We had the chance to attend an ice hockey game at the kuopio center. Two teams played against each other: Kalpa (in yellow) and Kärpat (in black). Kalpa is the official team of Kuopio. So, we were supporters of Kalpa. The mascot is a rooster! The game lasted 2 hours with three 15 minutes breaks. At each break there was a short figure skating show. It was impressive. The dancers were coordinated and did all kinds of acrobatics.
At the beginning of the game, Kärpat's team was leading 3-0, but Kalpa made up for this difficult start and finally won 6-3! There was a good atmosphere in the stands, with the public shouting: “kiitos Kalpa! Kiitos Kalpa!”, with “Kiitos” meaning thank you in Finnish.
Ice hockey is a big tradition in Finland. It’s Finland’s national sport. We can compare ice hockey there with baseball in the United States or football in France. It is popular.
The Swedish team is the biggest rivalry of the Finnish team. But it is a friendly rivalry compared to some football teams in other countries like France for example.
The logo of the Finnish team is a lion with a crown and a sword, a sign of strength on ice skates. The whole is surrounded by a blue upside-down triangle on a white background in the colors of the Finnish flag. We can see a blue writing: SUOMI which means Finland.
In Finland, people practice ice-hockey on ice courts, but it is also possible to practice on frozen lakes. Finland has 188 000 lakes! So there's plenty of space to train. From January to March the lakes are solid (cars drive on them) so it is quite possible to practice on them.
For the first time in its history, Finland won the Olympic gold medal in ice hockey at the 2022 Winter Olympics. The team trained well and said they could win the gold medal. They achieved their goal and are proud of it!
Chloe
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