What up Finland?: 2011

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Hockey (Kiitos Leijonat!)

Pictures alone won't do this justice, so bear with me while I blah blah blah for a little while. The madness began Sunday night around 11pm, when the buzzer rang and a complete stomping of the swedes (6-1) made Finland the official ice hockey WORLD CHAMPIONS! (last time was 1995, as any/every Finn will remind you) Immediately after, the ENTIRE CITY poured into the street to celebrate (pictures are below) The amount of high-fives, hugs, naked revelers and sheer volume of beer would have put any college party to shame. In spite of the revelry, no major injuries were reported and the general feeling saturating the city could be most closely described as pure euphoria. A movie quote says it all best:

"Madness? This. Is. HELSINKI!"

Monday was national call in sick to work day. (they've actually made it a national day to fly the flag, but that's more to do with the whole championship thing) The team returned via cruise ship to 100,000+ screaming fans waiting in the Helsinki harbor. The team received a hero's welcome, including a speech from the president, multiple helsinki bands, and confetti and flags as far as the eye could see. Again, no words could describe the atmosphere and culture of this experience, but it was truly amazing to see how a sport could induce such patriotism and general love for the world. Post rally, the parties again continued late into the night.