In recent years, Karpat Oulu have been the best team in Finland, winning the national title six times in 13 years. They are trying to translate domestic success into dominance on the European stage as well. 

by Pekka Mankila

Kärpät Oulu are the most successful Finnish hockey team of the new millenium, winning the national championship six times during the last 13 years. After couple of difficult seasons, Kärpät returned to the throne in 2013–14, winning their first of back-to-back titles. It is a team which every other team wants to beat, and succeeding in it has greater significance compared to a normal victory.

Half of Finland's team

Kärpät are sometimes said to be "half of Finland's team", due to their large fanbase. There is a simple explanation to this term, originally invented by Kärpät CEO Juha Junno. The city of Oulu is located in the middle of Finland on north-south-axis, but due to the sparse population in the northern half of the country, Kärpät are the northernmost team in the Liiga, Finland's top league. The club has strong support from Lapland, in the far north of the country, all the way to a couple hundred kilometers south of Oulu. The nearest team in the Liiga is located about 400 km to the south.

When Kärpät play at home, buses full of fans travel to Oulu from great distances just to see their heroes play. That is how much the team means to its supporters. An old legend tells a story about a Finnish man who travelled from Australia to Oulu just to see the deciding playoff game.

Representing northern Finland since 1946

The club was established in 1946, but didn't start playing real hockey games until until a proper rink was completed in 1948. Kärpät played their first official game two years later in the regional league.

The team managed to rise to the top national league in 1960 but was not able to establish itself there, and was forced back to the second league. In the 1960s, the team rose back to the top league twice more, but was again quickly relegated both times.

The next time the city of Oulu celebrated its team's return to the top league was in 1977. This time, Kärpät had arrived to stay. Three years later, they were awarded with bronze medals when Kärpät finished third in the league.

The ultimate prize came the following season. The club won its first national championship in 1980–81, 35 years after its establishment. The most notable players on the team were Reijo Ruotsalainen, the future two-time Stanley Cup winner with the Edmonton Oilers, future NHLer and team captain Kai Suikkanen, and Kari Jalonen, the current head coach of the Finnish national team.

The '80s were mostly a good decade for the club. Even though another championship did not arrive to Oulu, Kärpät collected four more medals: one silver and three bronzes.

As the decade neared its end, however, the team faced a difficult situation. After a poor season 1988–89 season, Kärpät were forced to play against up-and-coming Jokerit Helsinki to remain in the top league. Jokerit and rising young superstar Teemu Selänne gave all of northern Finland a real shock and won the series.

Losing their position in the top league was a huge blow for the club and for the whole city. Kärpät targeted a quick return to the majors, without success. What's worse, this pursuit of a return had a devastating impact on the club's finances. The high payroll meant high financial risk, which did not pay off. In 1994, Kärpät declared bankruptcy and, because of that, the team was dropped to the third-highest league.

After hitting rock bottom, the club started re-building from scratch under new CEO Juha Junno. In the year 2000, after 11 years of misery, Kärpät finally returned to the top league.

Exactly four years later, Kärpät celebrated their second national championship, then repeated that success in 2005, 2007 and 2008. It was enough to make some people call Kärpät the new dynasty of Finnish hockey. Internationally, Kärpät twice advanced to the European Champions Cup, narrowly missing the continental title both years. In 2005, they were beaten 2–1 in overtime by Avangard Omsk on a goal by Jaromír Jágr and then, the following year, they lost in a shootout to Dynamo Moscow. Key players during this period were goalies Niklas Bäckstom and Pekka Rinne, defencemen Ilkka Mikkola and Mikko Lehtonen, and forward Petr Tenkrát.

After a few mediocre seasons, Kärpät won the Finnish title for the sixth time in 2013–14 under new head coach Lauri Marjamäki and repeated the following year, both times with dramatic game-seven overtime victories over Tappara Tampere.

In the first two Champions Hockey League seasons, Kärpät made the Semi-Finals both times. In 2014–15, they faced Frolunda Göthenberg and after drawing their two-game series, lost on an overtime goal in what was called in the press the best hockey game played in Finland that season. The next year they were led by the great goaltending of Sami Aittokallio, who recorded 5 shutouts, the veteran leadership of captain Lasse Kukkonen, and the offence of Julius Junttila, Mika Pyorala and rising stars Sebastian Aho and Jesse Puljujarvi, they reached the Final – the third time in 11 years that they played in the title game of European club hockey. In front of their home fans at a sold-out Oulun Energie Areena, they fell 2–1 to Frölunda in an entertaining contest.

Bright future

Nowadays, Kärpät is doing well in every respect. Off the ice, the club's finances are healthy, which pays dividends to its shareholders. On the ice, in addition to success in the Liiga, the junior teams continually produce new talented and skilled players who draw international attention.

Team facts

CHL seasons

2015–16: 1st in Group J, Final
2014–15: 1st in Group A, Semi-Final

Click here for current information about the club.

Sources: oulunkarpat.fi, Kulju, Mika: Kärpät – Pohjoisen kiekkoihme (2003)

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