Blogs Blogs in EnglishWithout the journey you don´t have a destination (published 10/2017)21/10/2017Blog in EnglishWe have played about one sixth of the regular season in Liiga. In addition to that we´ve had a few rehearsal games and five out of six CHL-games. Since the CHL was founded, it has been a cool thing to me, a nice addition to the Liiga-games. People haven´t quite found their way to the CHL-games yet and many of them think the games as rehearsal games compared to Liiga-games. I still see it as CHL brings more interest to the arenas, seeing european teams play against each other. Something completely different than in our Liiga. In addition to that thanks to it´s consept, it brings fans from different countries together, especially because they launched the Fan Ambassador-programme last year. I´ve enjoyed every CHL-game I´ve been in, even though the final result might not have been what I wanted. Thanks to Kamraatit, the most memorable CHL-moments last season, have been while working as a Fan Ambassador with them. Meet and greet with the current Top Scorer Teemu Eronen, a tour in Nordis and last but not least; the price trip to the CHL Final. All of these will go to the forefront of my hockey memories. Even though the start of the season hasn´t been what we expected, I still have enjoyed every CHL-game I´ve been to. We have two very tough teams in our group and to them we lost all the games. In addition to them, we have one opponent from Cracovia, Poland. We just played against them and won 0-6. That was a good game and we still have one game left against them, next week actually! I will absolutely be there, cheering for my team, even though the result doesn´t really matter anymore. We still want to win! With great joy, we also waited for the Liiga to start. Compared to the quality of our team, the result hasn´t been what we expected. We´ve had our chances at scoring goals, but it has been an issue, especially in the beginning. Our team is top-class and very talented, but they haven´t got the best out of themselves yet. Frustrating for the fans. Even more frustrating for the team. It´s not nice and it doesn´t feel good to go home with another loss. Sometimes it feels like even the fortune hasn´t been on our side. I still have seen some great effort from the team. Since we´ve had a rocky start, Kamraatit decided to organize a secret ”mission” and we collected positive feedback and cheers from the fans. We had so many letters, pictures and videos to give to the team and also each player got at least one letter of their own. And after we´ve seen the reactions, I think it´s appropriate to say it was a big success! All of this also made me very happy. When your family is in trouble and facing challenges, it´s our duty to step up and support them. To show the power we have together. At it´s best, it makes you feel so happy and thankful for what we have. Something you can´t describe. Something you can only know if you are a part of our red family. In the last few games we´ve had some success. It´s still a challenge to play a clean 60 minutes, but I believe and know it will happen. I have a great trust in our team and our family. We just have to be patient and good things will happen to good people. It´s not going to be all happy and cheerful, and we will face some difficulties, but all of these things are a part of the journey. And the journey is what makes everything worth it. Not only the final score or the destination. Without the journey you don´t have a destination. Nita... HIFK connecting people and countries (published 09/2017)21/10/2017Blog in EnglishMinä olen Andrea. Minä olen 36- vuotias ja asun Düsseldorfissä, Saksassa. Minä olen naimisissa ja puhun saksaa, englantia ja vähän suomea! Hahaha and that is where it already ends! 😊 This is the first time for me that I write a blog about me and my life as an IFK Fan outside of Finland. It all started about 10 years ago when I watched a documentary about Helsinki! I wanted to see this city by myself and I booked a weekend trip to Helsinki in the middle of December! It was cold, very cold, it was dark and there was a lot of snow! But I instantly fell in love! With the city, the country, the people, the language…….with everything! After a few visits in Helsinki (most of them were in summertime which means off-season) I spend a week in Helsinki in September and I was a lucky girl because I was able to buy tickets for the first derby of the season against Jokerit in jäähalli! Some people ask why I chose HIFK and not Jokerit? But honestly!!!!! Who likes clowns? 😉 The game was amazing! It was a home victory and the atmosphere in jäähalli was just breathtaking! There were all these people in red screaming, jumping and singing for their team! I still remember those goosebumps I had! There were no doubts that this is my team, this is the place I feel comfortable. After the game, I bought a jersey and flew home with a big smile on my face! At the moment, there are 5 jerseys in the closet and I guess there is enough space for some more! I try to see as many games as possible! Luckily, there is Ruutu. The registration was not so easy if you don´t speak Finnish pretty good! But it worked and with a little help of a nice (Finnish) program, I can tell Ruutu that I am in Finland while watching the games! Otherwise the geo-blocking would not allow me to see the games! I always have to consider the time difference of one hour when I´m heading the 50km from work home to be there right in time for the game. Meanwhile I get so used to the Finnish commentators that I can´t handle it to watch a game with English or even German commentators! Did you ever hear German commentators pronouncing Finnish names! It’s awful!!!!!!!!!!!! If I get the chance to see IFK outside Finland I take it! I drove to Mannheim and Krefeld, not far away from my hometown to support the team! Always by my side is my best friend Claudia! If we don´t get the chance to see our boys play in Germany we have to go on road trips, to Switzerland for example in 2015 and 2016! We decided to drive the 750km from Germany to Switzerland just to see one game and to meet old and new friends. And it was totally worth it! Everyone we met was so nice, friendly and open hearted. Last year in Zug, Switzerland, Kamraatit gave me the chance to join the morning session of the team, in the framework of the CHL fan ambassador program! What a wonderful experience for me! Last but not least I just can say that I´m a happy girl! I found the best team in the world with the best fans and I´m allowed to be part of it! I´m thankful for the people I met and hopefully will meet. A few times in a year I am lucky to join some games in Helsinki! If you meet me at or around Nordis just feel free to talk to me! I will do my very best to answer in Finnish, English or German! Otherwise you can add me on facebook (Andrea Kusch) or Instagram (@dreakusch). Nähdään ja Moi Moi Andrea... Hi everyone, it´s Noa again! (published 01/2017)21/10/2017Blog in EnglishSince you’ve already heard about the hockey culture in my home country, I’m going to tell you something about why I came to Finland, also about my life as an exchange student here, as well as how I came to ice hockey and how IFK and the awesome IFK family (you) changed my normal life to a totally new, exciting direction. So, as you already know I’m an exchange student from Germany but you might ask: “Why did she choose from almost 200 countries in the world exactly Finland?”. Well, let me explain. I’m really interested in the Nordic countries and since so many people are going to Norway and Sweden nowadays, I thought it would be a bigger adventure to go to a county no one knows and talks about that much, just to explore the culture on my own. Also the language is totally different, which is a great challenge. Anyway, in the three times I`ve been here before my exchange, I realized that the country has something magical which makes me feel home immediately. The people might be reserved but still super friendly and all I’ve seen from the landscape was fascinating. Through all these facts and my weakness for Finnish music (which is a different story) the destination for my year abroad was set. Finland. As soon as I came here I was searching for a hobby to get to know to more people. I didn’t want to continue with football since I’ve played that my whole life. Instead I thought more and more about ice hockey because it’s probably the most common sport in Finland. Sincerely, I’ve never been really interested in it. I knew the team in my city, I’ve heard about IFK because of Samu Haber and I watched some games of the Finnish under 20 national team when they played the championship but I didn’t pay that much attention to it. As an openminded exchange student I went to some IFK games and it took about two games until I was into it. I wanted to start playing on my own immediately and I’m so thankful my host mom found “Gimmat Skulaa” for me, where I got the chance to practice in Nordis once a week. First I was pretty afraid of going there because I wasn’t even able to skate that well. But I still went there and I saw how I got better every training session. I posted some pictures on my Instagram blog (@noa_meets_finland) about my practice and my experiences with IFK and through this some of my meanwhile best friends here texted me. We met at the games, they teached me the fan songs, introduced me to more and more people and everything got just so much more exciting. The home games are the highlights of every week and it feels like my whole exchange year is only about ice hockey and IFK (which is absolutely NOT a bad thing 😉 ) I hope I could give you a little insight to my life here. You can always ask me on my blog if you have any questions or just direct at the games. Thank you for letting me being part of the amazing IFK family Greetings, Noa... Ice hockey in Germany (published 11/2016)21/10/2017Blog in EnglishHi everyone! It´s Noa and I´m an exchange student from Germany living in Helsinki for 10 months. I thought it could be interesting to tell you something about German ice hockey culture so… read below if you’re interested! As you might know, the most famous sport in Germany is football (soccer), and I’m sure there are a few others before Germans think about ice hockey. But still, we have a good national team called “Träger der Adler” (eagle carriers) and normally there is at least one ice hockey club in every big city. The 5 best and most popular ones at the moment are “Red Bull München”, “Grizzlys Wolfsburg”, “Kölner Haie”, “Adler Mannheim” and “Nürnberg Ice Tigers”. Now, here’s how this sport started in my home country: the history of German ice hockey started at the end of 19th century with the first ice rink. It took about 15 years until the Germans became part of the international hockey league and the national team played their first game in 1910. Due to the first world war the team was excluded for six years and came back thanks to the engagement of Sweden. Through all these years, we have managed to get some achievements: we reached 7 bronze, 4 silver and 2 golden medals at the European championships, 2 bronze and 2 silver medals at the worlds championships and 2 bronze medals at Olympic games. The women’s team is not really successful yet but it’s gaining importance. So take a look at this team in the next competition! Practice for Hobby Players: During the practice, there is no difference between male and female players. Since the age of 10 girls and boys have to play in separate teams but they do the same exercises and the hours of practice a week are the equal. The only difference is that it’s easier for a boy to find a team to join, because of the less interest of girls in hockey. Although, interest by girls, and I could say for ice hockey in general, is slowly growing. So maybe one day Germany could get as good as the northern teams. 🙂 copyright of the photo: spiegel.de Greetings, Noa Siegel (noa_meets_finland)...
