Helsinki Vikings!

Wednesday, June 19, 2019

The Helsinki Vikings are coming to Richmond all the way from Finland.

The Vikings, formerly known as the Maple Leafs, come by their name honestly as the franchise was established in 1970. However, the Helsinki Vikings have been a beer league team since 1988, with some original players still playing today.

A notable alumni of the Vikings is Jari Kurri, so needless to say this team is not a force to be reckoned with. The Vikings will be making their third appearance at the CARHA Hockey World Cup and have said, “based on past experience we wouldn’t miss it for the world”. The Vikings had such a great time in the previous two CARHA Hockey World Cups that they attended that they decided to bring another team along to share the experience with, the Espoo Snails.

Hockey is Finland’s most popular sport, which explains why the nation is still celebrating their IIHF World Championship win from May. The growth of hockey in Finland is crazy.

The Vikings and Snails are on the hunt to bring back more hardware to their country. Watch out for these teams at the 2020 CARHA Hockey World Cup.