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 NHL 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 2 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 Patrick Roy, and in 1993, continuing their streak of winning at least one championship in every decade from the 1940s to the 1990s