SM-liiga - HIFK - Profile

HIFK (a traditional abbreviation of Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna i Helsingfors, meaning "Sports Club Comrades in Helsinki" is a hockey team based in Helsinki, Finland. The team plays at Helsinki Ice Hall. They were  founded in 1897. Since then, HIFK has won the Finnish National Championship title seven times (1969, 1970, 1974, 1980, 1983, 1998 and 2011). The derbys against local rivals Jokerit are often sold out and are one of the fiercest in Nordic hockey.
HIFK's general manager starting from May 1 2008 is Jukka Valtanen. He is the successor of Pentti Matikainen, who coached Team Finland to its first hockey Olympic medal (silver) in Calgary 1988. HIFK won the Finnish championship title in the season of 2010-2011 against Espoo Blues.
The championship team from 1998 is widely recognized as one of the best ever to have skated together in the top flight of Finnish ice hockey.
Players on the 1998 championship team included a number of future (and former) NHL players – including Tim Thomas (Boston Bruins, Florida Panthers), Jan Čaloun (Columbus Blue Jackets), Johan Davidsson (Anaheim Ducks), Bob Halkidis (Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings), *Olli Jokinen (Los Angeles Kings, New York Islanders, Florida Panthers, Phoenix Coyotes, Calgary Flames, Winnipeg Jets), *Jere Karalahti (Los Angeles Kings), Jarno Kultanen (Boston Bruins), *Brian Rafalski (New Jersey Devils, Detroit Red Wings), Christian Ruuttu (Buffalo Sabres, Chicago Blackhawks), *Jarkko Ruutu (Vancouver Canucks, Pittsburgh Penguins, Ottawa Senators, Anaheim Ducks), Kimmo Timonen (Nashville Predators, Philadelphia Flyers) and Marko Tuomainen (Los Angeles Kings).
HIFK got their campaign underway at the Pitsiturnaus Rauma tournament on August 7. Since then they have played further friendlies in Tampere, beating TPS Turku 4-0 but losing to local side Ilves Tampere 2-6, and hammering Blues Espoo 5-1 in the town of Kirkkonummi. That proved to be perfect preporation for their group games in the Champions Hockey League. They beat Swiss-side Bern 3-1 at home before losing the return game away 3-2 on penalty shots. Swedish team Linkoping would pose a much tougher prospect and the Finns lost 2-0 in Sweden, before losing 1-2 at home. Thankfully their 4 points from the games against Bern, proved to be enough to qualify for the next stage. They face another Swiss team, HC Davos, in the Round of 32.
HIFK start their Domestic campaign in the SM-liiga on the road against Blues Espoo on Friday.