Twenty Joker fans are standing at the Helsinki train station. They are not waiting for a train that will take them on a mega trip to Turku or Tampere. This time the direction is Kerava.
Unlike the previous day on the subway to Espoo, now the atmosphere is calmer. One of the fans updates why the crowd is so small. Maybe the download went to yesterday’s game in Espoo or they arrive in their own cars, others pondered.
They may not even know what kind of evening is in store. It’s very electric.
The hall is very different from what Joker fans are used to. There is a forest next to it, where there are still blueberries. Pajama huts have been brought outside the hall so that the line for the toilet inside does not become excruciatingly long.
It’s really cold inside the hall. Due to Mestis’ requirements, the ceiling is illuminated by new LED lights and fresh music. A video board has been brought to the end and most of the stands are wooden benches.
On the other hand, a standing grandstand has been built at the attack end of the Jokers, so that the hall meets Mesti’s minimum capacity requirement.
It’s three minutes into the match when the Katupoikie song starts playing. Its words are drowned out pretty quickly by the ear-splitting screams of the fans.
Jokers! Jokers! Jokers!
Jokerit arrives on the ice and the atmosphere becomes even more electric. Even in the side stands, some stand up and show their approval. When the opening puck is dropped, they also join the fan-head’s Jokerit shouts.
– This is so cool, a person close to me says to his neighbor with two swear words.
For the Jokers, the match starts awkwardly. Koovee hits three goals in a blunt manner and Jokerit immediately becomes the chaser.
– The hall has a great atmosphere. I’m relieved that things have started here, the audience is enjoying themselves and everything is working. You can see that the fans are happy, CEO of the Jokers Antti-Jussi Niemi says to start the set break.
– Of course I am happy for the atmosphere, the audience and the conditions, but the result could be better at the moment.
Niemi dropped the opening puck of the match. Cold shivers hit the body.
– Everyone should experience this atmosphere. It’s so cool when it’s a small, tight hall and the fans make such a nice noise. Yes, it has goosebumps.
During the set break, the atmosphere in the corridor is dense and longer queues form. Fortunately, it’s so warm outside that many people like to spend their breaks here.
The current Deputy Mayor of Helsinki and the former Minister of Sports are also outside Paavo Arhinmäki.
Arhinmäki says that he started supporting the Jokers in the 1980s. Then in Helsinki, you had to choose between HIFK and the Jokerit, and Arhinmäki chose the Jokerit.
– When the Jokerit left for the Russian league, I concluded that this was the end of the club that I had supported in the early 80s.
– I still remember the time when we stayed in the SM league and I even went to Divar to watch all the games. I haven’t been to see a single game in nine years. I decided not to go, and I never did.
Arhinmäki is satisfied that the Jokerie project starts from a base in a certain way.
– Now we build with our own juniors and make a club, which I started supporting as a child in the 1980s.
– I also bought a season ticket. I probably won’t make it to half of the matches, but I bought it to show support for the fact that Harkimot has been cleaned out of the background here and now there are people with a real Jokerit heart, Arhinmäki explains.
The return of the Jokers to the Finnish series seems to appeal to many supporters of the Jokers.
– This feels good. Nine long years have been waited for Jokerit to return to Finland. Now we’re just waiting for the Stad derbies to be brought back, Jokerit fan Kalle Ahonen says.
Ahonen states that playing in the KHL did not cause similar feelings.
– It’s not the same as Jokerit playing in Finland. Here Jokers are hated in style in every city we go to play.
– The atmosphere in the community is extremely good. The gang jumps, bounces, screams, laughs and cries. They encourage their own. This sense of community is really strong.
Even though the Jokerit is losing a lot, the great atmosphere continues in the second round. The hall’s main grandstand strongly joins the shouts of Eteläpäädy.
The last time I went to the home match of the Jokers’ representation during the KHL, I didn’t feel the same kind of passion. Now it is conveyed not only by gestures of persons, but also by their words.
– This feels really good. After all, this has been expected after those KHL years, comfortable in Eteläpäädy Erica Leminen says during the second break.
– After a long time. Playing in Finland is the best, Micaela Leminen on the other hand, compa.
Mikko Okka inches, that the venue doesn’t even matter at the moment. He would head to the outdoor ice of Oulunkylä to encourage the Jokers.
– I can’t deny that this is a barren place, but maybe that’s what makes it so beautiful somehow. There is a genuine summer spirit here, as many have said, Okka says.
Okka sees that the joker community hasn’t been this united in many years.
– The longer we were in the KHL, the group started to disperse. Maybe he didn’t show up for the matches and only went occasionally, says Okka.
– Now it feels like everyone wants to watch every game.
Okka states that he was not very often in Eteläpäädy during the KHL. He was sitting on the sidelines eating popcorn, because it was mostly about recreational hockey.
– There was no genuine spirit in it, as you can feel here. Then we watched the game and went crazy.
– You can’t even see the game terribly well from this end. Still, this atmosphere is insane. This is the best it can be.
The Jokers’ style of building something new with their own juniors seems to ignite the supporters.
– This is exactly what it was Aimo Mäkinen idea in due time. We have a lot of our own juniors and we are building a future with them. Buying players and millionaires can’t do it. Genuine mood, there is no better.
At the beginning of the third set, you notice that the alcohol has opened the Finns’ vocal cords even more. The shout “Fight the Jokers” echoes around the hall.
The judges also get their share of the boozing concert.
In the video, you can watch some of the atmosphere from the first home game of the Jokeri season.
However, Joker fans also have reason to rejoice when Mathias Hänninen strikes the first home goal of the Jokerien Mestis season in 46.11.
Based on the commotion, you wouldn’t imagine that the supporters would fan the 1-3 narrowing. The hall has a euphoric atmosphere.
The game gets very exciting when Emil Oksanen narrows down the run-through with less than three minutes before the end. The 1,240-strong Home Audience is in awe. So is Arhinmäki, who fans wildly in Eteläpäädy among the fans.
However, Koovee holds on and wins 3–2. The Joker’s first home match ends in disappointment. You can sense it from the players. They would have liked to offer more to the home crowd.
– It wasn’t the worst start from us, but how did we score those goals. We scored three whoops goals. They hurt, but it’s one too many, Captain Saku Forsblom says.
Forsblom says that the atmosphere created by the supporters led to two goals this time. He lavishly praises the kind of atmosphere the supporters have created since the training games.
– I can say that there is no other mecca like this in Finland, where we play. Infinitely grateful for that, says Forsblom.
– It’s incredible what kind of atmosphere and support we have behind us. The game was 0–3 and no one in the booth is happy with that, and yet in the second period the same situation continued.
Forsblom hopes that every player who puts on the joker jersey would try to enjoy the atmosphere as much as possible, because something like that doesn’t happen “horribly” in a career.
– For us, it’s more about trying to enjoy the situation. However, fans and our community know that this story is just beginning, Forsblom says.