Always the underdog, SaiPa Lappeenranta has had to battle hard to gain respect in the competitive Finnish league. Their hard work got them to the semi-finals in 2013-14, though, and a spot in the Champions Hockey League.

by Kalle Mantere

In European hockey and in Finnish hockey, SaiPa or Saimaan Pallo as it is officially known in Finnish, is not the most famous club. In fact, outside Finland the name SaiPa is better known as a car or a football club, both from Iran. In their 66-year history, Saipa Lappeenranta have only one medal, a bronze, from 1966.

The birth of hockey in Lappeenranta

In 1948, SaiPa's history began as a bandy and football club. At the time the club had no intentions to expand to ice hockey, but in 1951 a copy of the Canadian-published Hockey Handbook ended up in SaiPa's office and, after a translation, the club's history and journey began in hockey.

Before making it to the Finnish Elite League, SaiPa played in the lower leagues for years. In 1959 it was promoted to the top league and it stayed there for a decade until 1969, when relegation struck again. From that year on, SaiPa would be the elevator team between leagues for a number of years.

The current Finnish Elite League, SM-Liiga at the time, was incorporated in 1975 and SaiPa fell short of promotion that year. In 1979 SaiPa hired Alpo Suhonen to be the head coach. Suhonen lead the team to a long-awaited promotion in his first season.

After that season the first-ever SaiPa player was chosen in the NHL Entry Draft when the Vancouver Canucks drafted Petri Skriko in the eighth round. After several years of moving between the SM-liiga and first division, SaiPa made the SM-liiga playoffs for the first time in 1982. It kept on going for number of years until financial difficulties came in to play.

Fighting for survival

In 1990 SaiPa wanted to boost it's roster and signed Czech players Otakar Janecký and Jaroslav Benák to their roster. SaiPa desperately wanted to make the playoffs, but failed miserably. Not only did the club face relegation to the first division, but also its debts were close to five million Euros. The debts continued to mount over the next year and the club was facing bankruptcy. During the Christmas break in 1991, the club released all players from their contracts and offered them new contracts, at half the salary. Six players rejected the offer.

Over the next few seasons, SaiPa improved its financial situation and by 1996 had paid off all of the debts. The same year a player returned to home. Jussi Markkanen had been a solid No. 1 goalie in the first division and returned to his hometown team before heading to the NHL.

A few years later, the team that most had predicted to be relegated from the league shocked everyone by making the playoffs and then sweeping top-seeded Jokerit Helsinki in three games, making to the semi-finals for the first time in its history. It was reported that roughly 3000 SaiPa fans were inside Helsinki Arena for game three.

New millenium, new start

The end of the 20th century was good to SaiPa. But after an extremely good season it slumped again. The club had signed several star players to its roster over the years. Former Finnish national team goalie Jarmo Myllys, who later joined SaiPa as a goalie coach and Canadians Shayne Toporowski and Rob Zepp to mention a few, but the team didn't make the playoffs for seven years.

In 2004 Petteri Nokelainen became the first SaiPa player to be taken in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft when he was selected by the New York Islanders.

After a playoff run against IFK Helsinki in 2005, the club would experience another seven-year playoff drought, even facing relegation in 2009, but won a play-out series against Lukko Rauma to survive.

In 2010 SaiPa tried to make it to the playoffs by raising its budget. It signed forward Dale McTavish from Switzerland – who'd had a cult-following from when he played for the club in 1997 - Slovakian defenceman Richard Lintner, and American defenceman Brian Salcido to boost the roster. Yet again, the club failed to make the playoffs and ended up 12th place. Financially, the season was a disaster as the club recorded close to one million Euros in losses.

The turning point for the club came in August 2011, when the club hired former SaiPa defenceman Riku Kallioniemi as general manager. The next season it signed another former player, Pekka Tirkkonen, as head coach and Antti Tuomenoksa as sports manager.

The 2013–14 season was a Cinderella story for the club. After finishing fourth in the regular season, the club won the quarter-final series against JYP Jyväskylä in seven games. After losing in the semi-finals to the eventual champion Kärpät Oulu, the story from '90s repeated itself. No medal, but the debts were almost paid off and they qualified for the Champions Hockey League. After winning their group, they beat Geneve-Servette in the Round of 16 before falling once again to Kärpät, this time in the CHL Quarter-Finals.

After an off-season domestically in 2014–15 – finishing 8th and falling again to Kärpät – they moved up to 5th place in 2015–16. Although they fall to JYP in the Liiga quarter-finals, that was enough to re-qualify the team for the CHL.

Playing with heart

There's a saying in Finland: "A loved child has a lot of nicknames". SaiPa, also called "The Sputniks" or "The Giants of the East", doesn't have a lot of famous hockey players or boat loads of money to spend every year. In fact, for all of its seasons in the Finnish Elite League, SaiPa has always had the smallest budget in the league. It could be said that the club is not famous for anything, except for one thing.

What it is famous for is heart. It's famous for having players who are willing to fight for every inch on the ice. In the '90s a tactic called Kusipääkiekko was introduced by the Head Coach Heikki Mälkiä. It could be translated to mean ”piss-ant hockey”. No matter how much you shake, no matter how hard you check, the players are still all over you, giving it all they've got. These days the tactics of the team are little different, but still the players will be all over the ice once the game begins.

Also to the team's advantage is home arena Kisapuisto, which is an extremely tough place to play for visiting teams. Several players who have played in the Finnish league, domestic or imported, have stated that Lappeenranta is one of the toughest rinks to play in.

Team facts

CHL seasons

2014–15: 1st in Group H, Quarter-Finals

Click here for current information about the club.

NOTE: This article has been updated since its original publication.