HIFK
City	Helsinki
League	SM-liiga
Founded	1897 (1897) (1927 ice-hockey section)
Home arena	Helsinki Ice Hall (capacity 8,200)
Colors
General manager	Jukka Valtanen
Head coach	Kari Jalonen
Captain	Kim Hirschovits
Parent club(s)	HIFK
Website http://www.hifk.fi

HIFK is an ice hockey team based in Helsinki, Finland. The team plays at Helsinki Ice Hall. It was founded in 1897. Since then, HIFK has won the Finnish National Championship title six times (1969, 1970, 1974, 1980, 1983, 1998).

The derbys against local rivals Jokerit are often sold out and are one of the fiercest in Nordic hockey.^{[citation needed]}

HIFK's general manager starting from May 1 2008 is Jukka Valtanen. He is the successor of Pentti Matikainen, who coached Team Finland to its first hockey Olympic medal (silver) in Calgary 1988.

The last Finnish championship title is from 1998, when the team was widely recognized as one of the best ever to have skated together in the top flight of Finnish ice hockey.^{[citation needed]}

Players who featured 1998 championship team included a number of future (and former) NHL stars – including Tim Thomas (Boston Bruins), Jan Caloun (Columbus Blue Jackets), Johan Davidsson (Anaheim Ducks), Miika Elomo (Washington Capitals), Bob Halkidis (Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings), *Olli Jokinen (Los Angeles Kings, Florida Panthers, Phoenix Coyotes), *Jere Karalahti (Los Angeles Kings), Jarno Kultanen (Boston Bruins), *Brian Rafalski (Detroit Red Wings), Christian Ruuttu (Buffalo Sabres, Chicago Blackhawks), *Jarkko Ruutu (Vancouver Canucks, Pittsburgh Penguins, Ottawa Senators), Kimmo Timonen (Philadelphia Flyers) and Marko Tuomainen (Los Angeles Kings).

[edit] History

One of the major influences to HIFK was the NHL veteran and Stanley Cup winner Carl Brewer. Hired in 1968 as a playing coach, he advocated a North American style of play which has persisted in HIFK since. Brewer's influence to the way hockey is played in Finland led to his posthumous induction to the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame in 2003.

[edit] Players

[edit] Current players

[edit] Notable players

HIFK (in white) warm-up prior to a game vs. HPK.

[edit] Former HIFK players currently in NHL

• Niklas Bäckström
• Olli Jokinen
• Toni Lydman
• John Madden
• Brian Rafalski
• Jarkko Ruutu
• Tuomo Ruutu
• Kimmo Timonen
• Tomáš Vokoun
• Marek Židlický
• Tim Thomas

[edit] Retired numbers

• 1 Stig Wetzell, 1972–1983
• 5 Heikki Riihiranta, 1967–1983
• 7 Simo Saarinen, 1980–1996
• 17 Matti Murto, 1964–1983
• 20 Matti Hagman, 1972–1992
• 22 Mika Kortelainen, 1987–2002
• 23 Pertti Lehtonen, 1976–1998
• 35 Sakari Lindfors, 1985–2002