Quick and Kiti Seikkula the morning has started with math counting. HPK’s women have a day off from ice practice, but Seikkuloin doesn’t have to think about what to do. Bio and food technology studies at Häme University of Applied Sciences take care of that.
Not many ice hockey players might want to become engineers, but Seikkulat does.
– Actually, our mother found this industry. We thought long and hard about what we would like to study after high school. Mother suggested this and we started to investigate the matter. In a way, the decision also came together when both were so interested in the field, says Heta.
The sisters not only share the same team and studies, but also the home and circle of friends.
Can you never get enough of another face?
– Well, definitely in between. But you’re always used to being with someone else. There are many positive things, Heta begins with a laugh.
– Sometimes even the fact that we are alone in the neighborhood feels like our own time. But sometimes you need solitude. Then one goes to the store, for example, and the other can be in peace for a while, Kiti assures.
On Wednesday morning, the other’s face hasn’t had time to get irritated. They have arrived at the school for the interview, even though there is no contact teaching in the curriculum today.
But when there is, they are in the laboratory, for example. The versatility of the studies is fascinating.
– What you can get a job at here is also really versatile, and doesn’t rule anything out. There are management positions, or you can be in product development, Heta begins.
– Maybe mainly expert and supervisor tasks, but that is also really broad, lots of options, Kiti agrees.
It is also possible to complete a lot remotely, and it is suitable for two. Most of the evenings and weekends are spent in HPK’s women’s league team training.
– In principle, we get to choose the icebreakers ourselves, they are really good. Not super late for anything, says Kiti.
HPK’s women have been under the same joint-stock company as the men’s league team since the 2021-22 season. When Urheilu analyzed the budgets of the Women’s League teams in the fall of 2022, the budgets of HIFK and HPK were the biggest in the league. The clubs were also the only ones in the series where playing was free for women.
Seikkulat praises the conditions from one point of view: there is a gym, a private booth and the possibility to have lunch in the hall. In recent years, HPK has generally placed at the top of the series: even at this moment, the Hämeenlinna team is in third place in the regular season.
Love for the species as blood inheritance
Good conditions brought the duo to Hämeenlinna for the 2017-2018 season when they were only 16 years old. However, they have learned puck skills on the expanses of Kauhava – and actually the sport is already a blood inheritance.
– Dad played ice hockey, coached and refereed, Heta begins.
– We also practiced ballet for a while. It’s a slightly funny contradiction, a combination of ballet and ice hockey. But on the other hand, it was quite good. Ballet gave me good mobility, which is always useful in ice hockey.
When they were little, they played with the boys in two teams. They participated in the games of boys a year younger when they had time from their own team’s games.
After elementary school, however, they wanted girls on the team, or rather women. When HPK was still interested in the twins, the solution was ultimately easy – despite the fact that there was a move 300 kilometers away from their childhood home and family.
– Our parents have given us such a good life, that yes we managed. We are constantly in touch, they support and encourage us even remotely, Kiti begins.
– And we were never alone in the finals, the other was always next to us. It was always really easy in the end, Heta compaa.
In this way, the sisters’ speech flows forward naturally. When one finishes a sentence, the other continues where the other left off – as if from the same mouth.
Direct feedback
The joint play of the two works equally well on the field. Both play in Hämeenlinna’s first base – captain Heta as a defender and Vice-captain Kiti as a center.
Heta, the older sister who is 15 minutes older, is calmer and does things last in the rink and outside the rink. The big sister can easily find the little sister on the field as well.
Kiti, on the other hand, can wait for what kind of solutions big sister might make – and react to them.
But even twins don’t always work together. And when it doesn’t work out, the duo doesn’t bother to give a single bit of feedback.
– Sometimes they might say something like, what the hell are you doing, Kiti laughs.
– That we didn’t agree to do this! But never, even if the feedback comes directly and in a really harsh text, neither of them gets angry. We are still best friends.
The Ice Hockey Women’s League Regular Series ends on Sunday, February 18.