View source for SaiPa

{{Short description|Ice hockey club from Lappeenranta, Finland}}
{{about|Finnish ice hockey club|Iranian football club|Saipa F.C.}}
{{Infobox ice hockey team
| team = SaiPa
| colour = background:white; border-top:#fee200 5px solid; border-bottom:#070605 5px solid;
| colour text = #000000
| logo = Saimaan Pallo (SaiPa) logo.svg
| logosize = 240px 
| city = [[Lappeenranta]], [[Finland]]
| league = [[Liiga]]
| conference = 
| division = 
| founded = {{Start date|1948}}
| operated = 
| arena = [[Kisapuisto]]<br />(capacity: 4,820)
| colours = Yellow, black<br />{{color box|#fee200}} {{color box|#070605}}
| GM = [[Jussi Markkanen]]
| coach = [[Raimo Helminen]]
| captain = [[Ville Petman]]
| affiliates = [[Imatran Ketterä]] ([[Mestis]])
| parentclub = 
| farmclub = 
| championships = 
| uniform = [[File:SaiPa uudet peliasut.png|150px]]      
| website = {{URL|https://saipa.fi/}}
}}{{Expand Finnish}}
'''Saimaan Pallo''' ('''SaiPa''') is an [[ice hockey]] team in the [[Finland|Finnish]] [[Liiga]]. They play their home games at [[Kisapuisto]] in [[Lappeenranta]], Finland.
SaiPa has many nicknames, such as "The Sputniks", "Sputnik", "Miracle of the East" and "Eastern Giant."

SaiPa play home games in the yellow shirt, black pants, yellow socks, and a black helmet. 
SaiPa play away games in mostly the same uniform as the home games, but also have a black version of the jersey.

==History==
The team's best achievement is silver in the [[2024–25 Liiga season]]. Previous best result was from the 1965–1966 season, when they won bronze medals for placing third. SaiPa also played in a bronze medal game in the 1998–1999 and 2013–14 seasons, but lost the games to [[HPK]] (7–2) and [[Lukko]] (3–2).

SaiPa has participated twice in the Champions Hockey League. During the 2014–2015 season, the team survived the quarterfinals, where they lost the return match against Oulun Kärpät. During the 2016–17 season, SaiPa won their initial games by 11 points. Eisbären Berlin and Luleå HF were the runners-up.

SaiPa has produced seven players who have played in the [[National Hockey League]] (NHL): [[Antti Aalto]], [[Jussi Markkanen]], [[Petteri Nokelainen]], [[Petri Skriko]], [[Jussi Timonen]], [[Vesa Viitakoski]], and [[Niklas Bäckström]]. Jussi Markkanen is also a part owner of the club.

==Honours==
===Domestic===
'''[[Liiga]]'''
* {{silver2}} 2nd place (1): [[2024–25 Liiga season|2024–25]]

'''[[SM-sarja]]'''
* {{bronze3}} 3rd place (1): [[1965–66 SM-sarja season|1965–66]]

===Pre-season===
'''[[Finnish Cup (ice hockey)|Finnish Cup]]'''
* {{silver2}} Runners-up (3): 1958, 1965, 1971

==Players==
{{clear}}

===Current roster===
{{SaiPa roster}}
[[File:SaiPan pronssimitalijoukkue 1965-1966.jpg|thumb|300px|SaiPa's bronze medal team 1965–1966]]
[[File:Jarno Koskiranta.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Jarno Koskiranta]] playing for SaiPa in 2010]]

===Retired numbers===
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|+ style= "background:#FFFFFF;border-top:#fee200 5px solid;border-bottom:#070605 5px solid;" | SaiPa retired numbers
|-
! width=40px | No.
! width=130px |Player
! width=40px |Position
! width=150px |Career
|-
| '''3''' || [[Lalli Partinen]] || [[Defense (ice hockey)|D]] || 1959–1969 
|-
| '''8''' || [[Ville Koho]] || [[Center (ice hockey)|C]] || 2001–2020 
|-
| '''9''' || [[Petri Skriko]] || [[Winger (ice hockey)|LW]] || 1979–1984
|-
| '''20''' || [[Heikki Mälkiä]] || [[Center (ice hockey)|C]] || 1975–1986<br>1988–1992  
|}

===NHL alumni===
{{div col}}
*{{flagicon|FIN}} [[Antti Aalto]]
*{{flagicon|FIN}} [[Niklas Bäckström]]
*{{flagicon|CAN}} [[Frank Banham]]
*{{flagicon|SVK}} [[Richard Lintner]]
*{{flagicon|FIN}} [[Jussi Markkanen]]
*{{flagicon|CAN}} [[Dale McTavish]]
*{{flagicon|FIN}} [[Jarmo Myllys]]
*{{flagicon|FIN}} [[Petteri Nokelainen]]
*{{flagicon|FIN}} [[Antti Pihlström]]
*{{flagicon|CZE}} [[Martin Richter]]
*{{flagicon|FIN}} [[Petri Skriko]]
*{{flagicon|FIN}} [[Jussi Timonen]]
*{{flagicon|CAN}} [[Shayne Toporowski]]
*{{flagicon|FIN}} [[Vesa Viitakoski]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.saipa.fi SaiPa official website] {{in lang|fi}}
*[http://www.saipafanit.com SaiPa Fan Club] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060222133230/http://www.saipafanit.com/ |date=2006-02-22 }} {{in lang|fi}}
*[http://www.idanihme.net Idän Ihme fan site] {{in lang|fi}}
{{Liiga}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:SaiPa}}
[[Category:Sport in Lappeenranta]]
[[Category:Liiga teams]]
[[Category:1948 establishments in Finland]]
[[Category:Ice hockey clubs established in 1948]]
[[Category:Ice hockey teams in Finland]]

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