Kiekko-Espoo | |
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Nickname | Kivikova (Finnish) |
City | Espoo, Finland |
League | Liiga |
Founded | 1984 |
Home arena | Espoo Metro Areena (capacity: 6,982) |
Colours | |
General manager | Kim Hirschovits (2024–25) |
Head coach | Jyrki Aho (2024–25) |
Affiliates | Porvoo Hunters Jäähonka |
Website | kiekko-espoo |
Franchise history | |
1984–1998 | Kiekko-Espoo |
1998–2016 | Espoo Blues |
2018–present | Kiekko-Espoo |
Championships | |
Mestis championship | 1 (2022–23) |
Kiekko-Espoo is a Finnish professional ice hockey club founded in 2018 as a continuation of the Kiekko-Espoo team originally founded in 1984. Kiekko-Espoo men's team plays in the Liiga, where they were promoted for the 2024–25 season,[1] and the women's team plays in the Naisten Liiga, where they are the winningest team in league history.
Kiekko-Espoo's junior teams play at national league levels in U16, U18 and U20 juniors.[2] The junior teams of Espoo Blues and Kiekko-Espoo played under Kiekko-Espoo Juniorit ry until 2014.[3]
In 2017, Espoon Kiekkoseura and Espoon Palloseura, which split from the Espoo Blues junior organization, launched their own junior representative team and founded Kiekko-Espoo ry.[4] The team plays in U16, U18 and U20 junior leagues under the name Kiekko-Espoo. When Espoo United collapsed in the spring of 2018, the organization decided to also establish a representative team for adults in Kiekko-Espoo. It started playing in the 2018–2019 season in the Suomi-sarja. In the 2019–2020 season, the Blues women's representative team also moved to Kiekko-Espoo.[5]