Kärpät Oulu The Kärpät Oulu ( " Oulu Stoats " ) is a professional ice hockey club based in Oulu , Finland and playing in the SM - liiga . The club was founded in 1946 and has won so far the league five times , in 1981 , 2004 , 2005 , 2007 and 2008 . History . In the spring of 1946 , three young men decided to found a new sports club in Oulu . At the constitutional meeting on May 15 , the club was named Oulun Kärpät 46 . At first , Kärpät played football and its first winter sport was bandy . In the first annual meeting in January 1947 , an ice hockey section was established . At the beginning of the new decade , Kärpät was somewhat successful in ice hockey and it became the main sport of the club . The first game at the highest level was played on the December 4 , 1960 against HJK but the visit to the highest level was short and Kärpät lost their position in the series . They made it to the highest level again in 1965 - 66 , but lost their position again . The third try in 1967 - 68 did not produce a better performance , as Kärpät lost all their games . From the first years on , junior work was important for Kärpät . E - juniors won the first Finnish Championship for Kärpät in the spring of 1971 . When the SM - liiga was founded in August 1975 , Kärpät started in the first division . Their goal was to rise to the league . It didn ’ t happen in the first season , but in 1976 . In the next season Kärpät was 7th and then last , but they still remained at the league with ease . After Kärpät acquired some good players , they won the bronze medals in 1980 . In the following year , Kärpät was third in the regular series but in the finals they defeated Tappara . Next year , the weakened team had to settle for 5th place , and the following year they were almost relegated . With a new coach , the goal was to win a medal and finally Kärpät won the bronze . The next goal was to win the championship , but Kärpät only managed to get bronze for the following two years . Kärpät won the regular series in 1987 but they lost to Tappara in the finals . Hopes were high for the next season , but Kärpät fell from the league . In the 2005 finals Kärpät beat Jokerit in Helsinki to win their second consecutive championship with 3 wins to 1 . Kärpät facing off against Blues in 2006 playoffs . The goal was to rise again shortly but it did not work out . Due to financial constraints , Kärpät went into bankruptcy , but in the fall of 1995 they made it to the first division again . In the first year they came 8th and lost in the play offs . Next year they went against KalPa for a place in the league but lost . In the following year , they lost against KalPa again . For the 1998 - 99 season , Kärpät acquired coach Juhani Tamminen . After they played very well in the regular series they lost to TuTo in the play offs . The next year , Kärpät finally qualified to the SM - liiga by beating Pelicans Lahti in the qualification series . The first season in the Elite league was full of ups and downs but Kärpät finished 4th , and 6th the following season . After that they finally made it to the finals but lost against Tappara just like in 1987 . In the 2003 - 04 season , Kärpät played in the finals against TPS and finally won their second Finnish Championship . In 2004 - 05 , Kärpät won the Finnish Championship again when they defeated Jokerit in the finals , winning the best - of - five series 3 - 1 . They retained the championship title in the 2006 - 07 season by beating Jokerit in the finals ( 3 wins to none ) and winning all their games in the playoffs . The first three championships of the 2000s have been celebrated in Oulu with feasts , each gathering tens of thousands of people to rejoice . In the 2007 - 2008 season , the organization won its second consecutive championship title , and the fourth within the last five years , by defeating Espoo Blues in the finals with four wins to one . When " Oulun Kärpät Oy " was founded in 2000 it took the responsibility off the representative team and A - juniors . " Oulun Kärpät 46 ry " focuses on other junior work . All - time standings . " Those standings may be incomplete . You can help make the Ice Hockey Wiki better by expanding them "