Hämeenlinnan jäähalli
Encyclopedia
Patria-areena is an arena
Arena
An arena is an enclosed area, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theater, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators. The key feature of an arena is that the event space is the...
in Rinkelinmäki, Hämeenlinna
Hämeenlinna
Hämeenlinna is a city and municipality of about inhabitants in the heart of the historical province of Häme in the south of Finland and is the birthplace of composer Jean Sibelius. Today, it belongs to the region of Tavastia Proper, and until 2010 it was the residence city for the Governor of the...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
. It is primarily used for ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
, and is the home arena of the SM-liiga
SM-liiga
The SM-liiga is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. As of March 2008, it is ranked by the IIHF as the second strongest league in Europe. It was created in 1975 to replace the SM-sarja, which was fundamentally an amateur league. The SM-liiga is not directly overseen by the Finnish Ice...
team HPK
HPK
HPK is an ice hockey team in the SM-liiga. They play in Hämeenlinna, Finland at the Hämeenlinnan jäähalli. HPK was established in 1929. The full name of the club is HPK-Edustusjääkiekko Ry and the team is sometimes promoted as the "Hockey Playing Knights", with the logo representing a knight...
. It opened in 1979 and renowated in 2008. It currently holds 5,360 people. The arena manager of the arena is Jorma Hassinen.
History
In year 1963, an artificial skating rink was built in Rinkelinmäki. It was roofed after it switched over to city property in year 1979, after which it has been called arena.The arena project got started around year 1976 because of pressure from HPK. This led to the formation of a committee that was led by HPK chairman, bank manager Seppo Nenonen. The starting point was not good because of city attitude.
The committee made a property plan based on its research well knowing that the project's expenses needed to be in the minimum for it to succeed – and success still wasn't certain. All extra space had to be cut out: no break rooms, no hotdog sale and only namely seats. The most important thing was, that some roofing would be obtained. This was a situation, that some say the current actives have totally forgotten when moaning and complaining publicly about the results of the time.
The arena was planned by the city architectural department in the lead of city architect Heikki Aitola. The planners of the subsequent extension phases have been mostly building architect Seppo Ilmarinen from the city architectural department and his son, architect Petri Ilmarinen.
Hämeenlinnan Jäähalli Oy, the company managing the arena, was founded on February 3, 1992. On the same year a practice arena was finished and on 1996 the arena was extended based on the new requirements by SM-liiga
SM-liiga
The SM-liiga is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. As of March 2008, it is ranked by the IIHF as the second strongest league in Europe. It was created in 1975 to replace the SM-sarja, which was fundamentally an amateur league. The SM-liiga is not directly overseen by the Finnish Ice...
. These requirements stated, that a league arena must hold at least 5,000 people. At the same time ownership of the arena was switched to the company.
At 2002 a two-track ice exercise center was finished. As a tribute to the ten years of the arena company the arena was renamed as Ritarihalli.
Arena was renowated in 2008 to hold 5,360 spectators and also merchandise and restaurant areas were re-furbished.
The arena is the venue for the 2009 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships
2009 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships
-Group B:All times are local .-Group C:All times are local .-Group D :All times are local . and advance to the final...
, with matches being held both in the main and practice rinks.