Espoo Blues
| Espoo Blues | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| City | Espoo, Finland |
| League | Liiga |
| Founded | 1984 |
| Home arena | Barona Areena (capacity 7,017) |
| Colours | |
| Owner(s) | Jääkiekko Espoo Oy |
| General manager | Peter Ahola |
| Website | Espoo Blues |
| Franchise history | |
| 1984–1998 | Kiekko-Espoo |
| 1998–2016 | Espoo Blues |
The Espoo Blues were an ice hockey team in the SM-liiga. They played in Espoo, Finland, at the Barona Areena. The club went bankrupt at the end of the 2015–16 Liiga season.
The club was established in February 1984 as Kiekko-Espoo and played their first season in 1984–85 in the Finnish Second Division. In 1988, they achieved promotion to the Finnish First Division and in 1992 celebrated their promotion to the SM-liiga by beating Joensuun Kiekkopojat with a 3–2 series win in a best-of-five format. Tero Lehterä scored the winning goal and Jere Lehtinen assisted.
Kiekko-Espoo ended its first two seasons in SM-liiga in 11th place out of 12 teams. In the 1994–95 season, the team made the playoffs for the first time, losing to Lukko in quarter-finals. In 1997–98, Kiekko-Espoo caused a huge upset by beating regular season winner TPS in the quarter-finals. Kiekko-Espoo ended the season in fourth place. In the next summer, the team name was changed. The name came from the dominant colour of their home jersey.
During the 1998–99 season, the team moved to its current home, LänsiAuto Areena (renamed in 2009 to Barona Areena due to sponsorship change). The first seasons in their new home were difficult despite the team signing many big names. The Blues missed the playoffs in 2001 and 2005. In 2002–03, the Blues had their best regular season, finishing in fourth place, only to lose against eventual champion Tappara in overtime of the seventh quarter-final.
The team took a step forward in 2006–07 when they reached the semi-finals for the first time, although they lost against Kärpät in three straight games, and lost the bronze medal game against HPK. During the 2007–08 season, the Blues set a new team record by winning 12 games in a row. They finally ended the regular season in second place and beat local rivals HIFK in the quarter-finals and other local rivals Jokerit in the semi-finals, proceeding to the finals and thus ensuring their first medal ever. The team eventually ended up second after losing in the finals to Kärpät.
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