, accepted a assistant coaching role for HC Davos starting in January

Ivana Wey (EVZ), a up and coming star for the Swiss national team, committed to Northeastern University

Naemi Herzig (EVZ) has committed to College of the Holy Cross

New Injuries: Annika Fazokas (EVZ) it out with a concussion

SC Bern Frauen is in first with HC Davos right behind. EVZ Women's Team could also make a run for one of the first two spots and have a game in hand. SC Langenthal Damen and Neuchâtel Hockey Academy Dames will almost certainly be relegated

Current top performers: - Elizabeth Lang (HC Davos Ladies) rookie out of University of Calgary with a league leading 37 points in 18 games -Estelle Duvin (SC Bern Fraun), who's been one of the MVP's of the SWHL the past few years, has 34 points in 18 games -Michaela Pejzlová (HC Ambrì-Piotta), a czech national team player in her first SWHL season after many years as a MVP caliber player in Auroraliiga, has 31 goals in 17 games

EWHL (Central/Eastern Europe)

Aisulu Almaty, HK PSRZ Bratislava, SKN Sabres St.Pölten are all extremely close in points in the top three spots. EV Bozen Eagles and KSV Neuberg Highlanders sit close behind them. Anyone in the top five spots could finish first.

Top players -Kristin Della Rovere (EV Bozen Eagles) is your top scorer with 33 points in 14 games -Latvian goaltender Kristiana Apsite for DEC Salzburg Eagles has been the most impressive goaltender to me. While goalies like Seeley have better numbers, Apsite's workload has been insane. Despite being on the worst team and facing the second most shots in the league (about 38 shots a game) she is putting up respectable numbers with a .911 save percentage -Slovak forward Ema Tothova is still the best u18 player, just as she was last year. The 17 year old has 18 points in 13 games. She is also playing in a boy's-majority u18 league at the same time

International news:

The 6-Nations event in Tampere begins December 11 to 15th, with Switzerland, Finland, Czechia, Sweden, USA, and Canada. The tournament rosters are made up primarily of the younger talent and ncaa players in each national teams pipelines. Most pro leagues are on break as a result

The u18 tournaments will be coming up in January! I will post more about them later, but if you would like to read more about them check out the IIHF page

[liigainenglish]

are they better at pickeball than hockey?

[goalhofer]

2024 IIHF Worlds Finland Roster

Wingers

#12 Jere Innala (Frölunda Hockeyklubb/Hämeenlinna)

#13 Jesse Puljujärvi (Pittsburgh Penguins/Tornio)

#21 Patrik Puistola (Mikkelin Jukurit/Tampere)

#24 Hannes Björninen (Örebro H.K./Lahti)

#25 Pekka Jormakka (Mikkelin Jukurit/Jyväskylä)

#48 Valtteri Puustinen (Pittsburgh Penguins/Kuopio)

#57 Arttu Hyry (Oulun Kärpät/Oulu)

#71 Ahti Oksanen (I.K. Oskarshamn/Kirkkonummi)

#80 Saku Mäenalanen (S.C. Langnau Tiger/Tornio)

#81 Iiro Pakarinen (H.I.F.K./Suonenjoki)

Centers

#15 Juha Jääskä (H.I.F.K./Helsinki)

#19 Konsta Helenius (Mikkelin Jukurit/Ylöjärvi)

#27 Oliver Kapanen (Kalevan Pallo/Kuopio)

#64 Mikael Granlund (San José Sharks/Oulu)

Defensemen

#2 Rasmus Rissanen (Örebro H.K./Kuopio)

#3 Olli Määttä (Detroit Red Wings/Jyväskylä)

#4 Mikko Lehtonen (Zürcher S.C./Turku)

#7 Oliwer Kaski (HV71/Pori)

#18 Vili Saarijärvi (S.C. Langnau Tiger/Rovaniemi)

#38 Veli-Matti Vittasmäki (Tampeeren Tappara/Turku)

#50 Juuso Riikola (S.C. Langnau Tiger/Joensuu)

#62 Jesper Mattila (Kalevan Pallo/Tampere)

Goalies

#29 Harri Säteri (E.H.C. Biel-Bienne/Toijala)

#30 Lassi Lehtinen (Modo Hockey/Lahti)

#33 Emil Larmi (Växjö Sjöers Hockeyklubb/Lahti)

[bisonaari]

You being a kärppä truther is spot on since the ice hockey team in Oulu is called Oulun Kärpät

ONLY THE BEST COMES FROM OULU IT SEEMS

[juhollamago]

I AM HOWLING. KÄRPÄT FIRED NICK RITCHIE. JUST YESTERDAY THEY SAID THEY HAVE PATIENCE WITH HIM 😂😂😂

[badhockeymom]

I'm so impressed with Markus Nutivaara: he must be the most grounded, humble, down-to-earth and level-headed person in hockey.

I listened to his long interview on the Oulun Kärpät podcast Petopodi yesterday. He said a lot of the same things as in the article linked in this post, but a lot of other things too, such as reminiscing his Kärpät days and talking about his hometown buddies and thw support he has from his family.

The total opposite of entitlement: he appreciates his journey, but he's happy to be where he is now.

[enkeliseepra]

Tuskien taival

Edellinen yö meni taas painajaisia nähdessä. Nousin aamulla, otin aamulääkkeeni, harjasin hampaani, nautin aamiaista ja kahvia, huuhtelin kasvoni kylmällä vedellä, rasvasin ihoni, ja pukeuduin.

Siivosin sen verran että vaihdoin pyyhkeet ja lakanat, pesin pyykkiä, puleerasin vessanpöntön, ja imuroin lattian myös huonekalujen alta, ja lakaisin lattian kylpyhuoneesta.

Lähdin käymään kauppakeskuksessa tallettamassa käteistä, sitten menin käymään Citymarkettiin ostamaan ruokaa.

Palasin kotiini, ripustin pyykit ja laitoin toisen koneellisen pyykkelehtimään.

Lähdin Kristan ja Arin ystävänpäiväjuhliin.

Kävin samalla viemässä roskat kierrätykseen. Lähdin junalla ja sitten ratikalla sinne missä he asuivat.

Juhlissa oli tarjolla makeita ja suolaisia, enemmän tai vähemmän terveellisiä herkkuja.

Miesporukka katsoi HIFK - Kärpät ottelua, ja Mirette lauloi karaokea. Siellä oli myös sauna.

Siinä vaiheessa kun meno alkoi muistuttamaan villimpää länttä, lähdin livohkaan. Kävelin pakkasillan halki bussipysäkille ja sieltä matkustin bussilla keskustaan ja sieltä bussilla kotiini.

Nyt olen kotona, otin iltalääkkeeni ja nautin iltapalaa. Ripustin pyykit ja laitoin toisen koneellisen, sillä puhtaat alusvaatteet alkavat olla lopussa.

Huomenna aion mopata lattian myös huonekalujen alta ja kylpyhuoneesta.

Lähden kävellen vanhemmilleni, perillä heidän luonaan aion soittaa mummille ja ystävilleni viikottaiset puhelut.

Illemmalla menen Miretelle, vien hänelle yhden tavaran.

[grantmentis]

Women's Hockey Roundup: October

Woof, I fell off of these for a while. Blame baseball and college! Anyway, I'm going to just do what happened in women's hockey in October (and maybe the last few days of September) for all leagues. This is only confirmed news and games, so rumors are not included

If you're new, i recap the top stories from around club play women's hockey (so not collegiate) and try to give more detail on european women's hockey, since that's less reported on in north america :-) Feel free to add if i miss anything!

PWHL (USA/Canada)

The PWHL schedule has been released! We have a few TBD's in venues, most likely for playing select games in bigger venues or neutral sites. we do not currently have streaming/television info, so stay tuned for that. There will be a preseason, but not open to the public.

Training Camp Begins November 12, with preseason/mini camps The 19-22. New York's training camp roster is here. Boston's is here. Minnesota's is here. Montreal is here. Ottawa's is here. Toronto's is here.

Nov. 27: Deadline to finalize rosters of 23 players and 3 reserves

Abigail Boreen signed a three year deal with the Montréal Victoire. She played with the Minnesota Frost last year, including in the playoffs, as a reserve player.

Ronja Savolainen signed a three year deal with the Ottawa Charge. She played with Luleä most recently and is a star of the Finnish national team.

Sarah Lefort, most recently with Montréal Victoire, has announced her retirement

The PWHL has begun the process of expansion for 2025-2026, targeting two new cities

SDHL (Sweden)

Fanni Garát-Gasparics signs with Brynäs IF, though is still rehabbing the injury she sustained last year with the Ottawa Charge

Dutch national team legend Savine Wielenga signs with Leksands IF

Rookie Reece Hunt of Luleä is out for the season with a torn knee ligament

Frölunda general manager Kim Martin Hassons is extended to 2028, and head coach Erika Holst is extended to 2026. Frölunda has been massively successful thus far this year, currently in second place in the standings and coming off a big win against firs place Lulëa

While Luleä and Frölunda are at the top of the table, MoDo is making noise in third place, having won six of their last eight.

A couple key story lines: -> Finish National Team forward, Elisa Holopainen (Frölunda) is lighting the league on fire in her first year in the SDHL. She has 9 goals and ten assists in 13 games -> We have a few wonderful comeback stories this year. Hanna Olsson (Frölunda) is back to her old self after missing most of last year with injury, with 16 points in 13 games, good for fourth in the league. Erica Reider, (Luleä) who did not play for two seasons, looks like she never left, currently leading all defenders i the league in points. And Kassidy Sauvé (SDE), who missed almost two full season's with a hip injury, currently leads all goaltenders in save percentage. -> MoDo Hockey is being powered almost entirely by a youth movement: top producers Ebba Hedqvist, Adéla Šapovalivová, Mira Hallin, and Lovisa Engström are all 18 or younger and playing prominent roles on the 3rd place team

Auroraliiga (Finland)

Canadian Emma Hall joins KalPa after playing in the NDHL (Sweden's second division) last year

Kärpät will retire the number 20 in honor of long time legend Saija Tarkki. After 21 seasons with Kärpät as well as the Finnish national team, Tarkki retired in 2019. She will be honored Novembe 23rd.

A Couple key storylines: -> 18 year old Czech forward Barbora Juříčková i having a breakout year with HPK, already surpassing her point total from last season with 22. She joins Emma Ekoluoma (Ilves), who was a star on the U18 Finnish team last year, as one of the young players to keep an eye on in this league -> Kiekko-Espoo sits at the top of the table, with Ilves right behind. Last year's champions HIFK are feeling the loss of several star players and sit in fourth place. -> Sister's Jennika , Joanna and Jatta Ojala all played for the same team together for the first time at the top level for Team Kuortane

SWHL A / Postfinance Women League (Switzerland)

Not technically league play, but since they play in this league too ill put it here: EV Zug won the EWHL Euro Cup, which is played at the beginning of the season including select club teams across europe! They bear the German league's Memmingen to do so. Noemi Neubauerova, who is set to play with the Toronto Sceptres when the PWHL game begins, scored the game winning goal

Sponsor PostFinance announces that in 2025/2026, they will only financially support men's club teams that have a women's counterpart

Nadine Hofstetter of EV Zug is out three weeks with a broken finger. She is one of the team's veteran defenders who also plays for the Swiss national team. Vanessa Ryhner, Nina Harju, and Julia Näf are also out with injury for EV Zug, though Rhyner should be back any day now.

ZSC Lions Fraun is hit with injuries: Slovakian forward Tereza Lahova is out for the year with injury, and Aurela Thalmann and Alena Polenská (aka Alena Mills) are also injured. They are calling up Univ. of Saskatchewan alumni Sophie Lalor

A few storylines: -> Elizabeth Lang (HC Davos Ladies) is leading the league in points in her rookie year and scoring at a goal per game pace. She graduated from University of Calgary last year -> Lara Stalder (EVZ Women's team) continues to do Lara Stalder things and is tied with Lang in goals, but newcomers Michaela Pejzlová (HC Ambrì-Piotta Girls) and Clara Rozier (SC Bern Fraun) who were stars in last year's finnish league are close behind. The top scorer race for this league will be exciting, and that's not to mention old friends like Rahel Enzler and Estelle Duvin, among others. -> HC Davos Ladies is currently at the top of the standings, but EV Zug and SC Bern Frauen are very close behing them -> 18 year old Ivana Wey (EVZ Women's Team) has been off to a blistering hot start, a lot of hype surrounding her after a strong performance at both u18 and senior worlds. Another interesting young player is Lucie Tenenbaum, an American set to play at Minnesota State next year but is spending this year in Switzerland. The 18 year old has 5 goals and two assists with HC Davos Ladies so far

EWHL (Central/East Europe)

EV Bozen Eagles are currently dominating the league, with the help of players such as import Kristin Della Rovere, who has 16 points in 9 games. The Bozen eagles are part of a larger plan to help get italy's women's national team ready for the 2026 olympics

HK PSRZ Bratislava are undefeated thus far this season, after winning last year's title.

Canadian USport alumni are thriving in this league; Cassidy Maplethorpe, Hannah Tait, and Lauren Nicholson among top goal scorers

Slovak Ema Tothova continues to be the young player to watch, after her breakout seeason last year the 17 year old forward has 10 goals in five games. She is also competing in a boy's league in Slovakia while playing in the EWHL

OTHERS

watch this space for Czech forward Adéla Mynaříková to mak the u18 team this year. She's 15 and just steamrolling people in the Czech top league, with 15 goals and 5 assists in 8 games playing against a lot of grown adults

Norweigan forward Une Bjelland Strandborg, who was arguably one of the best NCAA DIII players of all time and graduated last year, is killing it in Germany's league with newly added Austrian team HK Budapest. She has 7 points in 6 games

[liigainenglish]