Karpat

In the early 1990s Kärpät went bankrupt. The club that would end the twentieth century as the most successful name in Finnish hockey spent the following years working its way back up through the lower divisions, and did not return to the top flight, the Liiga, until 2000.

What followed changed the balance of the sport in the country. Between 2004 and 2018, Kärpät won the Kanada-malja six times, taking its total to eight championships.

Oulu itself, sitting far enough north that the club's reach abroad has always mattered more than for most Finnish sides, has sent a stream of players into the NHL, among them Teemu Selänne.