It was very special few days this past 6th and 7th of July in Pirkkala Finland! These days were marked in Finnish ball hockey history as the days for its first national championships! After a great final the title went to northern Finland as Peräpohjolan Poropojat were crowned as champions. The final against Siivikkalan Pelikassit offered up huge drama and with only one second left when big defenseman Taneli Marjeta won it for Poropojat!

The first ever Finnish national championship had five teams from different places and the federation organized a really good event with a lot of high-quality games. The semi-finals especially offerd really tough games with teams battling for every inch on the rink. Poropojat defeated PHC from Oulu 3-0 and Pelikassit beat HC Kings from Vantaa 4-2. The final between Poropojat and Pelikassit ended 5-4. Both PHC and Kouvostoliiton Kukot from Kouvola were first-timers in the game of ballhockey so they will be expected to be stronger in the future tournaments.

Team Poropojat (blue) & Team PHC (gold) battle for the final!

The second semifinal was also a tight battle between Team Pelikassit (red) & Team HC Kings (black).

These championships showed that ballhockey is getting stronger in Finland and this will greatly benefit the Finnish national team. The federation has been contacted by several new teams and there is optimism that they will join and help grow ball hockey bigger in Finland. Next year’s championships will be played July 12-13 July and the goal is to grow the tournament with three teams so that we will have eight teams playing for the title.

Ville Väänänen captain of team Poropojat accepts the championship trophy!

Finland wants to wish everyone a great rest of the summer and we will see you in Kosice!

 

 

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