We can confirm that the Lahti Pelicans will feature in the upcoming 2019/20 Champions Hockey League season and, as with all CHL debutants, we've prepared a short summary of the club's history and current form.
The Pelicans are a Finnish club located in Lahti, in southern Finland. Even though they were only founded in 1996, hockey in Lahti (as in all of Finland) dates all the way back to the end of the 19th century. The club's history actually starts in Vyborg, a city located in today's Russia over 200km away, where a club named Viipurin Reipas was founded in 1891. They played here for over 50 years, winning the Finnish ice hockey championship in 1928, but as World War II broke out, the city of Vyborg fell to the Soviet Union and the club was forced to leave. Their new home became Lahti.
They were renamed Lahden Reipas in 1964 and throughout the second half of the 20th century played predominantly in the second tier of Finnish hockey with sustained participation in the SM-Liiga (the Finnish top flight) coming in the 1980s and '90s, when the club signed seasoned players from all over Europe. Tough times were ahead though as the club struggled with financial difficulty and went bankrupt in 1992. Key players departed and the club was relegated from the first league in 1994.
In a push to improve their fortune, the club was renamed Lahti Pelicans, completely rebranded and restructured in 1996. This bared its fruit as a few years later, in the 1998/99 season, they were promoted back up to the SM-Liiga. The club was tested again in the following years as their previous financial difficulties resurfaced. However, this time they weathered the storm and managed to sustain first league status and avoid relegation.
The best season in the club's history came in the 2011/12 season. They finished second in the regular season and made it all the way to the finals in the playoffs, losing to JYP Jyväskylä 4-1.
After reaching the quarter-finals twice in the past three seasons, this year's third-place finish under new head coach Ville Nieminen has been one of their best in recent years. This is in part thanks to a prolific season from 33-year-old Jesse Saarinen. Despite his size, he is a tough and physical threat with an eye for setting up scoring chances which is why he has 35 assists this season – one of the highest in the whole of Liiga.
The young and hungry team that consists mainly of young Finnish talent is led by 23-year-old Oliwer Kaski, who is playing his first season for the club. Recording 51 points (19 goals, 32 assists) in the regular season, he has certainly settled into the club nicely and will be hoping to add to his tally in the CHL.
Be sure to keep an eye on the Pelicans this season as they won’t be an easy opponent for anybody and will be hoping to extend their current success.