Porin Ässät (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈporin æsːæt]; Finnish for Pori Aces), officially named Hockey Club Ässät Pori and colloquially known as Pata, is a professional ice hockey club based in Pori, Finland. It competes in the Liiga, the highest-ranking league of ice hockey in Finland. Since 1971, Ässät has played its games in the Isomäki Ice Hall.
The team was founded in 1967 due to a merger of two local sports clubs, Rosenlewin Urheilijat-38 and Porin Karhut. Ässät originally competed in the SM-sarja, which was replaced by the SM-liiga in 1975, making Ässät one of the ten original SM-liiga teams. Ässät was relegated to the I-Divisioona for the 1989–90 season, but it was promoted back to the SM-liiga after just one season.
Ässät has won the Kanada-malja championship three times (in 1971, 1978 and 2013); it also won the Finnish Cup once in 1967. Ässät has a total of nine medals in the upper tier of Finnish ice hockey, with four of them being silver and two of them being bronze. Ässät has been awarded the Aaro Kivilinna Memorial Trophy once in the 1979–80 season. Ässät won a European Cup bronze medal in 1979.
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History
The Porin Ässät was established in June 1967 when two local sports clubs, Rosenlewin Urheilijat-38 and Porin Karhut, merged their sports operations. Although the RU-38 won the SM-sarja championship in 1967, the Rosenlew company seriously considered giving up sports activities, since it felt that hockey did not bring enough positive publicity to the company. The leaders of Karhut and RU-38 negotiated the unification of the clubs during the spring and early summer so secretly that the insiders of the teams did not get to know about the merger negotiations. Karhut benefited less economically from the merger, since the club had invested in player acquisitions to the point where its income did not cover expenses, especially after the Rosenlew club gained sponsors at Karhut's expense. As Rosenlew was abandoning its sports club, it was suggested that the RU-38 was merged into Karhut. When an agreement was finally reached, Rosenlew took over a portion of Karhut's debts and promised to support the new team financially in its early years. The new club was named Porin Ässät. The birth of the club was announced at the end of June 1967. The name of the club was given by Vilho Santala, who acted as a negotiator in uniting the clubs and was elected the first chairman of Ässät. The club's logo was designed by Vesa Antikainen. The colors of the club were red, black and white.
The early days of Ässät did not go smoothly, with a heated atmosphere developing between the formerly Karhut and RU-38 players who were now on the same team. The merger of the two top clubs also raised hopes of a very strong team, but one line of national team-level players joined different teams, and the players who left were mainly RU-38 players from the previous season. The first team of Ässät thus consisted mainly of Karhut players.
The first games of Ässät went well, and even before the start of the 1967 SM-sarja season, Ässät won the Suomen Cup championship. In the final match played in Savonlinna, Ässät beat SaPKo 7–0. Thanks to inheriting the RU-38 championship, Ässät also played in the 1968 European Cup, where it won its first two rounds before being beaten by SC Dynamo Berlin in the quarter-finals.
In its first season in the 1967–68 SM-sarja, Ässät placed fourth with Rauli Virtanen's coaching. The new club did not receive unreserved support from the people of Pori, as the number of spectators decreased by 10,000 from the last season of Karhut. In the second season of Ässät attendance started to rise, with the numbers rising to the same level as Karhut had. Lasse Heikkilä, the former coach of Karhut, became the coach for the second season and served as the team's coach until 1974 and later in 1976–1981. In the 1968–69 season, Ässät were again fourth. For the following season, 1969–70, Ässät suffered two heavy losses when Veli-Pekka Ketola and Alpo Suhonen left for Jokerit for a year. Ässät finished sixth in the series.
Team identity
Crest and uniform design
Ässät's primary logo is a spade inside a black ring. Ässät has used variations of the logo, for example the logo from 1982 to 1994, which had a white "Ässät" text on top of the original logo. The logo was designed by Vesa Antikainen.
The club's home uniforms have always been red with another color, usually black or white. The original jersey of Ässät was completely red. Ässät's home uniform since the 2022–23 season has been red with a small white stripe on the bottom part of the jersey and with white on the shoulders; the team's players also wear red pants, red socks with a white stripe, and a white helmet. The away jersey is white with a red stripe on the bottom and with red on the shoulders, and is worn along with red pants, white socks with a red stripe, and a white helmet. In 2023, Ässät added a black-red alternate jersey with a bear logo.
From the early 2000s until 2023, Ässät had used a secondary logo, which was just the primary logo with a red "Ässät" text above it. In 2023 Ässät added red-black bear logo, which included elements from the predecessor clubs of Ässät, like the crown for Rosenlewin Urheilijat-38 and the bear for the Porin Karhut. The logo also had two "hidden" spades that are from the official Ässät logo. The secondary logo was used in the alternate jerseys and merchandise. The bear is a big part of the club's identity as it appears in the coat of arms of Pori as well as in the Swedish language name of Pori, "Björneborg". The bear logo was dropped in 2025 after the Chicago Bears claimed it looked too similar to their logo.
Mascot
Ässät's mascot has been Rysty Mesikämmen since 2017. Rysty Mesikämmen is a brown bear who wears an ice hockey helmet and Ässät's jersey with the number 67.
Rivalries and fans
Ässät's main rivals are considered to be Rauman Lukko and Vaasan Sport.
Ässät has an official supporter organization called Pataljoona (Finnish for "Battalion"). It is known for its chants, tifos, and flags in Ässät's home and away games.
Ässät and Lukko are rivals mainly because of how their cities are located in the same region and how their arenas are about 50 kilometers from each other. Ässät's largest victory against the two teams came in 1978, when Ässät beat Lukko 17–3 on home ice. The rivalry has been nicknamed the "Satakunnan derby".
Ässät's rivalry against Vaasan Sport grew during the 2009 SM-liiga qualifiers. Ässät beat Sport in the game with seven of the qualifiers and thus kept its spot in the SM-liiga. The games between the clubs are known as the "Kasitien derby".
Ässät has a rivalry with IFK Helsingfors. The games are known to be heated and have multiple instances of fighting. During the 2024–25 season two HIFK players were penalized for kicking Ässät players.
Season-by-season record
This is a list of the last five seasons completed by Ässät.
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, OTW = Overtime Wins, OTL = Overtime Losses, L = Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
Players and personnel
Current roster
Updated 27 October 2025.
Retired numbers
All of Ässät's retired numbers are hanging from the rafters of the arena except for Jaroslav Otevřel's number.
List of retired numbers:
International campaigns
Table of Ässät's performances in major international tournaments, such as the IIHF European Cup.
Bold text indicates Ässät's victory.
Franchise records
The following list contains statistics about the five highest point-scorers in franchise history in events including playoffs. Figures are updated after each completed season.
* – current Ässät player
Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points
Sources: "Elite Prospects – Ässät franchise records".
Home arena
Home arena
The Isomäki Ice Hall (Finnish: Isomäen jäähalli) was opened in 1964 as an outdoor artificial ice rink. The arena was finished in 1971 with a capacity of 8,000 spectators. As of 2023, the spectator capacity is 6,150.
Currently, the Isomäki Ice Hall is known for its closed atmosphere and reputation as a difficult arena for away teams. The arena is located in the Pori sporting center in the Isomäki district. It was last renovated between 2014 and 2016; during this time period, its name was officially changed to Isomäki Areena. The current audience capacity of the arena ranges from 6,150 to 6,500 spectators. As of 9 September 2023, the arena was known by sponsor name, Enersense Areena.
In 2023 after a successful season, the arena got a new jumbotron and new sound technology – increasing the amount of speakers from ten to 130. Isomäki also got more LED screens. The jumbotron was reported to have the best image quality in all of Finland.
Training facilities
Ässät mainly practises in the Isomäki Ice Hall, but also uses the Astora Areena, which was constructed in 2011. Astora Areena is owned by Porin Ässät ry and is used by all Ässät junior teams.
Women's team
Ässät has had a women's representative team in 1982–95 and 1999–2003. Ässät was one of the ten founders of the Naisten SM-sarja (now Naisten Liiga). Arguably the best female player to come out of the Ässät junior department after the collapse of the senior team is Sofianna Sundelin, Olympic and World Championship bronze medallist who currently plays for St. Cloud State Huskies in the NCAA Division I.
Notable Ässät alumni include Sari Fisk and Anne Haanpää. Former Ässät player Tatyana Tsaryova is also a World Championship bronze medallist.
Team records
These are the top-five-point-scorers in franchise history. Figures are updated after each completed season.
* – current Ässät player
Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points