Rent a hockey star

25 Jan 2012 | Davide Tuniz

A fourth division team rents former Finnish stars for one game.

Finnish II Divisioona (the fourth level of Finnish hockey) team Paka from Kuusamo, a 16,000 inhabitants town in the Oulu province, signed four former Finnish star players, Kalle Sahlstedt, Tony Virta, Mikko Eloranta, Jani Kiviharju and Mika Suoraniemi, to play one game, on February 11 against rival SoKi Sotkamo. ' This is our winter classic - said Paka owner Jukka-Pekka Tahkola - 'Although the match is played in the ice stadium, the conditions are very similar to Arctic!' Paka is currently fourth in its league group, while rival Soki is last with just 3 points.

Also last season Paka offered a one-game-contract to former famous players (Kai Nurminen, Niko Mikkola, Mikko Eloranta, Kimmo Eronen, and Marko Kiprusoff) for the regular season game against Kiekko-Karhu. ' It was a real success and the hall was packed, the most enthusiastic fans came from Turku to follow one game' explains Tahkola. After that experience Marko Kiprusoff decided to stay at Paka as player-coach

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