IIHF Ice Hockey world championships 2022 – survival guide

This May the IIHF ice hockey world championships 2022 are played in Finland

13.5.-29.5.2022

This spring, Finland is hosting the IIHF world championships for the 7th time in its history. The hockey world championships are split across 2 cities, Helsinki and Tampere, both located in southern Finland.

For the first time in its history the host country (and the 2021 games silver medalist) Finland enters the games ranked #1 in the world. (See official IIHF ranking table here)

Anyone who is interested in viewing matches from both groups will beplease to hear that the cities are only a few hours way and travelling between the two cities is easy. (2 hours 15 minutes by train for example)

The 16 teams have been divided into two groups.

IIHF world championships 2022 Group A:	IIHF world championships 2022 Group B:
Canada	Austria
Denmark	Czechia
France	Finland
Germany	Great Britain
Italy	Latvia
Kazakhstan	Norway
Slovakia	Sweden
Switzerland	United States

Group A will play all their matches in Helsinki, while group B plays in Tampere, in the new Nokia Arena. Scroll down this article to view the game dates and pairings in a a helpful table.

What to expect from the games

Ice Hockey world championships may be a bit of a niche event in some countries, but not so in Finland. Ice hockey is huge in Finland.

This year the leaders in Russia and Belarus decided to focus their energy on their special military operation in Ukraine (Slava Ukraina!) and so those two teams will not be taking part in the games at all.

A dramatic change of venue

This springs “special military operation” has already a big impact on the games. The The planned original venue in Helsinki has since lost both its name and the games have been moved back to the old Helsinki Ice Hall. This is because of the sanctions made by EU.

The owners of the original venue (the modern ice hockey rink which also lost its main sponsor) are considered to be part of the Russian presidents inner circle and so the tgier properties have been sanctoned, the doors will remain closed and the pride of helsinki ice hockey scene will remain empty while the games will be played down the street.

Change of venue could just be considered funny, if the old Ice Hall wasnt so much older. Firtsly there is a very real difference in capacity – so we sincerely hope everyone who had bought a ticket in advance managed to get a seat in the old ice hall. Secondly lets just say on e of the venues is modern and the other isn’t. And the difference is noticeable, unfortunately.

Notes for the first time visitors:

Key terminology – know what the locals are saying:

“Ylämummo” – [ˈylæˌmumːo̞] – Finnish ice hockey terminology, with origins in the other host city of Tampere. The term translates to “upper grandmum” and means shooting succesfully the puck to the top left hand corner.

“Mörkö tulee” – The bogey man is coming – A reference to the Finnish professional ice hockey player, olympic winner and world champion Marko Anttila is known as “mörkö” (the bogey man) due his size and effectivnes in past international competitions. Mörkö plays with number #12 jersey

“Limppu” – The puck, referenced as a piece of bread

“Bisse” – beer, to get preferred service at the hockey rinks you should say “yks bisse pliis”, which means “could I please have 1 large beer please”

“Byyri” – Pronouced kind of like “boer” (the South African Dutch, but just pronounced by extending the vovels to about triple in lenght), meaning the ice hockey goal (not to be mixed with Bisse!)

Getting around

In Helsinki the Ice Hall is located about 5 minutes taxi ride from the center. A very convenient way to travel is to take a tram, trams 2 & 3. numbers 4 & 10 will aslo get you there but the nearest stop is about a 2 minute walking distance from the Ice hall. Check out this map for the live location of the neartest tram.

Tampere also has a tram. The city is very small and the tram is clearly overkill but something the locals are very proud of. We are not familiar with the routes but expect there to be at least 1 stop.

There is a very over the top website that presents the Tampere tram system, and according to the site the construction begun already in 2017 so there is a good change the Tampere tram is not just an urban myth.

Things to do in Tampere

There is an amusement park in tampere, and at the amusement park there is a tower on top of which you will find a restaurant. And we already mentioned they have a new tram system.

Things to do in Helsinki

We have written up an fairly extensive guide listing at least 69 things you can do in Helsinki, complete with a map. Read the full story here.

This interactive map (below) – is really all you need when visiting helsinki as it includes everything from the best restaurants, parks and museums to the location of all cash machines..

The best night life and best striptease in town (Helsinki)

Finals are played in Tampere on 29.5, with the final staring at 20:20 in the evening.

Helsinki Ice Hall location on Google maps

Nokia Areena location on Google maps

Catch a train to Tampere from the Helsinki Central Railway Station

Catch a train to Tampere conveniently from the city center. On an average day you will be able to find probably betwene 30 and 40 trains departing some 15-25 minutes apart.

Expect the train to take anywhere between 1hr and 50 minutes to just under 3 hours, depdening on the train type and stops.

Match schedules and venues

Qualifying Rounds – group A

Venue: Helsinki Ice Hall

Group A play off rounds are played on 26.5 in Helsinki

Qualifying Rounds – group B

Venue: Nokia Areena, Tampere

Note: at the time of writing , some VIP box seats were still available for the Group stages games at the Nokia Arena (get your tickets here). That could be a way to spice up your Tampere experience.

Group B play off rounds are played on 26.5 in Tampere

Semifinals are played in Tampere on 28.5

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