Ljustad Ässät

Ljustad Ässät
City	Ljustad, Osta
League	Elite League
Conference	Southern Conference
Founded	1930
Home arena	Ice Garden
Colours	Red, Black, White
Owner(s)	Topi Sundqvist
General manager	Heimo Yrjölä
Head coach	Iiro Ahola
Website	Ässat.tal
Franchise history
1930–34	Ljustad HC
1940-present	Ljustad Ässät

The Ljustad Ässät (English: Ljustad Aces) are a professional ice hockey team based in Ljustad, Osta. They are members of the Southern Conference of the Talvistovan Elite League (EL).

The club's official name is the Ljustad ässien ammatillinen jääkiekkokerho. The team is frequently referred to in English and Swedish as the Red-Blacks. Finnish nicknames for the team include punaiset (The reds), kolmivärinen (the Tricolor), valitut (The chosen ones), and suuri vanha klubi (The grand old club).

Founded in 1930, the Ässät are the longest continuously operating professional ice hockey team in Corentia, and one of 4 Elite League clubs to predate the founding of the Elite League. One of the oldest Talvistovan professional sports franchises, The franchise is one of the "Original Ten" teams, a description used for the teams that made up the Elite League from 1940 until the 1980 expansion.

The Ässät have won the Lord's Cup more times than any other franchise. They have won 21 Lord's Cup championships, and on a percentage basis, as of the 2019 season, the franchise has won 26% of all Lord's Cup championships possible, making it the most successful professional sports team of the major leagues in Talvistova.

Since 1940, the Ässät have played their home games at the Ice Gardens, which has seen all but 1 Lord's Cup, which was won during the 1996 renovations.

History

The Ässät were founded by Englean bussinessman Karl Clasen on December 4, 1929, as a charter member of the National Hockey Alliance, the forerunner to the Elite League. It was to be the team of the finnish speaking community in Osta, composed of finnish speaking players, and under finnish speaking ownership as soon as possible. The team's first season was not a success, as they placed last. After the first year, Clasen sold the ownership of the team to an investment group headed by coal magnate Olli Sundqvist, who's family owns the franchise to today. The team failed to win a Lord's Cup championship in the original NHA, and like the other 3 surviving teams, survived until 1940 by playing exhibition games against one another and teams in Rhodevus and Engleberg. In 1940, with the three other NHA teams, the Ässät formed the Elite League alongside 4 expansion teams, and saw immediate success, winning 4 championships in the first decade.

Led by the "Punch Line" of Halvard Hoiland, Julian Rye, and Ivan Hovland in the 1950s, the Ässät enjoyed success atop the League. From 1953 to 1970, the franchise won six Lord's Cups, with a new set of stars coming to prominence: Eirik Ramsland, Roy Netland, Kasper Brenden, Eivind Samuelsen, and Børge Nese.

The Ässät added five more championships in 10 seasons from 1970 to 1979, with another dynastic run of four-straight Cups from 1976 to 1979. In the 1976–77 season, the Ässät set two still-standing team records – for most points, with 132, and fewest losses, by only losing eight games in an 80-game season. The next season, 1977–78, the team had a 28-game unbeaten streak, the second-longest in NHL history.

The Ässät won Lords Cups in 1986, led by rookie star goaltender Iiro Ahola, and in 1993, continuing their streak of winning at least one championship in every decade from the 1940s to the 1990s.

Following Ahola's reitrement in 1997, the Ässät fell into an extended stretch of mediocrity, missing the playoffs in four of their next ten seasons and failing to advance past the second round of the playoffs until 2001. This funk was broken in 2002, with the Ässät winning 4 championships in a row from 02 to 06.

The Ässät plan to celebrate the 80th year of the Elite League by retiring now-head coach Iiro Ahola's number.

Team Identity

The Ässät organization operates in both English and Finnish. For many years, public address announcements and press releases have been given in both languages, and the team Web site and social media outlets are in both languages as well. At home games, the first stanza of the national anthem is sung in Finnish, and the chorus is sung in English.

Crest and Uniforms

One of the most recognizable pop culture symbols in Talvistova, the Ljustad Ässät crest, commonly known as "the spade", has gone unchanged since 1940, when it was adopted as the logo.

The team's colours since 1930 are black, red, and white. The home sweater is predominantly red in color. The sweater features black shoulder boards, and a white-black-white stripe along the elbows and below the crest. The main Road sweater is mainly white, with the same black shoulder boards, but a red-black-red stripe on the elbows and below the crest. Because of the team's lengthy history as well as importance to the city of Ljustad, the jersey is affectionately nicknamed "pyhä villapaita", or "The holy sweater".

Mascot

Ever since 1940, the Ässät organization has kept a tame black bear named ässä (ace). up until 1967, he was sat behind the the opposing team's penalty box, which was made illegal before the 1968 season because of "unfair advantage by way of intimidation". It is imformally known as the "ässä rule", which is framed inside his pen at the Ice Gardens.

Goal Song

One of the most iconic symbols of the franchise it's goal song "Chelsea Dagger" by Ljustad-based punk rock band The Stars in the Woods. The song plays after ever home goal scored by Ljustad. Due to it's connotations, it is one of the most beloved songs in the city of Ljustad, and one of the most hated outside if the city.

Broadcasting

Ljustad Ässät games are broadcast locally predominantly in Finnish, but is more broadly broadcast in in English. 101.1 Fani is the flagship Finnish radio station, and the national TV rights, for both Finnish and English, has been held by NTV Media since signing a 10 year contract in 2017.

Season by Season Results

This is a list of the last five seasons completed by the Ässät. For the full season-by-season history, see the Ljustad Ässät website.

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

Season	GP	W	L	Pts	GF	GA	Finish	Playoffs
2014–15	82	50	22	100	221	189	1st, Southern	Lost in Second Round, 2–4 (Fjarora BK)
2015–16	82	38	38	76	221	236	6th, Southern	Did not qualify
2016–17	82	47	26	94	226	199	1st, Southern	Lost in Southern Conference Finals, 3–4 (Manavik Red Wings)
2017–18	82	29	40	58	209	264	6th, Southern	Did not qualify
2018-2019	82	44	30	88	249	236	4th, Southern	Did not qualify

Roster

#	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
31		Aleksanteri Sibelius	D	L	28	2016	New Berlin, Osta
11		Olavi Lindholm (A)	LW	R	36	2009	Ljustad, Osta
89		Andronikos Rokoulis (C)	C	R	42	1998	Mystras, Helas
1		Pekka Venäläinen	G	L	20	2018	Gamleholm, Glyra
51		Damian Fletcher	D	R	27	2019	Kingstown, Rhodevus