LAHTI, FINLAND – It was a mere season ago when Lahden Pelicans were fighting for survival in the SM-Liiga. The team’s dismal season in 2010-2011 had left the team bottom of the standings. Many thought that the 2011-2012 season would be as bleak and that there would not be any playoff hockey in Lahti.
It wasn’t until the spring when it was announced that Pelicans had secured the services of head coach Kai Suikkanen that Pelicans started to raise eyebrows. Suikkanen had in season and a half turned TPS from a bottom rung team into Finnish champions and was en-route to leading Yaroslav Lokomotiv to the KHL playoffs, before he was abruptly fired from his job.
The Pelicans’ story is similar to that of this season’s league winners, KalPa, a team that came from the lower divisions into the SM-Liiga and has undergone several troubles and adversities on its way to the Finnish elite league finals. The team rose into the SM-Liiga in 1999 even though it lost the league relegation games in 2000, it maintained its place in the top flight due to SM-Liiga being expanded into a 13 team closed league.
The next two years saw Pelicans improve drastically. In 2001 the team finished eighth in the league and improved its position in 2002 when it finished fifth overall. However, it was soon after this that Pelicans were facing difficulties.
During the 2004-2005 NHL lockout, Pelicans had acquired three NHL players to its roster, among them one Sean Avery. The case Avery was a peculiar one, as he only played two games for Pelicans, scoring three goals and sitting 26 minutes in penalties. It was after his second game that Sean Avery vanished without telling the team he was leaving. Later on Avery publicly slated the entire Pelicans organisation and the Finnish SM-Liiga.
During the lockout, Pelicans also acquired the services of Pasi Nurminen, who at the time was the number one net minder for Atlanta Thrashers. Nurminen, now a part owner and assistant coach, was one of the Pelicans’ best players during the lockout, but had to leave after 16 games due to taxation rules in Finland. Nurminen recently said to Finnish Iltalehti that, “When I came to Lahti, I played without any salary due to the financial difficulties in the team. The only thing the team had to pay was my insurance.”
In light of the results, the 2004-2005 season was a disaster. Only 16 players played the full 45 games of the regular season. Pelicans only won seven games that year and found itself dead last after the regular season.
It wasn’t helped that Pelicans were in financial trouble. Nurminen said in the Iltalehti interview that “during the tough financial times of 2004, we cut back on everything. Our equipment managers even changed our coffee to EuroShopper brand to save money.” In the spring of 2004 Pelicans went into administration, which caused a lot of debate in the Finnish hockey circles after the SM-Liiga granted a €400,000 capital loan to Pelicans. The reason why many condemned the leagues action was because it did not reciprocate a similar loan to other teams in a difficult financial situation.
In 2005, Pasi Nurminen became the owner of the club which turned the corner for the club. Through appointing former Finnish national team coach Hannu Aravirta as its bench boss midway through the 2005-2006 season, there was suddenly a new found interest in the Lahti based team. After Aravirta assumed control of the team, Pelicans was one of the best teams in the league that season, playing at a point-per-game pace. Financially the 2005-2006 season was sound and the team saw its turnover increase by 40% and make a profit of €103,651.
Pelicans fly into the playoffs for the first time
The 2006-2007 season saw Pelicans invest in its players and made smart acquisitions by adding Leo Komarov to its roster and acquiring Anssi Salmela midway through the season from Tappara. Salmela’s stellar play for Pelicans saw him play himself onto the New Jersey Devils organisation for 2008-2009 season.
The team finished 10th overall and made it to the first round of the playoffs, facing a difficult opponent in TPS. However, Pelicans defeated TPS in the series and moved to face Karpat, but were swept in four games.
The following year Pelicans finished 6th in the standings and faced against Jokerit in the playoffs. Where Jokerit were more seasoned than the Pelicans, the team fought hard in the series and eventually lost it 4-2. The league position was the best that the team had achieved since 2001-2002. One of the standout players of the 2007-2008 season was one Antti Niemi, who had come from relative anonymity and played himself into the number one job within Pelicans.
For 2008-2009 season, Pelicans lost the services of Antti Niemi to Chicago Blackhawks and replaced him with current starter, Niko Hovinen. The first half of the season saw Pelicans struggle and by the Christmas break, Pelicans were 12th. However, there was still hope for the team as positions six and 13 were only separated by eight points.
By the end of the season Pelicans found its way into the playoffs through the ‘wild card’ round, or commonly known as pity playoffs. By defeating Ilves in the two game series, Pelicans moved to face Espoo Blues, who the media tipped would sweep Pelicans. However, Pelicans hung on and forced the series to go the full stretch to seven games. Pelicans had the chance to win the series in the 6th meeting but had a spectacular melt down and lost the game six by 7-2 and game seven 8-2.
2010-2011: Fight for survival
On the player front Pelicans invested in big signings by bringing in Dwight Helminen and an NHL veteran in Mike York. However, the signings proved to be somewhat disappointing. Helminen scored 28 points during the season and Mike York scored 27 points in 52 games. It took York a long while to get used to the SM-Liiga, but played admirably in the relegation battle by scoring seven points in four games.
The struggling team sacked its head coach Mika Toivola on the 24th of November and promoted assistant coach Pasi Rasanen as its head coach for the reminder of the season. At the time of Toivola’s sacking, Pelicans had lost six games straight and was stuck at the bottom of the table. However, by the end of the season Pelicans had picked up its game slightly. Even though the team found itself last, it had only lost out by one point to second to last team TPS during the season.
The relegation series against Vaasan Sport was somewhat easy for Pelicans, after it comfortably swept the series.
During the season one of the only bright sparks for Pelicans was Niko Hovinen who gave Pelicans a chance to compete night in night out. At the end of the season Hovinen’s save percentage was 92,40% and had a 2.59 GAA rating.
New Rise:
The preparation for the 2011-2012 season got off to a big start after Pelicans had made a ‘verbal agreement’ with head coach Kari Jalonen, however, Jalonen signed a contract with KHL team Torpedo Nizni Novgorod, leaving Pelicans without a head coach.
The team reacted by hiring Kai Suikkanen as its head coach and soon news of player signings started to flow in. Players like Ryan Lasch and Justin Hodgman were relatively unknown but Pelicans were confident that Lasch and Hodgman would be impact players from the start. Also retaining the services of Niko Hovinen who was with team Finland to win gold at the 2011 World Championships the team looked strong on paper.
The preseason gave an early warning to the teams when the Pelicans lost only one of its preparatory games.
Pelicans have also become internationally known for its quirky TV advertisements that were mentioned on respected hockey site, Puck Daddy. The adverts have raised the team’s brand and effectively describe the team’s work ethic and mentality of the team, by portraying coaches’ quirky sense of humour and training methods. Some of the adverts can be found by clicking here and clicking here .
Pelicans will be playing against JYP in the finals starting on 16th of April.
Contact the Author: janne.virtanen@prohockeynews.com
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