Jokerit Helsinki - SaiPa Lappeenranta (13th December 2002)

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IMPRESSIVE! Allthough both of the teams are not really my favorites teams, this match was really worth seeing. First of all the Hartwall Areena is great offcourse! So impressive how it looks like outside as well as inside with small 'theme' eating parts inside the icehall. Then the fans of SaiPa: amazing! They were splitted into couple of groups in the icehall, but were louder than the fans of Jokerit. Respect for that. The match itselves was great too. Good playing, exciting and sudden-death overtime! Sitting at the second row right behind the glass makes it perfect offcourse.

Cheerleaders? Just three who were dancing behind the goal between rink 1 and 2. No respectfull place for cheerleaders! Just before the match the players are announced when they skated onto the ice. That was accompanied with a jokers form with lights and steam. Very cool.

In the middle and on the right: the biggest fangroups of Jokerit (blue/red) and SaiPa (yellow/black). They made most of the noise in the icehall.

The golden helmet on the middle picture is for the topscorer of the team: Ville Peltonen for Jokerit.

On the left: Antti Aalto who is also under contract with Anaheim Mighty Ducks, but is playing for Jokerit when he is not in the line-up with Anaheim. He is born in the city of the opponent: Lappeenranta.