Hockey|The Jokers’ opening match of the season drew interest in Vantaa.
Jokers opened its season in hockey Mestis on Saturday, when the team visited Kiekko-Vantaa’s home hall in Tikkurila.
The match was preceded by small-scale chaos, when there was an estimated hundred-meter queue in the yard of the Tikkurila ice hall even before the match started. Some of the spectators got into the hall after the game had already been going on for a long time.
Some spectators who arrived late sat on the steps of the grandstand when there were no suitable benches among the countless numbered seats.
Tikkurila’s ice rink can accommodate around 2,000 spectators.
Late who got to the stands Daniel Melendez and Joonas Nordman they say they waited in line for about 20 minutes.
“It felt a bit like the arrangements failed. I don’t know if the traffic jam was due to the fact that only one door was used for the entrance,” Melendez reflects.
On the other hand, he states that he understands the congestion.
“Of course, it can be understood that the crowd is interested in the opening game.”
Kiekko-Vantaa’s commercial director Tommi Koivistoinen says that the club had prepared for a full house in the best possible way.
“We opened the doors at four, and we got the first batch in very well. The group came so late that the queue grew”, says Koivistoinen.
In Koivistoinen’s opinion, the arrangements did not disappoint.
“We even have overstaffing in the staff. We ourselves do not think that the system has failed.”
“It’s this culture that people show up so damn late, even though we try to inform them that it’s worth coming on time,” Koivistoinen complains.
Melendez and Nordman couldn’t find a seat in the hall, but had to watch the match from the stairwell between the stands.
“It’s a bit bad to go quad biking in the middle of the grandstand if there is a single place in the middle. I don’t know, maybe this could have been organized a little better,” says Nordman.
Koivistoinen is aware of the problem, but according to him, it is difficult to do anything about it.
“Finding seats is a problem in a few games during the season, mostly against the Jokers,” says Koivistoinen.
“In these games, you would wish that the walls of the hall were a little wider.”
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