This page will contain discussion groups about jokerit, as they become available.JokeritJokerit are an ice hockey team in the Finnish SM-liiga. They play in Helsinki, Finland at the Hartwall Areena. HistoryEarly history Jokerit would not exist without the debts-incurred ice hockey branch of Töölön Vesa amateur sports club, who were faced with having to discontinue their resource-demanding ice hockey activities in 1967. Master-builder Aimo Mäkinen seized the opportunity to establish a semi-professional sports club of his own, and for the price of half of Vesa's ice hockey debts the new ice hockey club inherited everything, including junior players and the vacant position in second highest Finnish series, Suomen sarja. Officially Jokerit were established on October 27th 1967 at their constitutional meeting. The club's sole owner Mäkinen chose to wield sovereign power, becoming in practice also the board and managing director. The insignia, winking jester, was adapted from jokers of various card decks and drawn by graphic designer Jorma Hinkka. Their home venue was Helsingin jäähalli. Mäkinen did not intend his new club to loiter in the lower series. Even though dramatic changes in the line-up did not appear directly, only a few players from Töölön Vesa saw prolonged employment: Timo Turunen would be the most distinguished, remaining even today as the club's all-time goal scoring leader. With him, Pentti Hiiros and Timo Kyntölä would form nallipyssyketju ("cap gun line", referring to their lack of height - Hiiros was the tallest at 172 cm) until 1975, when the latter retired. Promotion to the highest level, SM-sarja, took place two years later. Immediately after the promotion was secured, Mäkinen began an aggressive acquisition of star players. Among them were the national team regulars defenceman Ilpo Koskela with forwards Henry Leppä and Timo Sutinen, whose relationship with the club lasted long. Other mentionworthy reinforcements, that came later, were forward Jouko Öystilä and defenceman Timo Saari, and finally, head coach Matti Lampainen. In 1969, IIHF had loosened amateur rules by permitting bodychecking anywhere in the rink (old rules allowed bodychecking only in defensive end). SM-sarja underwent a tactical revolution as physical, mean play became a means to success. Lampainen, however, reckoned physical play unsuitable for the line-up at hand (consider nallipyssyketju). He guided the team, with success, towards a play that demanded technique and clever tactics. This became the trademark of Jokerit that stuck all the way to the late 1990s. Mäkinen also enhanced the club's junior organisation by launching a competition of their own, called Kanada-sarja, with 500 participating junior players, a figure that cumulatively tripled in a few years. Kanada-sarja didn't survive the 1970s, but Jokerit benefitted from it through a steady flow of emerging talent including Jari Kurri, and by gaining a strong popular base in the outer urban zones of Helsinki. Despite winning Finnish championship silver in 1971 and gold in 1973, Jokerit didn't develop financially profitable for Mäkinen. He started downsizing the team's budget by methodically replacing departing stars with junior players. Success slowly declined and Jokerit had to qualify against relegation several times. With Mäkinen's controversial manner of management added to these, the club turned into a center of turbulence. When a replacement candidate turned up in 1980, Mäkinen retired from the ownership, though he went on in the club's junior organisation up to the 1990s. New owners, Jokeriklubin Tuki Ry, were a conventional association supervised by its board. Under new management, the club didn't instantly shake off its wobbliness, but then they peaked for one season. Having signed mainly outcasts of other clubs, they suddenly hit jackpot: Soviet Union's national team defenceman Nikolai Makarov was transferred to Jokerit. They had a near-perfect season, losing only the 1983 finals extremely narrowly - and bitterly - to local rivals. However, the management ran into unexpected financial problems, and success soon withered. Only a few years later, they had to avert bankruptcy twice, which struck a blow to their credibility, as a mass desertion of the players ensued. The first line was a shambles as wing Risto Kerminen departed and center Jari Lindroos almost did, but though he had signed elsewhere, the contract was illegitimately nullified. Few others, apart from the longtime goaltender Rauli Sohlman, remained. Jokerit faced the imminent relegation in 1987. In the middle of the bleakest hour of their history, with Jokeriklubin Tuki Ry seeking to discontinue their association, new blood was rushed into Jokerit. In 1988 their 20-year-olds won the Finnish junior championship with several prospective stars: defenceman Waltteri Immonen would be captain of the team 1991-1999; Mika Strömberg the club's all-time best-scoring defenceman; Ari Sulander the main goaltender 1993-1998; forward Keijo Säilynoja a goal scorer and a penalty-shot specialist; and Teemu Selänne the NHL record-breaker. Now that the club was spiced with such promising, new willing owners turned up to save them. They established Jokeri-Hockey Oy and became the first limited company based sports club in Finland. Kalervo Kummola, who played the leading role assembling the company, sat in its board up to 2002. The team, reinforced with the junior champions, orchestrated a quick promotion back to the top level, now called SM-liiga. But once again, despite the phenomenal boost in popularity supported by the prominent scorer Selänne and other young star players, the owners ran into severe financial problems, caused by incompetent management and disagreements within the board. The Harkimo era In 1991 an investor withdrew and board member Harry Harkimo got credentials to a double majority of shares. He appointed himself the chairman of the board, discontinued all managerial positions and nominated his wife Leena Harkimo the managing director (who held the task up to her election to the Parliament of Finland in 1999). This proved to be the final stroke of luck the club needed: the disagreements vanished once and for all and Harry Harkimo established himself as an efficient businessman, being able to conduct a rapid recovery of the economy. In a few years, Jokerit were the wealthiest Finnish sports club. Thus, they were able to reinforce the team with first class talent. Several successful acquisitions were signed, most memorably Otakar Janecky, who manned the first line center for several seasons, becoming the club's all-time best point scorer; Petri Varis, who became the club's best goal scorer of the 1990s; and forward Antti Törmänen. Together with the above-mentioned junior champions they formed a core of a dynasty of thriving times: Jokerit won Finnish championship in 1992, 1994, 1996 and 1997, and European Cup in 1995 and 1996, plus Finnish silver once and European bronze once. Harkimo further converted the club from semi-professionalism towards his ideal of professional sports entertainment, which was unmistakably adopted from NHL. His efforts yielded Jokerit their own home venue Hartwall Areena in 1997 - first such privately owned in Europe. Ownership was reformed into Jokerit HC Oyj, a public limited company. They focused on the new European Hockey League expecting it to evolve into a competition more money-making than SM-Liiga, and sought various other ways to expand. Most of these plans did not meet with success, but the new venue turned out to be a gold-mine for the club's business. As they set foot at Hartwall Areena, the club signed several star reinforcements seen to be required to win the two professional leagues and to replace the now slightly aged core. However, despite having sparkling line-ups, their performance fluctuated, ending up winning "only" Finnish bronze in 1998 and silver in 2000, and repeatedly having no success in European Hockey League (which turned out as a major flop in itself). To the next millennium In the 2000s, the management have regained what the supporters consider more reasonable an attitude by concentrating back on SM-Liiga, but the line-ups have had a notable turnover rate between seasons - a distinct core has not developed or been preserved. Jokerit won their sixth Finnish championship in 2002. The 2002-03 and 03-04 seasons yielded no medals for Jokerit. In the spring of 2003 Jokerit acquired forward Glen Metropolit from the Washington Capitals organization; despite his unimpressive NHL record, Metropolit became scoring leader of Jokerit in both the 2003-04 regular season and playoffs, as well as the 2004-05 regular season. Metropolit became a firm fan favorite, and many were sorry to see him leave the Finnish league after the 2004-05 season. Another important Jokerit acquisition was goalie Tim Thomas from the Boston Bruins organization. Thomas played in every game of the season bar two with a save percentage of 94.59% and a record-breaking 15 shutouts, for which he won the "Kultainen kypärä" MVP award. As the NHL lockout was extended, Jokerit hired Brian Campbell, and Ossi Väänänen returned to his hometown team from the Colorado Avalanches in December. Teemu Selänne officially joined the Jokerit lineup in December, but he spent the spring rehabbing his injured knee and was unable to play any games for the team. With a strong team, Jokerit looked set to win the regular season and take the championship when an inexplicable late-season collapse allowed Kärpät to take and keep the regular season lead. The two teams faced off in the finals, with Jokerit losing three games to one and having to settle for the silver. After the NHL lockout When the NHL lockout ended in 2005, many players were lost to NHL teams and to other teams in Europe: Campbell, Väänänen, Selänne, Metropolit, Pasi Häkkinen, Valtteri Filppula and Tomi Mäki. The last departure occurred just one day before regular season play started, when goaltender Tim Thomas signed with the Boston Bruins. The spree of departures, combined with rookie coach Waltteri Immonen's coaching debut, led Jokerit to an abysmal early season, with a win-loss-tie record of 5-11-4 after 20 games. Immonen, a long-time Jokerit player but rookie head coach, was moved from the job in November and Curt Lindström hired to salvage the team. Achievements
Other awards for the club:
Personal awards by SM-sarja and SM-liiga:
Other achievements:
Notable playersCurrent playersGoaltenders
Defensemen
Forwards
Coaches Team captains
Not to be forgotten
Notable players who have moved on to the NHL:
Retired Numbers
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Notable players who have moved on to the NHL:. Contrary to popular belief, Milonakis was not the boy who frequently appeared on The Man Show. Coaches. Milonakis has a growth hormone condition which gives him the outward appearance of a teenage boy when he is in fact an adult. Forwards. Drew Pinsky ever since former co-host Adam Carolla left in November 2005. Defensemen. He has been a frequent co-host on syndicated radio show "Loveline" with Dr. Goaltenders. He was also featured in a 2005 film called Waiting..., also starring Ryan Reynolds, Dane Cook, Justin Long and Anna Faris. Other achievements:. He has been compared to the Star Wars Kid and has since built a following, including comedian Jimmy Kimmel who recruited him for regular appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live on television from 2003-2004. Personal awards by SM-sarja and SM-liiga:. Some of these include the "Crispy New Freestyle" and "The Superbowl Is Gay", and various other videos which can be found hosted elsewhere. Other awards for the club:. Milonakis (born January 30, 1976 in Queens, New York), better known as Andy, is a comedian who plays the role of a teenage kid and has become an Internet phenomenon, rising to fame when he released home webcam recordings of freestyle raps, silly and funny videos, and short films on the Internet (previously credited to angrynakedpat.com, but his videos aren't hosted there any longer). Immonen, a long-time Jokerit player but rookie head coach, was moved from the job in November and Curt Lindström hired to salvage the team. Andrew M. The spree of departures, combined with rookie coach Waltteri Immonen's coaching debut, led Jokerit to an abysmal early season, with a win-loss-tie record of 5-11-4 after 20 games. "How Andy stacks up", USA Today (June 23, 2005). The last departure occurred just one day before regular season play started, when goaltender Tim Thomas signed with the Boston Bruins. Keveney, Bill. When the NHL lockout ended in 2005, many players were lost to NHL teams and to other teams in Europe: Campbell, Väänänen, Selänne, Metropolit, Pasi Häkkinen, Valtteri Filppula and Tomi Mäki. After the NHL lockout. The two teams faced off in the finals, with Jokerit losing three games to one and having to settle for the silver. With a strong team, Jokerit looked set to win the regular season and take the championship when an inexplicable late-season collapse allowed Kärpät to take and keep the regular season lead. Teemu Selänne officially joined the Jokerit lineup in December, but he spent the spring rehabbing his injured knee and was unable to play any games for the team. As the NHL lockout was extended, Jokerit hired Brian Campbell, and Ossi Väänänen returned to his hometown team from the Colorado Avalanches in December. Thomas played in every game of the season bar two with a save percentage of 94.59% and a record-breaking 15 shutouts, for which he won the "Kultainen kypärä" MVP award. Another important Jokerit acquisition was goalie Tim Thomas from the Boston Bruins organization. Metropolit became a firm fan favorite, and many were sorry to see him leave the Finnish league after the 2004-05 season. In the spring of 2003 Jokerit acquired forward Glen Metropolit from the Washington Capitals organization; despite his unimpressive NHL record, Metropolit became scoring leader of Jokerit in both the 2003-04 regular season and playoffs, as well as the 2004-05 regular season. The 2002-03 and 03-04 seasons yielded no medals for Jokerit. Jokerit won their sixth Finnish championship in 2002. In the 2000s, the management have regained what the supporters consider more reasonable an attitude by concentrating back on SM-Liiga, but the line-ups have had a notable turnover rate between seasons - a distinct core has not developed or been preserved. To the next millennium. However, despite having sparkling line-ups, their performance fluctuated, ending up winning "only" Finnish bronze in 1998 and silver in 2000, and repeatedly having no success in European Hockey League (which turned out as a major flop in itself). As they set foot at Hartwall Areena, the club signed several star reinforcements seen to be required to win the two professional leagues and to replace the now slightly aged core. Most of these plans did not meet with success, but the new venue turned out to be a gold-mine for the club's business. They focused on the new European Hockey League expecting it to evolve into a competition more money-making than SM-Liiga, and sought various other ways to expand. Ownership was reformed into Jokerit HC Oyj, a public limited company. His efforts yielded Jokerit their own home venue Hartwall Areena in 1997 - first such privately owned in Europe. Harkimo further converted the club from semi-professionalism towards his ideal of professional sports entertainment, which was unmistakably adopted from NHL. Together with the above-mentioned junior champions they formed a core of a dynasty of thriving times: Jokerit won Finnish championship in 1992, 1994, 1996 and 1997, and European Cup in 1995 and 1996, plus Finnish silver once and European bronze once. Several successful acquisitions were signed, most memorably Otakar Janecky, who manned the first line center for several seasons, becoming the club's all-time best point scorer; Petri Varis, who became the club's best goal scorer of the 1990s; and forward Antti Törmänen. Thus, they were able to reinforce the team with first class talent. In a few years, Jokerit were the wealthiest Finnish sports club. This proved to be the final stroke of luck the club needed: the disagreements vanished once and for all and Harry Harkimo established himself as an efficient businessman, being able to conduct a rapid recovery of the economy. He appointed himself the chairman of the board, discontinued all managerial positions and nominated his wife Leena Harkimo the managing director (who held the task up to her election to the Parliament of Finland in 1999). In 1991 an investor withdrew and board member Harry Harkimo got credentials to a double majority of shares. The Harkimo era. But once again, despite the phenomenal boost in popularity supported by the prominent scorer Selänne and other young star players, the owners ran into severe financial problems, caused by incompetent management and disagreements within the board. The team, reinforced with the junior champions, orchestrated a quick promotion back to the top level, now called SM-liiga. Kalervo Kummola, who played the leading role assembling the company, sat in its board up to 2002. They established Jokeri-Hockey Oy and became the first limited company based sports club in Finland. Now that the club was spiced with such promising, new willing owners turned up to save them. In 1988 their 20-year-olds won the Finnish junior championship with several prospective stars: defenceman Waltteri Immonen would be captain of the team 1991-1999; Mika Strömberg the club's all-time best-scoring defenceman; Ari Sulander the main goaltender 1993-1998; forward Keijo Säilynoja a goal scorer and a penalty-shot specialist; and Teemu Selänne the NHL record-breaker. In the middle of the bleakest hour of their history, with Jokeriklubin Tuki Ry seeking to discontinue their association, new blood was rushed into Jokerit. Jokerit faced the imminent relegation in 1987. Few others, apart from the longtime goaltender Rauli Sohlman, remained. The first line was a shambles as wing Risto Kerminen departed and center Jari Lindroos almost did, but though he had signed elsewhere, the contract was illegitimately nullified. Only a few years later, they had to avert bankruptcy twice, which struck a blow to their credibility, as a mass desertion of the players ensued. However, the management ran into unexpected financial problems, and success soon withered. They had a near-perfect season, losing only the 1983 finals extremely narrowly - and bitterly - to local rivals. Having signed mainly outcasts of other clubs, they suddenly hit jackpot: Soviet Union's national team defenceman Nikolai Makarov was transferred to Jokerit. Under new management, the club didn't instantly shake off its wobbliness, but then they peaked for one season. New owners, Jokeriklubin Tuki Ry, were a conventional association supervised by its board. When a replacement candidate turned up in 1980, Mäkinen retired from the ownership, though he went on in the club's junior organisation up to the 1990s. With Mäkinen's controversial manner of management added to these, the club turned into a center of turbulence. Success slowly declined and Jokerit had to qualify against relegation several times. He started downsizing the team's budget by methodically replacing departing stars with junior players. Despite winning Finnish championship silver in 1971 and gold in 1973, Jokerit didn't develop financially profitable for Mäkinen. Kanada-sarja didn't survive the 1970s, but Jokerit benefitted from it through a steady flow of emerging talent including Jari Kurri, and by gaining a strong popular base in the outer urban zones of Helsinki. Mäkinen also enhanced the club's junior organisation by launching a competition of their own, called Kanada-sarja, with 500 participating junior players, a figure that cumulatively tripled in a few years. This became the trademark of Jokerit that stuck all the way to the late 1990s. He guided the team, with success, towards a play that demanded technique and clever tactics. Lampainen, however, reckoned physical play unsuitable for the line-up at hand (consider nallipyssyketju). SM-sarja underwent a tactical revolution as physical, mean play became a means to success. In 1969, IIHF had loosened amateur rules by permitting bodychecking anywhere in the rink (old rules allowed bodychecking only in defensive end). Other mentionworthy reinforcements, that came later, were forward Jouko Öystilä and defenceman Timo Saari, and finally, head coach Matti Lampainen. Among them were the national team regulars defenceman Ilpo Koskela with forwards Henry Leppä and Timo Sutinen, whose relationship with the club lasted long. Immediately after the promotion was secured, Mäkinen began an aggressive acquisition of star players. Promotion to the highest level, SM-sarja, took place two years later. With him, Pentti Hiiros and Timo Kyntölä would form nallipyssyketju ("cap gun line", referring to their lack of height - Hiiros was the tallest at 172 cm) until 1975, when the latter retired. Even though dramatic changes in the line-up did not appear directly, only a few players from Töölön Vesa saw prolonged employment: Timo Turunen would be the most distinguished, remaining even today as the club's all-time goal scoring leader. Mäkinen did not intend his new club to loiter in the lower series. Their home venue was Helsingin jäähalli. The insignia, winking jester, was adapted from jokers of various card decks and drawn by graphic designer Jorma Hinkka. The club's sole owner Mäkinen chose to wield sovereign power, becoming in practice also the board and managing director. Officially Jokerit were established on October 27th 1967 at their constitutional meeting. Master-builder Aimo Mäkinen seized the opportunity to establish a semi-professional sports club of his own, and for the price of half of Vesa's ice hockey debts the new ice hockey club inherited everything, including junior players and the vacant position in second highest Finnish series, Suomen sarja. Jokerit would not exist without the debts-incurred ice hockey branch of Töölön Vesa amateur sports club, who were faced with having to discontinue their resource-demanding ice hockey activities in 1967. Early history. . They play in Helsinki, Finland at the Hartwall Areena. Jokerit are an ice hockey team in the Finnish SM-liiga. 91 Otakar Janecky. 24 Waltteri Immonen. 5 Esa Tikkanen. Sean Bergenheim (Jokerit 2001-2004; New York Islanders 1st round pick in the 2002 draft, #22 overall). Ossi Väänänen (Jokerit 1996-2000; Phoenix Coyotes 2nd round pick in the 1998 draft, #43 overall). Kari Lehtonen (Jokerit 1999-2003; Atlanta Thrashers 1st round pick in the 2002 draft, #2 overall). Teemu Selänne (Jokerit 1988-92; Winnipeg Jets 1st round pick in the 1988 draft, #10 overall). Jari Kurri (Jokerit 1977-80; Edmonton Oilers 4th round pick in the 1980 draft, #69 overall). forward Glen Metropolit (2003-05). forward Petri Varis (1993-97, 1999-2002, 2003-05). forward Juha Lind (1990-97, 98-99, 2004-05). Sami Helenius (2003-04). Juha Lind (1991-99, 2004-2005). Petri Varis (September-November 2005). Marko Jantunen (November 2005-). 94 - Teemu Kuusisto. 72 - Roman Vopat. 61 - Tommi Oksa. 44 - Riku Rahikainen. 39 - Jesse Uronen (juniors). 38 - Arto Kuki. 30 - Esa Kivistö. 23 - Petri Varis. 22 - Tommi Santala. 20 - Petri Pakaslahti. 18 - Ilari Filppula. 16 - Toni Dahlman. 15 - Arto Koivisto. 13 - Hannes Hyvönen. 11 - Tomek Valtonen. 9 - Tony Virta (injured). 77 - Martti Järventie. 61 - Tero Konttinen. 40 - Sami Lepistö. 26 - Jan Latvala. 25 - Kari Martikainen. 21 - Kevin Kantee. 14 - Ville Uusitalo. 12 - Markus Kankaanperä. 7 - Mikko Kalteva. 4 - Samuli Jalkanen. 63 - Tom Askey. 29 - Steve Passmore. 35 - Joonas Hallikainen. 34 - Niko Hovinen (juniors). In the 2004-05 season, Tim Thomas broke the SM-liiga shutout record with 15 shutouts during the regular season. Best coach (since 1978): Reijo Ruotsalainen 1983, Raimo Summanen 2002. Best plus/minus (since 1978): Arto Sirviö 1984, Waltteri Immonen 1992, Erik Hämäläinen 1993, Petri Varis 1996. Gentleman player (since 1954): Jari Kapanen 1975, Teemu Selänne 1991, Keijo Säilynoja 1992, Waltteri Immonen 1996, Ville Peltonen 2003. Most goals in regular season: Timo Turunen 1973 and 1974 (shared), Teemu Selänne 1992, Petri Varis 1997, Pasi Saarela 1999. Most points in regular season: Timo Turunen 1973, Timo Sutinen 1974 and 1975, Petri Varis 1997 and 2001. Best defenceman (since 1978): Nikolai Makarov 1983, Erik Hämäläinen 1993, Mika Strömberg 1996. Best goaltender (since 1978): Rauli Sohlman 1983, Ari Sulander 1996, Kari Lehtonen 2002 and 2003. Best player (Kultainen kypärä, since 1987): Teemu Selänne 1991, Tim Thomas 2005. Aaro Kivilinnan muistopalkinto (best Finnish club age classes combined, since 1973): 1976, 1996, 1997 (shared), 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003. three times silver and four times bronze. C-juniors (16-year-olds) 1976, 1977, 1978, 1997, 2000
four times silver. A-juniors (20-year-olds) 1988, 1996, 1999, 2000
bronze 1993. European Cup 1995, 1996
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