Tampere Ice Stadium ( fi, Tampereen jäähalli, often called ''Hakametsä'') is an indoor sports

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 spectator ...

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population ...

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 Bot ...

. 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 ...

, and it was the former home arena of

Ilves Ilves (; Finnish for "Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Tampere Deck Arena. The colors of Ilves, green, yellow, and black, were taken from what was then the coat of arms of the cit ...

and

Tappara Tappara (; Finnish for "Battle axe") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team playing in the Liiga. They play at ''Tampere Deck Arena'' in Tampere, Finland. The team has won 18 Finnish league championships (1959, 1961, 1964, 1975, 1977, 1979, ...

of the Finnish

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 ...

, until after the matches both teams played in November 2021, they moved to play the following matches in the new Nokia Arena. Today, the Ice Stadium is currently in use by the Koovee team. The ice hall, designed by the architect

Jaakko Tähtinen Jaakko Tähtinen (1904–1970) was a Finnish architect based in Tampere, a large city in southern Finland. He established the Tähtinen architectural practice and designed both residential and commercial buildings in Tampere and also in other citi ...

was built for the 1965 World Ice Hockey Championships and opened the same year. The current capacity of the ice hall for hockey games is 7,300 spectators (5,629 seats, 1,359 standing, 312 suites). Tampere ice stadium is the third biggest ice hall in the Finnish ice hockey league. As there are several ice hockey venues in Tampere, this primary one is usually called "Hakametsän jäähalli" (after the district where it is located) or, more precisely, "Hakametsä 1" to distinguish it from the two smaller halls nearby.

History

Yleisradio's sports commentator booth in Hakametsä

Tampere Ice Stadium is the first and the oldest ice hockey arena in the country. Finland was awarded the opportunity to host the 1965

ice hockey World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annual ...

, and

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

was to build an arena for the tournament. However, Helsinki did not manage to finish the project in time, and Tampere was asked to build an arena and host the games instead. The first game in the arena was an

all-star game An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or d ...

between Tampere and the rest of Finland, played on January 29, 1965. The score was tied at 4–4. The first league game was played by the local teams Ilves and Tappara on January 31, with Ilves taking a 5–3 win. Originally, the spectator capacity of the Tampereen jäähalli was 10,200 people, with only 1,573 seats on the eastern side of the rink. The ice hall has also served as one of the venues of the IIHF World Championship in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C ...

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

and

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

and also for the IIHF Women's World Championship in 1992. Besides ice hockey, the venue has been used to host several other sports events, including the European and World Championships of boxing, wrestling, judo, and karate, and international matches of volleyball. Over the years there have also been several concerts by both domestic and international artists in the hall.

Features

The stands in the arena are of a rather rectangular shape, and are composed of a single level main stand and an overhanging balcony on the western side. On the eastern side there are 20 suites as well as facilities for the media. The standing places are located in the corners of the stands. Currently, the majority of the seats are padded, with some unpadded plastic seats remaining on the balcony. In 2007, a new video screen cube was installed in the arena. Of note is the fact that the balcony hanging over the stand B blocks the view to the screen from the uppermost rows. This has been augmented by placing TV monitors under the balcony, mirroring the output of the screen. There are several bars, restaurants and fast food stalls around the ice hall, as well as fan shops and the VIP clubs of the two local hockey teams.

Future

In the late 1990s and the early 2000s there were plans to build a new multi-purpose arena in Tampere, following the example of the

Hartwall Areena Helsinki Halli (formerly Hartwall Arena) is a large multi-functional indoor arena located in Helsinki, Finland. It was opened in April 1997. The arena is convertible for various events. The total seated capacity during ice hockey games is 13,34 ...

built in Helsinki in 1997. However, these plans did not come to fruition, and the Hakametsä arena continued to serve as the primary hockey venue in the city. In May 2010, the Tampere City Council approved plans for the Tampereen monitoimiareena, which opened 3 December 2021. After 56 years at the venue, both

and

moved into the new Nokia Arena for the 2021-22 Liiga season. A new exercise and sports area Hakametsä Sport Campus is growing around the Ice Stadium. In the winning concept of

Peab Peab AB is a construction and civil engineering company headquartered in Förslöv, Scania, listed on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm. It is the third largest construction company in Sweden and the Nordic region, with annual revenues exceeding SEK 50 bill ...

and YH Kodit, Hakametsä will have

apartment An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ma ...

s, new

sports facilities A sports venue is a building, structure, or place in which a sporting competition is held. A stadium (plural: stadiums or stadia) or arena is a place or venue for sports or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely ...

and business and

office An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific ...

facilities for sports companies, services or training. The old Ice Stadium will be renovated and, in addition to ice use, facilities will be created for other sports. Hakametsä panorama

Retired jerseys

Tappara

* 2:

Kalevi Numminen Veijo Kalevi Numminen (born 31 January 1940 in Tampere, Finland) is a retired professional ice hockey player who played in the SM-liiga. He played for Tappara. He was inducted into the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame in 1986. Numminen has also c ...

* 3: Pekka Marjamäki * 7:

Timo Jutila Timo Juhani "Juti" Jutila (born 24 December 1963 in Tampere, Finland) is a retired Finnish ice hockey defenceman. Jutila was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres (4th round, 68th overall) in 1982 NHL Entry Draft. Playing career Jutila's ice hockey ca ...

* 8:

Janne Ojanen Janne Juhani Ojanen (born April 9, 1968) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey player who is the all-time leading scorer in Finland's SM-liiga with 799 points. He spent the majority of his career playing for SM-liiga team Tappara. Playing ...

* 10: Timo Susi

Ilves

* 2:

Jarmo Wasama Jarmo Sakari Wasama (December 2, 1943 in Elimäki, Finland – February 2, 1966 in Tampere, Finland) was an ice hockey player who played in the SM-sarja. He played for Ilves. He was inducted into the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame in 198 ...

* 7: Aarne Honkavaara * 13:

Risto Jalo Risto Uolevi Jalo (born July 18, 1962) is a Finnish retired professional ice hockey player and current general manager of Ilves in the Finnish Liiga. He played in the SM-liiga with KOOVEE, Ilves, and HPK between 1979 and 1998. He also played 3 ...

* 14:

Lasse Oksanen Lasse Kalevi Oksanen (born December 7, 1942) is a retired professional ice hockey player who mostly played in the SM-liiga. He played for Ilves. Oksanen played 23 years as a professional ice hockey player and ended his career in 1983, with the F ...

* 16: Jorma Peltonen * 30:

Jukka Tammi Jukka () is a common Finnish given name for males. History Jukka is an old variant of the name Johannes, a biblical name spread over to Finland through Sweden with the introduction of Christianity. Jukka remained a nickname for people registe ...

* 41: Raimo Helminen

Koovee

* 10: Heino Pulli

References

External links

*
City of Tampere – Tampere Ice Stadium
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tampereen Jaahalli Indoor arenas in Finland Indoor ice hockey venues in Finland Buildings and structures in Tampere Sports venues completed in 1965 1965 establishments in Finland