Blues Espoo

Espoo Blues (founded as Kiekko-Espoo in February 1984 in Espoo, Finland) was a professional ice hockey of the SM-liiga. They played their home games at the Barona Areena. The club also had a women's team.

History
The club began playing in the II.Divisioona in 1984-85. They achieved promotion to the I.Divisioona in 1988; they reached the SM-Liiga four years later, in 1992, after defeating Joensuun Kiekkopojat 3 wins against 2 in a best-of-five series. They have never been relegated ever since. Espoo finished 11th out of 12 in its first two seasons in the SM-Liiga. They waited until 1994-95 to reach the playoffs, losing to Lukko Rauma in the quarter-finals.

In 1997-98, Espoo created a big surprise by upsetting regular season winners TPS Turku in the playoffs. For all of that time known as Kiekko-Espoo, the team was renamed "Blues" in the summer of 1998 after the colour of their jersey.

In 1998-99, with a new name and a new home (the LänsiAuto Areena), the Blues' roster featured many new names, and big ones at that; the team nevertheless had a hard time in their first few seasons at the LänsiAuto Areena.

2003-04 was the Blues' best season to date, with a fourth-place regular season finish in the league. The team however fell in the playoffs to the eventual champions, Tappara Tampere, in overtime in the seventh quarter-finals game.

Things began looking increasingly brighter for Espoo in 2006-07 when the team reached its first semi-finals for the first time in nine years. Kärpät Oulu however swept them in three games; HPK Hämeenlinna beat them in the bronze medal match. In 2007-08, the Blues established a new team record by winning 12 games in a row. They went on to finish second in the league and defeated HIFK in the quarter-finals and Jokerit in the semi-finals, reaching for the first time the SM-Liiga finals and clinching their first medal in the league of their history. They, however, had to settle for silver as Kärpät once again was in their way.

Men

 * SM-silver: (2) 2008, 2011
 * Aaro Kivilinna Memorial Trophy: (6) 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014

Women

 * SM-championship: (11) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2013
 * Sm-silver (1) 2010.
 * SM-bronze: (1) 2006.
 * European Women Champions Cup second place: (3) 2005-06, 2007-08 and 2009-10

Captains

 * Jan Långbacka 1992-94
 * Hannu Järvenpää 1994
 * Peter Ahola 1994-95
 * Jarmo Muukkonen 1995-96
 * Teemu Sillanpää 1996-97
 * Juha Ikonen 1997-99
 * Peter Ahola 1999-2001
 * Valeri Krykov 2001-02
 * Juha Ylönen 2002-03
 * Rami Alanko 2003-05
 * Timo Hirvonen 2005-2005, resigned in November 2005.
 * Markku Hurme 2005-2006, replaced Timo Hirvonen following his resignation.
 * Joakim Eriksson (2006)
 * Markku Hurme, Ville Viitaluoma, Erkki Rajamäki, Kent Manderville (2006-07, rotating captaincy)
 * Rami Alanko (2007-2009)
 * Toni Kähkönen (2009-2012)
 * Arto Laatikainen (2012-13)
 * Kim Hirschovits (2013-2016)

Head coaches

 * Martti Merra (1992-94, replaced in January)
 * Hannu Saintula (1994, mid-season replacement)
 * Harri Rindell (1994-96)
 * Håkan Nygren (1996-98, replaced in February)
 * Hannu Saintula (1998, mid-season replacement)
 * Pekka Rautakallio (1998, replaced in November)
 * Hannu Saintula (1998-99, mid-season replacement)
 * Jukka Holtari (1999-2000, replaced in January)
 * Jari Härkälä (2000, mid-season replacement)
 * Timo Tuomi (2000-01, replaced in September of second season)
 * Hannu Kapanen (2001-03, mid-season replacement, continued in the next season)
 * Ted Sator (2003, replaced in October)
 * Hannu Virta (2003-04, mid-season replacement, replaced in the October of second season)
 * Pekka Rautakallio (2004-05)
 * Kari Heikkilä (2005-07)
 * Petri Matikainen (2007-11)
 * Lauri Marjamäki (2011-13, replaced in February of second season)
 * Mikko Saarinen (February 2013-March 2013)
 * Jyrki Aho (2013-Present)

Blues women
The Espoo Blues club also had a women's team. They finished third at the 2008-09 European Women Champions Cup after having won the Women's SM-Liiga the previous season. The team was actually one of the dominating force of Finnish women's hockey, having won every championship since 1999, except 2006, which went to Ilves Tampere. That one season, the Blues earned the league bronze medal.