1989–90 Porin Ässät
I-Divisioona champions
League1st I-Divisioona
1989–90 record37–3–4
Goals for355
Goals against144
Team information
CoachMatti Keinonen
CaptainTapio Levo
ArenaPori Ice Hall
Average attendance4 412
Team leaders
GoalsArto Javanainen (59)
AssistsAleksei Frolikov (53)
PointsArto Heiskanen (110)
Penalty minutesJari Levonen (86)
Plus/minusArto Heiskanen (+90)

The 1989–90 Porin Ässät season was the club's first and only season in the I-Divisioona and the second highest league in Finland. Ässät was relegated after the previous SM-liiga season. Ässät crushed I-Divisioona records and was promoted back to the SM-liiga after just one season.

Relegation to the I-Divisioona for the 1989–1990 season, however, raised the hockey boom in Pori, as the townspeople stood behind their team. Audience numbers increased from previous SM-liiga seasons when Ässät's games were watched with interest. For the I-Divisioona season, Ässät got top reinforcements when Arto Javanainen returned from TPS and Arto Heiskanen from Lukko. Aleksei Frolikov and Vladimir Durdin came from Riga Dynamo. Matti "Mölli" Keinonen became the coach. The visit to the I-Divisioona only lasted a season. Ässät was superior in the regular season, breaking numerous I-Divisioona records and easily progressing to the series win and SM-liiga qualification. In the SM-liiga qualifiers, Ässät faced JoKP. Ässät won the series 3–0 and returned to the SM-liiga.[1]

Regular season and promotion

Ässät's regular season started with a 10–2 home victory against Kiekko-Espoo. Ässät won the next four games, before a 3–3 tie game with FoPS. Ässät's first loss came in January 1990 after a 27 game unbeaten streak. Ässät managed to only lose four games out of the 44 game season and tie three times. Some of the biggest victories for Ässät included 19–4 against Ketterä, 19–3 against Sport, 20–6 against Ketterä again and 13–0 against KooVee.[2] Ässät's top point scorer was Arto Heiskanen with 110, a I-Divisioona record. Arto Heiskanen also recorded a +/- statistic of +90.[3][4][1][5]

Ässät finished 1st in the regular season, winning the I-Divisioona championship. Ässät faced JoKP in the SM-liiga qualification series. Ässät won the series 3–0 and got promoted back to the SM-liiga.[2][3]

Player statistics

Skaters

Top-10 point scorers of the season. Sorted by points, then +/-.[2][1]

# Player Position GP G A Pts +/- PIM
1. Arto Heiskanen Forward 44 58 52 110 +90 12
2. Arto Javanainen Forward 36 59 39 98 +79 30
3. Kari Makkonen Forward 44 31 52 83 +80 18
4. Aleksei Frolikov Forward 43 28 53 81 +86 12
5. Tapio Levo Defence 44 32 47 79 +87 33
6. Jari Levonen Forward 43 37 26 63 +54 86
7. Rauli Raitanen Forward 41 17 44 61 +56 20
8. Vladimir Durdin Defence 43 14 35 49 +83 18
9. Janne Virtanen Forward 42 9 40 49 +26 6
10. Jokke Heinänen Forward 40 27 13 40 +15 8

References

  1. 1 2 3 Majasaari, Matti (1994). Pitkä laukaus : porilaisen jääkiekkoilun historia (in Finnish). Pori: satakunnan kirjateollisuus. pp. 125–132. ISBN 9519583750.
  2. 1 2 3 "Patahistory – 1989/90 PDF" (PDF).
  3. 1 2 "Muistatteko: Tasan 30 vuotta sitten Ässät putosi 1. divisioonaan". Satakunnan Kansa (in Finnish). 2019-03-01. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  4. ↑ "Kiekkotähti Arto Heiskanen, 59, on kuollut". www.iltalehti.fi (in Finnish). Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  5. ↑ "Ylivoimainen Ässät: Ikuinen ennätysmies Heiskanen teki keskinäisen sopimuksen maalitykki Javanaisen kanssa kaikkien aikojen divarijoukkueessa". Satakunnan Kansa (in Finnish). 2020-02-07. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.