Vaasan Sähkö Areena (, Vaasa Energy Arena) is a multipurpose

arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

Vaasa Vaasa (; , ), formerly (1855-1917) known as Nikolaistad (; ),Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. It was previously called the ''Kuparisaaren jäähalli'' (Copper Island Ice Rink) and locals often use the old name in conversation. The arena first opened in 1971 and has undergone renovation and expansion several times. It is located approximately three kilometres (roughly two miles) south-east of downtown Vaasa.

Use

The arena is principally used for ice hockey and serves as home ice to premier-level teams Vaasan Sport of the

Liiga The Liiga, colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. The league comprises 16 teams from all around Finland with relegation and promotion between the Mesti ...

and Vaasan Sport Naiset of the Naisten Liiga, as well as Korsholm-Mustasaari Hockey Team (KoMu HT) which plays in the fourth-tier II Divisioona. Vaasa Arena features four ice surfaces, making it the only four-rink arena in Finland. The main arena has a seating capacity of 3,957 for hockey games and is used for all of Vaasan Sport’s home games. The three other pads of ice serve as training rinks, hosting most of the games for Vaasan Sport Naiset, KoMu HT, and other teams and junior organizations, but there is limited area for spectators. The training rink facilities are also made available to the public on a regular schedule. In addition, the

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the Figure skating at the 1908 Summer Olympi ...

club Vaasan Luistinkerho (VLK, ) and the

synchronized skating Synchronized skating, often called synchro, is an ice skating sport where between 8 and 20 skaters perform together as a team. They move as a flowing unit at high speed over the ice, while performing elements and footwork. This complex sport orig ...

club Wasa Team Skaters use the facilities at Vaasa Arena. The arena facilities are also used for

rink bandy Rink bandy is a variant of the larger sport of bandy. Unlike bandy which is played on a large bandy field, rink bandy is played on significantly smaller ice hockey-sized ice rinks. While a bandy field is about the same size as a football pi ...

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide #Curling stone, stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area that is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take t ...

, and various ball sports. The main arena is used for exhibitions and concerts.

Ownership and operations

Vaasa Arena is managed by the ''Vaasanseudun Areenat Kuntayhtymän'' (, Vaasa Region Arenas Federation), which is owned by the city of Vaasa and the municipality of

Korsholm Korsholm (; ) is a municipality in Finland, located on the west coast of the country. Korsholm is situated in Ostrobothnia (administrative region), Ostrobothnia, along the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Korsholm is approximately , while the Va ...

. Vaasa owns an 84% share of the Vaasa Arena property and Korsholm owns the remaining 16%.

Expansion and renovation project, 2018–2020

On 17 December 2017, twelve people sustained minor injuries (seven requiring hospital visits) when an HVAC duct and lighting rail fell from the ceiling of the main arena during a Raskasta Joulua concert attended by 3,100 spectators. Two days later, on 19 December 2017, the Vaasa City Council approved a budget for the renovation of Vaasa Arena, including the replacement of the main arena’s wood-arch roof structure. A total of eight million Euros over three years was allocated for the project, with the city of Vaasa contributing half of the project costs and Mustasaari contributing just under 25%. Building permits for the project were approved in June 2018. Renovations broke ground in April 2020, with the deconstruction of the main arena's old roof structure to make way for the construction of a new metal-trussed roof. Other elements include a new restaurant area, totally new outer walls on three sides, and an increase of the maximum capacity to approximately 5,000 for ice hockey events. Renovations were scheduled to be completed by 30 September 2020, but the project was slightly delayed by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and the arena construction completion date was pushed to October 2020. Prior to the pandemic, the first Liiga match in the updated building was set to be played on 10 October 2020.

Pictures

References

:Content in this edit is translated from the existing Finnish Wikipedia article at :fi:Vaasa Arena and from the existing German Wikipedia article at :de:Vaasa Areena; see their histories for attribution. {{Reflist

External links

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Indoor arenas in Finland Ice hockey venues in Finland Sport in Vaasa Buildings and structures in Ostrobothnia (administrative region) Sport in Ostrobothnia Sports venues completed in 1971 1971 establishments in Finland