FINNISH HOCKEY HALL OF FAME. TAMPERE

Have you ever heard about Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame? No? But there is one located in Tampere, the second large town of Finland.


The Museum exhibition rooms at the Hakametsä Ice Arena in 2000. Photo: Carlos Salinas Bascur. Tampere Museums.

The Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame is one of the six museums in the world that have specialized in the history of the ice hockey. The museum holds more than 10,000 hockey-related objects in its collections.

The vigorous journey of the Finnish ice hockey from the end of the 1920's up to today is introduced in the permanent exhibition of the Museum. The best-known exhibition objects are the Finnish Championship Trophy, the 'Canada Trophy', and the World Championship Trophy from 1995.

The Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame has its foundations in the 50th anniversary of the Finnish Ice Hockey Association in 1979. In honour of the anniversary, a local bank in Tampere region (Tampereen Aluesäästöpankki) arranged a historical hockey exhibition in its premises.

The exhibition was a tremendous success and later the same year Mr. Aarne Honkavaara, Mr. Kalervo Kummola, Mr. Kimmo Leinonen, Mr. Harry Lindblad, Mr. Juhani Linkosuo and Mr. Usko Teromaa founded the association called Suomen Jääkiekkomuseoyhdistys ry. ('Finnish Ice Hockey Museum Association').


The Stanley Cup winner Ville Nieminen meets Aarne Honkavaara, the Honorary President of the Finnish Ice Hockey Museum Association, at the opening ceremony of the new Museum exhibition rooms in September 2001. Photo: Carlos Salinas Bascur. Tampere Museums.

Ms. Pirkko Linkosuo who acted as the secretary of the Association was the first one to collect objects for the museum. She started this activity by contacting the players of the Finnish League of the 1930's. Suitable exhibition rooms were found at the Tampere Ice Arena and the Museum was opened for public on the 13th of December in 1979.

Mr. Aarne Honkavaara, who has been awarded the title of Honorary Sports Counsellor, worked as the Museum Attendant at the Ice Arena for almost 20 years. Together with his wife Maire, he took care of the routine matters of the Museum and presented the exhibition to thousands of visitors annually. A visitor record was made in 1996 as more than 12,000 people visited the museum.


Goalie masks from the 1960's. Photo: Carlos Salinas Bascur. Tampere Museums.

The exhibition room at the Tampere Ice Arena was closed for public in the end of 2000and the new permanent exhibition was opened in Museum Centre Vapriikki in April 2001

The permanent exhibition of the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame presents the history of the Finnish ice hockey from the 1920's to the present. Jerseys, sticks and other equipment from different decades tell their own story about the development of hockey. The absolute gem of the exhibition is the original Finnish Championship Trophy, the Canada Cup, yearly awarded to the Finnish champions since 1951.

The exhibition objects and video clips bring many memorable moments of the Finnish hockey back to the visitor's mind. Also all championship medals won by Team Finland as well as the World Championship Trophy from 1995 are on display in the Museum.

The exhibition room also introduces a scoring simulator.


Finnish team in Oslo in 1952. Top row from left: Lauri Silvan, Esko Rekomaa, Christian Rapp, Erkki Hytönen, Matti Karumaa, Aarne Honkavaara, Yrjö Hakala, Keijo Kuusela and Eero Saari. Bottom row from left: Jukka Wuolio, Pentti Isotalo, Eero Salisma, Unto Wiitala, Pekka Myllylä, Ossi Kauppi, Matti Rintakoski and Kauko Mäkinen. Photo: Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame.

The Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame preserves, studies and introduces material related to ice hockey. It has a collection of more than 10,000 objects of which the original Canada Cup (Finnish championship trophy) and the World Championship Trophy of 1995 are the best-known to the public. All Championship medals won by Team Finland can also be found in the Museum.


Photo by NIKALE1

The Museum's jersey collection includes over 500 jerseys. The permanent exhibition introduces you for example Stanley Cup winner Ville Nieminen's away games jersey that he wore in the NHL finals in 2001 as he played with the Colorado Avalanche. Pekka Rautakallio's NHL All Stars Game jersey from 1982 is also on display. A wide collection of jerseys worn by Team Finland starting from the year 1948 can also be found.

The Museum receives the objects mainly through donations. Admission costs are -Adults: 7 €, Children 7 to 16 and students: 2 €, Children under 7: Free of charge

I hope you have enjoyed this trip. For me, I was glad to find Carl Brewer, Gustav Bubnik and Curt Lindstrom (all at coaches department) as members of Finnish Hall of Fame among all Suomi guys.