One of the most popular sport in Oulu is the ice hockey. The Kärpät Oulu (Oulu Stoats) is a Professional ice hockey club based in Oulu, Finland. The club was founded in 1946. Indeed, in the first annual meeting in January 1947, an ice hockey section was established. At the beginning of the new decade, Kärpät was somewhat successful in ice hockey and it became the main sport of the club.
The club has won so far the league five times, in 1981, 2004, 2005, 2007, and 2008. Kärpät have claimed the Finnish championship title seven times, and have been the most successful Finnish ice hockey team in the 2000s and 2010s.
I went on the Oulun Energia Areena to see a game of the champions hockey league with others Erasmus students. This areena can welcome more than 6500 peoples and the show was good. The game was the team of Oulu (Kärpät) vs Germany (Krefeld Pinguine). It was the first time for me, and I almost understood the rules. The ice hockey take place in 3 rounds. The teams can change players without stopping game and it’s made in an impressive speed. What it suprised me on this game, is the violence that players made against an other player on the plexiglas. A match lasts three periods of 20 minutes each, the clock being stopped in every stoppage time. Between two periods, a break takes place and one or several surfacers smooth the ice.
After this game, Oulun won the game with 5 points while the german team had only 3 points.
