Hockey season started here in Finland a couple weeks ago and now you can expect to catch a game on the television just about every night. Each team usually plays a game two or three times a week, and the fans travel and do what they can to follow up with their teams.
On Friday night I got the opportunity to watch a hockey game in the real season. Tickets were sold out on Monday, so we were quite lucky to have scored two standing tickets. I went with the exchange student from Japan (who had never seen a hockey game) and we had an awesome time at the ISKU Arena here in Lahti.
The seats, really weren't seats, because we were literally standing, but even that worked out because you could see everything pretty well and at some points you felt very close to the action.
The Pelicans (blue jerseys) went down a point to HIFK (the really popular team from Helsinki, who had a large and very strong fan base at the game, in the white jerseys) very early in the game.
Time and time again we tried to score and didn't succeed, as two periods came and went. In a hockey game there are three periods and two twenty minute breaks between the periods too.
The third period rolled around and the 18 minutes on the clock started to wind down and down. The Pelicans held HIFK from scoring more and worked to score themselves. I believed that they could come back and still win even as the final minutes came.
We played without a goalie in so that we would have an extra man to help try and score and the pace of things was really picking up. Then at last everything payed off! You should have seen how almost the entire stadium stood! No one could believe that we would have scored, but we did it! The Pelicans were still in the game with 23 seconds left to go. That was an exhilerating moment, because there was still a chance that we would win the game.
As with every hockey game, the 1 - 1 tie led to overtime and five minutes was put up on the clock. Unfortunately with a couple minutes until a shoot out, one of the players on HIFK snuck the puck into the net and ended the game. A lot of the Pelican fans left dejected while the Helsinki fans cheered and chatted.
It was a great night and a lot of fun, even if our team didn't win. I really hope I can see another hockey game this season too. At the end of the game the players shook hands and it made me think of a question I was asked last month about Finnish hockey teams and fighting. The players here fight no where near as much as in the US, they may get into a breif fist fight or argument, but nothing too bad or frequent. It's more about the game then seeing who can throw a punch here.
Anyways, best wishes & GO PELICANS!
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