Hockey Madness

Hi!

I just got back from my extempore trip to Helsinki... Reason for the trip. Hockey. On Sunday evening, 15.5 Finland beat Sweden in hockey world cup. It was .. amazing. I was watching the game with my little brother and I was in the verge of a nervous breakdown. Early in the game things were not looking good for the Finns. Then the first goal was made by the Swedes.. And then Immonen got Finland even and then it got from pretty good to freaking amazing. Better than any other game. 0-1, 1-1, 2-1, 3-1, 4-1, 5-1 and 6-1. Everyone cried and cheered. So fcuking amazing. It took us 16 years to win. 16 long years and then against Sweden we won. 

Okay. 

Finns have been criticized by the Swedes (and other Finns) for being, too happy? Hey, I have NOTHING against the Swedes. I like Sweden, I LOVE Stockholm but it wasn't Finland who talked smack before the big game. It wasn't Finland or the Finns who said "This game has been won already!" No. We waited. We prayed, hoped and sold our souls for the win. It wasn't Finland who posted pictures online saying "The Lion has been tamed" . No. Finns hoped and trusted their team. And now that we have finally talked smack back and been messing up with the Swedes it's not fun anymore. Who is the sore loser here dear Swede? The "tamed lion" or the king without a crown? 

Anywho. When we won. Phones rang and Facebook exploded. I got an idea.. I should go to Helsinki. I always miss these big events because "I have something to do.." USA and Obama "Can't go because I have school". Victoria and Daniel's wedding "I'm in Africa" .. Middleton and William, "I'm at work" God damn I wasn't going to miss this. I Facebookd Sanni late at night that could I come over. She agreed happily and I took a morning train to Helsinki on Monday. It was. AMAZING. 

Staff in the train were talking to the speaker phones saying "It's fantastic to see so many smiley faces. We should win more often" People were chatting and chanting. Blue and white clothing, the Finnish lion roared. Helsinki was filled with thousands of people (100.000) to be exact. It wasn't about beating Sweden (well not all of it), it was about being Finn and proud. Finns were so God Damn Proud of their boys. Were the hockey team on their best behavior? No. Were people sober. No. But let's not be hypocrite here, just because the team was drunk did that make me want to drink? No. Listening Vesa Matti Loiri sing made me want to drink. I think boys earned their moment drunk or not, let's not bring the wall of happiness down too fast. Finns showed emotions, I drink to that. 

I do have to comment on one thing. Children in events like these. I think it's great that kids get to witness events such as these. They should be proud. But I do question how some mom and dad's take their kids under 5 to these events. Why? There were 100 000 people. People were coming and going. People were drunk and shouting and then mom comes and says "I have a kid here let me trough" Let you through where? I can't move. I'm standing still even though I'm leaning back with full body force. People won't move. It was horrible to witness kids crying because they were in panic. Or how parents tried to push through with baby carriage. It was not well organized, of course not. The gold was won a night before. It wasn't like a festival. It was loud, people were hysteric, shouting, singing and pushing. It was not a place for a kid. There was this one kid and her mom standing in front of me and the kid started looking like she was out of air. Mom was terrified for her kid. What can you do? I wasn't able to move. There was no space. I started talking to the kid all kinds of silly things until one person moved somewhere and people started getting through again. 

To understand the madness I'll give you an example. There was a woman almost face to face with me. There wasn't almost at all space between us. I took a closer look, well .. that was Hanna Pakarinen. Winner of Finnish Idol and quite well known personality. I asked her quietly "Are you who I think you are?" She said yes but asked not to make a big deal out of it. I didn't but I did however comment "Well, at least I get to say that I've met you in person and talked to you in face to face, quite literally actually." She laughed and said, indeed. Then I had to use the Joey classic "How are you doing?" 

Me and Sanni didn't see much of the stage that was minimal, we came there pretty late. We saw the screens and we did shout when the President and Finnish hockey team appeared. I told you, those guys are legends now. They will be worshiped till the end of days because of this victory. Me and Sanni and some of her friends went for few drinks and then home. We both agreed that have never witnessed anything quite like this and it truly was, something else.

Thank you Finnish hockey team for this WIN. It does feel good to be a Finn in Finland in times such as these. 

JEnni

Under are some pictures of the Hockey celebration from Helsinki: