Stavanger Oilers

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Stavanger Oilers

Full name	Stavanger Ishockeyklubb
Founded	2000
Based in	Stavanger, Norway
Arena	DNB Arena (capacity: 4,500)
League	GET-ligaen
Team colors	White, black, yellow
Owner(s)	Tore Christiansen
Head coach	Petter Thoresen
Assistant coaches	Pål Kristian Gulbrandsen
Captain	Juha Kaunismäki
Website

Stavanger Oilers is an ice hockey club from Stavanger, Norway. They currently play in the GET-ligaen, which is the top division in Norwegian ice hockey. The club's official name is Stavanger Ishockeyklubb, but it is commonly known as Oilers. Oilers play their home matches in DNB Arena.

DNB Arena is the new home arena of Stavanger Oilers and was opened in 2012. It has a capacity of 4500 spectators

. The club won the IIHF Continental Cup 2014.

Stavanger Oilers playing at their previous home arena, Siddishallen

History

Stavanger Oilers were established as a company team by Finnish expatriate workers in 2000. However, it quickly developed plans for establishing itself as an elite club, partly as a reaction to the poor economic management of Viking Hockey, which had traditionally been the dominant hockey club in Stavanger. The key man behind the club's establishment was the Finnish business man Hartti Kristola, who withdrew his economic support from Viking to focus on Oilers.

By the time Stavanger Oilers played their first official game, in the autumn of 2001, the club had already attracted players from the higher echelons of Finnish hockey, as well as a number of former Norwegian national team players. These played alongside amateur local players in what could only be characterised as an uneven side. Still, Stavanger Oilers, starting at the bottom of the league system, met inferior opposition in their first few seasons. They went through the 2001/02 season unbeaten, scoring 304 goals. The club top scorer, Finnish forward Jari Kesti, scored or assisted on 226 of them.

The 2002/03 went almost as well, as Oilers went through their first 18 games unbeaten. Ahead of the season, the team was strengthened by even more Finnish imports, as well as two of Viking Hockey's star players, Tommy Edlund and Thomas Kristensen. The club's first-ever loss came away against Gjøvik, and it was followed by another loss the next day by the same team. Oilers also got beaten by local rivals Bergen, who were the first team to defeat Oilers in Siddishallen. However, Oilers still secured first place at the end of the season, with Bergen finishing second. Star player Jari Kesti scored 150 points from Oilers 296 goals, and he was joined in the top scorer lists by his countrymen Tomi Suoniemi and Jarkko Ollikainen, who both scored more than 100 points. Promotion to the GET-ligaen was secured courtesy of five victories in the qualification play-offs, with the only defeat coming against Bergen in a penalty shoot-out.

The team was further strengthened ahead of its first season in the GET-ligaen, as further Finnish players and some young Norwegian talents joined Oilers. The start of the season was impressive, with Lillehammer beaten 5-1 in the opening match, followed by a 10-0 away win at Manglerud Star in the second match. The first defeat came at home against fellow promoters Bergen. At the end of the season, Oilers finished 6th in the table. Again, Jari Kesti was the club top scorer, for the third season in a row. In the playoffs, Oilers beat Trondheim by three games to one in the quarter finals, winning the final game in sudden death in front of a sell-out crowd of 2600 people in Siddishallen. Teemu Kohvakka scored the deciding goal with only 14 seconds left of the first period of sudden death. In the semi finals, Oilers were beaten by Storhamar in three straight games.

The second elite season saw two of the best players leave the club: Jari Kesti signed for Vålerenga and Christian Dahl Andersen went to Swedish side Arboga. Both were to come back during the same seasons, after unsuccessful stints in their new clubs. Meanwhile, owner Hartti Kristola withdrew his financial backing, and a local business executive, Tore Christensen, took over control of the club. Oilers' performances varied throughout the season, and after a humiliating loss against bottom side Bergen, Matti Riekkinen decided to resign as the team coach. He was replaced by Swede Gunnar Johansson in January 2005. The team finished the season in 7th place, losing against Vålerenga in the play-off quarter finals.

The new head coach brought a new profile in player recruitment, and Sweden replaced Finland as the main market for new players. Ahead of the 2005/06 season, Swedish players Bengt Höglund, Martin Johansson and Fredrik Sundin were brought in, along with the Norwegian national team player Snorre Hallem. The strategy was successful, as the club enjoyed its best season so far, finishing in 4th place in the GET-ligaen. In the playoffs, Oilers beat Sparta Warriors by four games to two in the quarter finals. The semi finals against second-placed Stjernen turned into a thriller, with each team winning their home games until Oilers decided the series through a 2-1 victory in the seventh and final game of the series, away at Stjernehallen. However, the first-ever play-off final featuring a hockey team from Stavanger ended in a humiliating defeat in four straight games against Vålerenga.

The team was further strengthened for the 2006/07 season, with the recruitment of players such as Henric Höglund from Stjernen and Norwegian national team players Marius Trygg and Lars Peder Nagel, which saw Oilers start the season as one of the favourites for the title. However, at the end of the season, they finished in 3rd place, which was still the club's best result to date. This was the third time that a team from Stavanger had won the bronze medals in the league, with Viking winning the bronze twice in the past. At the end of the season, past players Jari Kesti and Tomi Suoniemi were also honoured, as their respective shirt numbers, #7 and #22, were officially retired by the club. In the playoffs Comet were beaten by four games to two in the quarter finals, while Oilers lost to Storhamar Dragons by the same score-line in the semi finals.

Season-by-season results

This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by the Oilers. For the full season-by-season history, see List of Stavanger Oilers seasons.

Norwegian Champions	Regular Season Champions	Promoted	Relegated

Season	League	Regular season^[1]									Postseason
Season	League	GP	W	L	OTW	OTL	GF	GA	Pts	Finish	Postseason
2008–09	Eliteserien	45	26	15	2	2	148	117	84	4th	Lost in Quarter-finals, 2–4 (Storhamar)
2009–10	Eliteserien	48	24	17	1	6	132	128	82	3rd	Won Norwegian Championship, 4–2 (Vålerenga)
2010–11	Eliteserien	45	27	10	5	3	176	108	94	2nd	Lost in Finals, 1–4 (Sparta)
2011–12	Eliteserien	45	35	6	3	1	216	100	112	1st	Won Norwegian Championship, 4–2 (Lørenskog)
2012–13	Eliteserien	45	29	12	1	3	198	112	92	2nd	Won Norwegian Championship, 4–2 (Vålerenga)

Current roster

As of 14 September 2012.

Goaltenders
Number	Player	Catches	Born	Place of Birth
30	Ruben Smith	L	15.04.1987	Stavanger, Norway
38	Henrik Holm	L	06.09.1990	Fredrikstad, Norway

Defensemen
Number	Player	Shoots	Born	Place of Birth
3	Michael Brandasu	R	04.09.1985	Netherlands
6	Juha Kaunismäki	L	06.05.1979	Helsinki, Finland
15	Joakim Hjelm	L	23.04.1992	Norway
20	Kurt Davis	L	13.08.1986	United States
39	Henrik Solberg	L	15.04.1987	Trondheim, Norway
41	Dennis Løvold Sveum	L	27.11.1986	Lillehammer, Norway
44	Tim Kunes	L	12.02.1987	United States
52	Thomas Boxill	R	31.07.1991	Norway
77	Cleve Kinley	L	13.01.1984	Surrey, Canada

Forwards
Number	Player	Shoots	Born	Place of Birth
8	Mathias Trettenes	L	08.11.1993	Norway
10	Christian Dahl-Andersen	L	02.09.1980	Norway
13	Lars-Peder Nagel	L	25.02.1981	Oslo, Norway
16	Petter Røste Fossen	L	16.02.1991	Kongsberg, Norway
17	Billy Maday	R	25.02.1988	United States
18	Lukas Andersen David	R	03.10.1989	Stavanger, Norway
26	Martin Strandfeldt	L	10.03.1981	Årsta, Sweden
29	Stian Høygård	L	28.03.1987	Lørenskog, Norway
31	Juha-Pekka Loikas	L	07.03.1980	Hyvinkää, Finland
37	Tore Vikingstad	L	08.10.1975	Trondheim, Norway
46	Dan Kissel	L	25.01.1987	United States
61	Snorre Hallem	L	22.02.1979	Hamar, Norway
71	Peter Lorentzen	L	02.09.1983	Halden, Norway
89	Patrick Åsland	L	22.08.1989	Stavanger, Norway

References

↑ Code explanation; GP—Games Played, W—Wins, L—Losses, OTW—Overtime/Shootout wins, OTL—Overtime/Shootout losses, GF—Goals For, GA—Goals Against, Pts—Points

External links

Official website

v t e GET-ligaen

Teams	Frisk Asker Lillehammer Lørenskog Rosenborg Sparta Warriors Stavanger Oilers Stjernen Storhamar Dragons Tønsberg Vikings Vålerenga

Arenas	Askerhallen DNB Arena Hamar Olympic Amphitheatre Jordal Amfi Kristins Hall Leangen Ishall Lørenskog Ishall Sparta Amfi Stjernehallen Tønsberg Ishall

Seasons	1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14

Awards	Gullpucken Playoff MVP Polar Bear Trophy

Related topics	Norwegian Ice Hockey Association 1. divisjon National men's team National women's team National men's junior team National women's U-18 team Norwegian NHL draftees

See also: IIHF IIHF Continental Cup IIHF European Champions Cup

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