Finland might be one of the best countries in the world to be a casual ice hockey player.
Outdoor ice rinks dot the country, whether they are iced over football fields, lakes or any other frozen surface that a puck can slide across.
It's an everyday experience for Finns, but the annual pond hockey tournament in Helsinki draws players from all over the world hungry for a taste of the outdoor game.
"It's always good fun, everyone's really nice and welcoming. It's what keeps me coming back every year," said Tom Currie, who came to the tournament from London.
He added that the experience of playing against Finns who learned to skate as soon as they could walk was humbling, but the atmosphere for outdoor hockey is unparalleled in Finland.
"Outdoor hockey is non-existent in the UK. We don't get any of this, that's why I come out here as well," Currie told Yle News. He added that finding ice time outside of organised practices in the UK is near impossible, preventing players from both having fun and developing.
The Save Pond Hockey organisation aims to use hockey for climate advocacy. Since 2015, it has hosted tournaments in Finland and abroad to raise awareness and funds for climate action through outdoor ice hockey.
The sport itself is a concrete example of climate change affecting everyday life.
According to data from the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), between 1860 and 2006, the average winter temperature in Helsinki has increased by more than three degrees Celsius.
In addition the number of ice days — days where the temperature stays below freezing — decreased from 78 days to 48 days in the same time period. By 2023, Helsinki's average winter temperature had risen to -1.2 degrees Celsius, according to the FMI.
Sustainability
For an organisation so climate-oriented, having players fly from places like the US, Canada and UK, might seem to defeat the purpose of a tournament geared towards climate action.
"Flights obviously have a huge impact and we're going to totally blow our carbon budget if we do absolutely nothing about flying alone," the group's director and co-founder Steve Baynes told Yle News, adding that the organisation uses carbon markets to try to mitigate the climate impact.
To do this, the group uses a firm called CO2Esto, which purchases carbon credits on the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), according to Baynes. That enables it to prevent other firms from buying carbon emission rights and stopping emissions at their source — at least theoretically.
Save Pond Hockey also focuses on local sustainability initiatives, depending on the tournament's location. For example, a tournament last year in Lappeenranta near Finland's Lake Saimaa donated the proceeds to efforts to protect the endangered Saimaa ringed seals.
This year's tournament on a (non-pond) outdoor rink in Helsinki raised 15,000 euros for the Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation, to permanently protect Finnish forests and wetlands.
Starstruck or starpuck?
This winter, there's still enough ice around to skate in the Finnish capital.
Hundreds of players, including Finland's President Sauli Niinistö, braved temperatures of -14 degrees Celsius for a tournament last Saturday on the ice at Helsinki's Brahenkenttä.
The outgoing president claims to have played pond hockey for 70 years, and is a regular guest at the tournament.
Niinistö's love of ice hockey is no secret. He has celebrated with Finland's world championship team, dropped the ceremonial puck at an NHL game and occasionally practised with Helsinki club Käpylä Maanantai.
"We're always a bit hopeful that he [Niinistö] can make it. He's been a bit of a regular the past few years, which has been absolutely fantastic to have his support to come out for this important cause and play some pond hockey with us," Baynes told Yle News.
Niinistö joined a group of NHL alumni including Esa Tikkanen and Jarkko Ruutu in the Save Pond Hockey All-Star Game. Niinistö also scored early in the game off a pass from another former NHL player, Niklas Hagman.
The All-Star Game included other names like Canadian Ambassador to Finland Jeanette Stovel, the CEO of Finland's top-tier professional ice hockey league, Liiga, Mikko Pulkkinen and Finnish rappers Ville Galle and Ege Zulu.
Ege Zulu, who also played on a team in the competitive tournament praised the work of Save Pond Hockey and the sport itself.
"We need more days like these. When I was younger I played ice hockey, but never on a team. This is the first time I've been competitive in the sport," Ege Zulu told Yle News.
Accessibility and inclusiveness
Outdoor ice hockey, or pond hockey (pipolätkä in Finnish) is also much more accessible and has a lower barrier to entry than the sport's indoor variant.
Pond hockey equipment is usually just a stick, gloves, ice skates and sometimes a helmet. Purchasing the equipment second-hand, which Save Pond Hockey recommends, also cuts back on costs and environmental impact. Additionally, most outdoor ice rinks in Finland are free to access, whereas indoor rinks may require some admission price.
Compared to its indoor counterpart, which requires covering oneself head to toe in protective equipment, pond hockey doesn't take as much of a toll on both the body and personal finances.
Save Pond Hockey's tournament follows typical Finnish pond hockey rules — no goalies, no contact, no lifting the puck above the knee, teams of four players and small, slit-like goals. Additionally, players cannot shoot the puck directly into the goal if they have been moving with it, as goals only count if they are off the first touch of a pass.
It's a much more casual version of the game played in NHL arenas and one that Save Pond Hockey's Baynes, originally from Vancouver, Canada, said helped him adapt to life in Finland.
"There's a strong tradition of hockey in Finland and there's a big cultural importance. And so I think when immigrants and foreigners can kind of connect with those cultural traditions, it definitely helps them connect to Finns and the culture as well," Baynes told Yle News.
Article updated 17:19 to update number of players and photo rights.
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