KalPa Hockey

I had the opportunity to attend one of the local hockey games here in Kuopio (KalPa versus KooKoo). The visitors team came from Kouvola. Both teams play in the  first level of Finnish ice hockey league Liiga. The Kalpa team did win (5-3) in a hard fought and well played game. KalPa has a double meaning – kalpa is a type of sword – while KalPa is a contraction for Kalevan Pallo where pallo (ball) could be loosly translated as Kalevan’s ball club. The forerunners of the current team started play in 1929. They play at the Olvi arena which seats 5300 people. One curious observation was limited sales of any type of alcoholic beverage and few people were eating foods other than popcorn. My colleagues indicated that this was typical – in essence you go to the game to watch hockey.  Younger players from a youth’s league also showed off their skills. I was glad to make it to the game since in 2020 when I was here the first time the game was cancelled because of the emerging COVID pandemic.