Vaasan Sport

Vaasan Sport
Vaasan Sport
City	Vaasa
League	Liiga
Founded	1939; 1962 (the ice hockey team)
Home arena	Vaasa Arena
Colors	Red, black, white;
Owner(s)	HT Vaasan Sport Oy
General manager	Ari-Pekka Pajuluoma
Head coach	Juuso Hahl
Captain	Sebastian Stålberg
Website	vaasansport.fi

Sport, known by its full name as Hockey Team Vaasan Sport OY or simply Vaasan Sport, is a Finnish ice hockey team playing in Liiga, and is based at Vaasa Arena (capacity 5000) in Vaasa. The team was established in 1939 as IF Sport (Idrottsföreningen Sport).

History

Vaasan Sport was founded in 1939 as IF Sport. The team was involved in the founding of the Finnish top division Liiga, formerly known as SM-Liiga, in 1975, but was relegated only one year later after the 1975-1976 season.^[1]

After the relegation, Sport played in the Finnish First Division (since then renamed to Mestis), until they were relegated in 1991-1992 to the Finnish Second Division. Climbing back up to the First division proved to be a tough task and wasn't accomplished until spring 1997, with the game-winning goal of the deciding game against Kiekko-67 being scored by Kari Teräväinen in overtime.

The 2008-09 season was a success as Sport won the Mestis championship. However, in the league qualification series the team lost the last game to Ässät in a best-of-7 format, thus remaining in Mestis. The overall qualification series were close as Sport at one point was a single goal away from beating Ässät in overtime and being promoted to Liiga, but was unable to score.

Sport struggled with bad economy during the 2000s, which almost led the club to bankruptcy. The club board made improvements to secure the future of the club, cutting down on the budget for the whole new season, as well as installing new head coach and former world ice hockey champion Antti Törmänen, who started to build a new young team from scratch. Eventually, the club surfaced from its financial struggles and went ahead to consistently fight for the championship victory again.

In 2014, during the 2013-2014 Mestis season, it was confirmed that Sport would be promoted to Liiga for the 2014-2015 season, regardless of the outcome of the ongoing championship. This was due to former Liiga team Jokerit transferring to KHL, leaving an open slot in the Finnish top division.

Supporters

The official fan club is called Red Army.^[2] The fan club Ultras 06 function as non-official supporters.^[3]

Players

Current roster

Updated 30 December 2023.^[4]


No.	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
60	Rasmus Reijola	G	L	31	2020	Vantaa, Finland
95	Miroslav Svoboda	G	L	29	2023	Vsetin, Czechia
53	Aatu Aarnio	D/F	L	24	2022	Naantali, Finland
65	Zack Hayes	D	L	25	2023	Calgary, Alberta, Canada
52	Valtteri Hietanen (A)	D	L	31	2022	Virrat, Finland
16	Theodor Johnsson	D	R	21	2023	Helsingborg, Sweden
37	Atro Leppänen	D	L	25	2023	Mänttä, Finland
96	Bine Masic	D	L	21		Kranj, Slovenia
24	Reece Scarlett	D	R	31	2023	Edmonton, Canada
4	Teemu Suhonen	D	L	35	2023	Kuopio, Finland
36	Juho Tommila	D	R	31	2018	Lapland, Finland
63	Lari Heikkinen	LW	L	24	2019	Oulu, Finland
11	Simon Hjalmarsson (A)	LW	L	35	2022	Värnamo, Sweden
25	Axel Holmström	C	L	27	2021	Arvidsjaur, Sweden
55	Oskari Hult	LW	L	20	2023	Vantaa, Finland
10	Jens Lööke	RW	R	27	2022	Gävle, Sweden
40	Carl Mattson	C/LW	L	24	2023	Gammelstad, Sverige
80	Kalle Miketinac	C	L	25	2023	Kallinge, Sweden
21	Miro Nalli	LW	L	25	2023	Sahalahti, Finland
71	Viljami Nieminen	LW	L	22	2022	Denver, Colorado, USA
86	Jesse Rantanen	C	L	21	2023	Lappi, Finland
13	Erik Riska (A)	C/LW	L	35	2008	Pietarsaari, Finland
12	Anton Stråka	C	L	26	2023	Uusikaarlepyy, Finland
17	Sebastian Stålberg (C)	RW	R	34	2020	Lerum, Sweden
28	Johan Sundström	C	R	31	2023	Göteborg, Sweden
91	Sebastian Wännström	RW	R	33	2023	Gävle, Sweden

Retired numbers

# 29 Håkan Hjerpe
# 27 Tomi Väkelä
# 14 Sami Laaksoharju (not officially retired, but number has been off rotation after the death of Laaksoharju)