Kupittaan monitoimihalli ('Kupittaa Multipurpose Hall'), also known as Rajupaja Areena for sponsorship reasons, is an

arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...

in the

Kupittaa Kupittaa ( sv, Kuppis) is a district in Turku, Finland. It is located on the eastern side of the city's centre, around the Kupittaa Park, the first landscaped park in a Finnish city. The district serves as a centre for recreation and business. ...

district of

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. It is primarily used for

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

and is the

home arena In sports, home is the place and venue identified with a team sport. Most professional teams are named for, and marketed to, particular metropolitan areas; amateur teams may be drawn from a particular region, or from institutions such as sch ...

of the

Mestis Mestis (from fi, Mestaruussarja, meaning 'Championship series') is the second-highest men's ice hockey league in Finland. The league was established by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association in 2000 to replace the I-divisioona ('First Division'). ...

team

TUTO Hockey TUTO Hockey (Turun Toverit) is a Finnish ice hockey team based at the Kupittaan jäähalli (capacity 2,875, inauguration in November 2006). Established in 1929, TUTO plays in Turku, Finland, and is one of two clubs in that city (the other being ...

and the

Naisten Liiga The Kansallinen Liiga ('National League') is the premier division of women's football in Finland. It was previously called the Jalkapallon naisten SM-sarja ('Women's Football Finnish Championship Series') during 1974 to 2006 and the Naisten Lii ...

team

TPS Naiset Turun Palloseura Naiset or TPS Naiset are an ice hockey team in the Finnish Naisten Liiga (ice hockey), Naisten Liiga. They are the representative women's ice hockey team of Turun Palloseura (TPS), a multi-sport club based in Turku, Southwest F ...

. It was opened on 18 November 2006 on the original site of the (), which had opened in 1973 and held 5,500 people.

Ringette Ringette is a contact sport, non-contact winter team sport played on ice hockey rinks using Ice skates#Ice hockey skates, ice hockey skates, straight sticks with drag-tips, and a #Equipment, blue, rubber, pneumatic ring designed for use on ice ...

is also played at the Rajupaja Areena. In 2011, it hosted the 2011 Ringette World Club Championship. Ten years later in 2022, it hosted an exhibition game between

Team Canada Canadian National Team or Team Canada may refer to: Canada at multi-sport events * Canada at the Olympics * Canada at the Paralympics * Canada at the Commonwealth Games * Canada at the Pan American Games Canada's national sport teams * Canada me ...

and

Team Finland Team Finland represents Finland in women's international roller derby, in events such as the Roller Derby World Cup. The team was first formed to compete at the 2011 Roller Derby World Cup, and finished the tournament in fifth place. Finland's f ...

with both teams later competing in

Espoo Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärvi ...

at the

2022 World Ringette Championships The upcoming 2022 World Ringette Championships (WRC) is an international ringette tournament taking place in Espoo, Finland, at the Espoo Metro Areena, Espoo Tapiola Arena, and the Matinkylä ice rink between October 31 and November 6, 2022. It w ...

History

The first

artificial ice An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice created using hardened chemicals where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The ...

field on the site was constructed in 1962; this, however, was an outdoor field where players were at the mercy of the weather. However, since the field was

artificially Artificiality (the state of being artificial or manmade) is the state of being the product of intentional human manufacture, rather than occurring naturally through processes not involving or requiring human activity. Connotations Artificiality ...

frozen, the opening

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

was much longer than with natural ice. The first arena was constructed in 1973, allowing teams to play indoors. The new arena with a

spectator ''Spectator'' or ''The Spectator'' may refer to: *Spectator sport, a sport that is characterized by the presence of spectators, or watchers, at its matches *Audience Publications Canada * ''The Hamilton Spectator'', a Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, ...

capacity of 3,000 was inaugurated in November 2006. The last games in the old arena were played in the

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a ...

of 2005. The new arena with spectator capacity of 3,000 was inaugurated in November 2006.

Teams

Ice hockey teams including TPS of the

Liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding leagu ...

, TUTO, and several others have played in this venue. When the new

Elysée Arena Gatorade Center (formerly HK Areena, Elysée Arena, Typhoon Arena, but commonly referred to as Turkuhalli in Finnish and Åbohallen in Swedish) is a multi-functional indoor arena in the district of Artukainen in Turku, Finland. Opened in November ...

was completed in November 1990, TPS moved there. Since then, the arena has been best known as the home of TUTO. , the arena is home to three TUTO Hockey teams: TUTO Hockey of the Mestis, TUTO Hockey U20 of the

U20 SM-sarja The U20 SM-sarja ('Under-20 Finnish Championship Series') is the premier junior men’s ice hockey league in Finland. It was previously known as the A-nuorten SM-sarja ('Junior A Finnish Championship Series') during 1945 to 1991 and the Nuorten ...

, and TUTO Hockey U18 of U18 SM-sarja; and two TPS Juniorijääkiekko teams: TPS Naiset of the Naisten Liiga and TPS Akatemia of the Naisten Suomi-sarja. Other ice hockey teams that call the arena home include the Chiefs of the 2. Divisioona and Kisurit Turku of the

3. Divisioona 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * ''Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 n ...

References

Indoor arenas in Finland Indoor ice hockey venues in Finland Buildings and structures in Turku {{Europe-icehockey-venue-stub