HIFK Hockey (a traditional abbreviation of the Swedish name Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna, Helsingfors, English: "Sporting Society Comrades, Helsinki") is a professional ice hockey team based in Helsinki, Finland that plays in the SM-liiga, the sport's top-level league in Finland. The team plays at Helsinki Ice Hall.
Contents
History
IFK Helsingfors was founded in 1897 and started participating in ice hockey in 1928. Since then, HIFK has won the Finnish national championship seven times, of which three (1969, 1970, 1974) were in SM-sarja and four (1980, 1983, 1998, 2011) were in the SM-liiga. HIFK has the highest number of audience in the SM-liiga and is one of the wealthiest sports clubs in Finland.
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 on the way ice hockey is played in Finland led to his posthumous induction to the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame in 2003.
The championship team from 1998 is widely recognized as one of the best ever to have skated together in the top flight of Finnish ice hockey. Players on the 1998 championship team included a number of future (and former) NHL players – including Tim Thomas, Jan Čaloun, Johan Davidsson, Bob Halkidis, Olli Jokinen, Jere Karalahti, Jarno Kultanen, Brian Rafalski, Christian Ruuttu, Jarkko Ruutu, Kimmo Timonen and Marko Tuomainen.
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.
Bandy, an older sport than hockey, is also played by a subdivision of the HIFK Hockey team.
Team identity
Logos and jerseys
HIFK uses a shield for their logo, with a four pointed star and text I.F.K. and year of formation 1897 on it. They wear red, white and blue colored jerseys, and have worn those colors since their beginnings. For the 1993-94 season, HIFK changed their logo to a five pointed star with text saying HIFK Hockey on it. Unpopular with fans, and HIFK wanting to modernize their brand, changed their logo again in 1996 to a red big cat on a blue circle. Commonly referred to as "petologo" (English: "beast logo") among fans. When the beast logo became HIFK's primary logo for the 1996-97 season, they reintroduced the original shield logo to become their jersey's new shoulder patches. For the 2008-09 season, HIFK made their original shield logo the primary logo once again. It would swap places with the beast logo on the jerseys, making the beast logo their new shoulder patches until the 2017-18 season, when the beast logo was eliminated from the jerseys entirely.
Home arena
HIFK play their home games at Helsinki Ice Hall. The stadium opened in 1966, and seats up to 8 200 spectators. The arena was also used and shared by rival team Jokerit until 1997, when they moved to the Hartwall Arena. During season 2024-2025, Jokerit returned to Helsinki Ice Hall for their home games due to not having access to the Hartwall Arena nor a viable replacement available. HIFK is well known for playing classic hard rock music during games in Helsinki Ice Hall.
Goal song: "Flamethrower" by The J. Geils Band.
Opening songs: "Hail To The King" by Avenged Sevenfold, "Ghost Riders" by Steve Hunter, and "Whatever You Want" by Status Quo.
Penalty songs: "Who Are You" by The Who when the visiting team takes a penalty. "Bad To The Bone" by George Thorogood when the home team takes a penalty.
Other noteworthy songs: "Let's Play Hockey" by Bill Misener, "Red White & Blue" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Go IFK" by Jake & Co.
Rivalries
HIFK are rivals with Jokerit; games were often sold out and were in the later years among the fiercest in Nordic ice hockey. Following Jokerit's withdrawal from Liiga after the 2013–14 season to join the Russian-based Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and later joining the lower level of Finnish hockey Mestis, the teams have not faced each other in over a decade. Following a history of even series of games, HIFK won the game total with 106–105 after a 2–1 victory in a classical outdoor game in March 2014, claiming the title of Helsinki's dominion. The teams will face each other again in the upcoming 2026–27 Liiga season following Jokerit's promotion from Mestis.
Honors
SM-sarja
SM-sarja Kanada-malja: 1969, 1970, 1974
SM-sarja Kanada-malja: 1973, 1975
SM-sarja Kanada-malja: 1955, 1959, 1971, 1972
SM-liiga
SM-liiga Kanada-malja: 1980, 1983, 1998, 2011
SM-liiga Kanada-malja: 1986, 1999, 2016
SM-liiga Kanada-malja: 1982, 1987, 1988, 1992, 2004, 2018, 2021
International
Ahearne Cup (1): 1970
Tampere Cup (2): 1994, 2015
IIHF European Cup (1): 1980–81
Nordic Trophy (1): 2008
Other awards for the club:
Harry Lindblad trophy (SM-Liiga regular season winner, since 1975): 2016
Players
Current roster
Updated 22 September 2024
Other notable alumni
Dave Siciliano, player-coach during the 1971–72 season