11.10.2012

See Kurri, Lehtinen, Forsberg and Sundin at Kupittaa

Tickets for the Karjala Tournament are selling well

The main event of the autumn for the Finnish ice hockey team is the traditional Karjala Tournament, which will be played in Turku at the HK Areena from 7 to 10 November. Ticket sales for the tournament have been very brisk.

At the Karjala Tournament, the Lions will measure themselves against Sweden, the Czech Republic – who took bronze ahead of Finland at the Ice Hockey World Championships last spring, and the reigning world champions Russia. The Karjala Tournament is usually a brilliant opportunity to see Europe's best players, Finnish favourites, and young and rising stars playing for a place on the team at the 2013 World Cup, which is, of course, on home ice.

However, the NHL lockout is adding spice to the pre-tournament speculation as some team lists may also include even more world class stars. The Finnish team for the tournament will be published on Monday 29 October.

Finland versus Sweden is the main interest

One of the highlights of the tournament is on Saturday 10 November when Finland plays Sweden. Tickets for the five o’clock face-off have sold like the proverbial hot cakes, and at the time of writing only about twohundred seats are left, although there is standing room for just under a thousand still available. So, if you want to see the Lions take on our beloved neighbour, you should reserve your ticket as soon as possible.

Finland’s other matches are also proving popular; more than half of the arena's capacity has been either sold or reserved for Wednesday's game against Russia as well as Friday’s match against the Czech Republic.

• Tickets for the tournament are available from Lippupiste: www.lippu.fi
• For more information on the national team and the Karjala Tournament: www.leijonat.fi

 
The Legends face-off at Kupittaa

In connection with the Karjala Tournament, the Mestis North vs South match will be played on Thursday 8.11 at the Marli Arena in Kupittaa. The coach of the Northern team is Vaasa Sport’s Pasi Räsänen and the coach of the Southern team is Tuto’s Juhani Tamminen.

In addition to the Mestis Hockey Day event, Finnish and Swedish hockey legends will also star in the match, including Peter Forsberg, Mats Sundin, Jari Kurri and Jere Lehtinen. The Marli Arena will also see skills competitions in which the legends and Mestis stars will compete, for example, at shooting and racing on skates.

• Mestis Hockey Day
• Mestis Hockey Day's programme

Photo: Marko Hannula / Finnish Ice Hockey Association