HEI:.
This Finnish old-timers hockey team will be in town next month to face the Muskoka Moose in an exhibition game.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
HUNTSVILLE - Hei. Tervetuloa
These are a few words members of the Muskoka Moose over-50 hockey club should practise, along with their on-ice skills, in preparation for a special exhibition game in Huntsville next month.
The Moose will face a team from Finland on March 3 at the Don Lough Arena. The word hei is just that… hi or hello in Finnish. Tervetuloa means welcome.
The game is the result of efforts by George Nickerson, a former Huntsville resident, who formed the Moose this past fall.
He said the team is a collection of age 50-plus recreational hockey players who remain interested in the benefits and enjoyment of hockey.
The team, managed by Huntsville resident and educator, Tom Nunn was established on the premise that throughout the year, the members would play four tournaments.
“This tournament play sustains an inherent interest in competition, but most importantly, to share in some pleasant social time, and the current roster has 17 players,” he said.
Nickerson said that nearly four years ago, the Huntsville Oldtimers Hockey Club, with the support of the Huntsville-Lake of Bays Chamber of Commerce, submitted a proposal the Canadian Adult Recreational Hockey Association to host the 2012 CARHA (the Canadian Adult Recreational Hockey Association) World Cup of Hockey. This international event, hosted every four years by a Canadian recreational hockey club, brings teams from all over the world.”
He said that the city of Sault Ste. Marie had won the bid to host the tournament, but that didn’t discourage him from hosting an international event for the community.
“I distributed an invitation through CARHA to host an international team coming to Canada for March’s world cup of hockey. A club from Finland expressed early interest in stopping in Huntsville for a sport/cultural experience in Muskoka. So their representative and I have worked together for over six months to pull together the game on March 3.”
Nickerson said the Finnish team, Muumiot, will arrive in Toronto on March 1, and will play a friendly exhibition game against his Toronto-based team the following day.
Muumiot will come to Huntsville on March 2 by charter bus where the players from both the Moose and the Finnish side will enjoy social time on Friday night and again on Saturday, prior to the 7 p.m. game that night.
“There is only one game in Huntsville, as the Finns leave for Sault Ste. Marie and the World Cup of Hockey on March 4. Our will be similar to a CARHA game. There are three periods, each period 12 minutes in length, stop-time,” he said.
Prior to the game, and in true international sport tradition, the host team will present its guests with a small gift.
Fans are welcome and there will be no admission fee.