Unexpected Score
I don't like email - but I happened to be in Outlook when one came in and 30 seconds later - I had scored two tickets to the Sweden - Great Britain Ice Hockey World Championship game.
Goal!
Our marketing department had a few left for the two games on tonight and I snagged a couple. While Sweden is always a favorite, this is a group round against GB, so it was never going to draw a large crowd, but free tickets are free tickets and I missed out on getting any for the Finnish games.
The only problem was, that on such short notice, it was difficult to get a babysitter, but my in-laws pulled through and stayed and spent the time with Smallsteps and put her to bed, so that my wife and I could go to the game.
We were sitting in the Swedish section and it wasn't long until the first goal troubled the scorers, with Sweden going one up.
It took 13 seconds.
Which was barely enough time for the mascot to molest this Swedish woman.
The "Nokia Arena" is new (completed a few months ago) and straddles the train lines and sits next to the main station in Tampere, Finland. This is smart, because it makes it very easy for people from Helsinki or internationals flying in, to get to the games. There are also several large hotels that are now in the area too, making the city far more suited for large events than it was.
So far, they have sold about 350,000 tickets for the games and they are expecting 100,000 people to visit the city over the next month. This is not a tourist city and on a good day, there are only about 250,000 locals.
There were just over 3000 at this game however, which fills it to 20% capacity - not large by any measure, but ice hockey rink arenas generally aren't. There is also a hotel and casino attached - which is the only casino in the city. I haven't visited yet because well, I am in crypto - I don't like risk.
Being new, the facilities are clean and sparkly and everything seems well organized for the most part. I was quite skeptical early on as to how it would handle crowds, but so far, it seems to be okay. There isn't a lot of parking in the city, but there is a new tramline and plenty of buses run in, so at least for the locals, it isn't too difficult to navigate.
The game overall was as expecte, but Skoda, the major sponsor had a couple Enyaqs around, that they will probably give as prizes to the players of the tournament. I had a look at one last night online and it is well out of my price range of what I am willing to pay for a car at this point.
The Swedish goalie had plenty of time to check it out because, well, after the first 13 second goal - there were four more in the first period and then, Sweden took its energy level right down and still scored another to leave the final score 6 to 0.
I was rooting for Team GB to score at least one and they came close a couple times, but it wasn't to be. In reality, the difference between the teams was quite obvious from just watching them move up and down the ice. The Sweish team were faster, stronger and far more precise.
The Swedes play Finland tomorrow in what will hopefully be a Finnish win, but it should be a much harder game, so they were likely conserving their energy. However, I was wondering if at this level of play, teams "feel bad" for their opponents and don't punish them too hard. It would be different if it was the US or Canada, but Great Britain isn't exactly known for its ice hockey pedigree and maybe they do realize that these guys are doing it for far less than the NHL stars of the Swedish team.
But still the Swedish crowd was vocal, as were the surprising amount of Brits spotted around the stadium. Still, there were a lot more Finnish fans in the crowd - those diehards who couldn't get tickets to the quickly sold out home team games. It doesn't stop them wearing their SUOMI jerseys.
It was a nice surprise night out for my wife and I and while it was only for a few hours, we did have some fun. She also met a couple of my colleagues (there were six tickets all up on offer) and we got to go to a world championship game - so I guess that is something to cross off the lower end of the bucket list.
Not bad for an unplanned evening!
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Wow the swedish team must be a very nice team to watch with such performance displayed and the scoreline as well was huge
It is an Ice Hockey nation and has been strong for decades. The English, well, they play other sports ...okayishly.
Hahaha now you are speaking my language!
Hockey is such a fantastic sport to watch live. The level up of the stakes when players are representing their country is something else. So is a bonus night out and the wifepoints that come with it!
The Brits are in deep against the hockey nations but I love cheering for the underdogs. Unless they are playing against my Canadians. Then I hope the score ends 10-0
It really is good live. I haven't been in quite a few years and the last time was in the national Swedish league, where my friend was captaining the team before he retired fully. It was fun and the locals are insane! Funnily, quite a few of the Swedish fans were wearing that team's colors and I messaged my mate in Sweden :D
Supporting the underdog is the "right thing to do" when there is no preferred dog in the race.
Was surprised to see Germany score 3 against Canada the other night - but I am not sure if Canada has fielded much of a team this year. And with no Russia, it is going to be a bit of a different lead up.
Tomorrow should be a top game with Sweden-Finland going head to head - there is a lot of rivalry there.
You should have gone hard core and sat in the UK section, whilst supporting Sweden. Now, that would have been a good post. Lol.
The tickets are numbered - we didn't choose. However, it seems that there are fan groups that buy in batches, as there were large pockets of fans sitting together, with plenty of empty seating all around. It was a lot of fun and I would love to go to the game tomorrow night, which has been sold out for months.
Ice hockey is very cool to watch live, although the games I've seen here are nowhere near as awesome as you'd get up there. I'd like to see a big game. Maybe USA v Sweden or Finland.
I hope you got a hotdog or three. No one knows what's in them, but who cares right?
The sausages here are the worst in the world!
When you are next here, come in winter and we can go to some games :)
Sounds like a plan.
More to self: Don't buy hotdogs.
It must have been very very fun, lol! I can only imagine how the Brits will react.
Indeed.
Gotta love surprise date night plans! I don't know anything about hockey, but the one time I went to a game as a kid was memorable. It's one of the few sports I'd be willing to watch in person thanks to the faster pace.
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The precinct looks great and high tech. Better than Britain's ice hockey skills!
The city is growing up! :)
Is 6-0 a lopsided win?
Very. The scoring levels are normally like football. A couple goals.
Yay glad you managed to get out :) and that an unplanned thing managed to come together :D
Normally these things fall in a heap! This one almost did too, as it came close to no babysitter, which would have meant me taking the neighbor instead :)
This sport is not popular in my country. I wonder whether it is popular in cold countries :) It seems there are many spectators.
This kind of facilities is good for tourism and sport organizations as well as country advertising.
Cold countries for sure. In the winter, there are plenty of outdoor rinks for kids to play on. It is the national sport in Finland.
The arena looks quite magical and not really a sport on my bucket list but definitely something to experience.
Would have loved to have been at the game tonight between Sweden and Finland - packed house, a lot of emotion. Finland lost in a penalty shootout, but these are the group games so it isn't too bad.