KalPa
| KalPa | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| City | Kuopio, Finland |
| League | Liiga |
| Founded | 1929 |
| Home arena | Data Group Areena |
| Colours | Black, gold |
| Owner(s) | KalPa Hockey Oy Sami Kapanen Kimmo Timonen Scott Hartnell |
| General manager | Kimmo Kapanen |
| Head coach | Pekka Virta |
| Captain | Mikko Jokela |
| Affiliate(s) | SaPKo (Mestis) |
| Website | www.kalpa.fi |
The Kalevan Pallo (KalPa) is a professional ice hockey team who compete in the Finnish Liiga. They play in Kuopio, Finland at the Data Group Areena.
Established in 1929 as Sortavalan Palloseura in Sortavala, the club relocated to Kuopio in 1945 after its original hometown had been annexed by the Soviet Union. During its Sortavala years, the club was not active in ice hockey, but competed in association football, bandy, and pesäpallo instead. Ice hockey was introduced in 1947, and in 1956 KalPa officially replaced the more traditional Kuopio club KuPS in that sport thus specializing in hockey – minor league football was still continued until 1974 as a farm team of sorts for KuPS.
The full name of the company that runs the representative team today is KalPa Hockey Oy. The majority of the company is owned by NHL players Sami Kapanen and Kimmo Timonen. Kapanen is the majority owner, controlling 50.5% of the franchise. Timonen owns 8%, while Timonen's former teammate Scott Hartnell owns 5%.
During the 2004–05 NHL lockout, Timonen, Kapanen, and fellow NHL player Adam Hall were playing for KalPa. After winning the Mestis championship, KalPa was returned to the SM-liiga for the 05–06 season, after being relegated six years earlier in 1999.
KalPa has won two medals: Silver in 1990–91 season and bronze in 2008–09 season.
Current NHL forward Scott Hartnell purchased a minority share of the team after getting financial advice from Kimmo Timonen during a road trip to Boston.
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