Unique hockey tournament with players from Finland in Delaware County celebrates 25th year
Hockey tournament with players from Finland in Delaware County celebrates 25th year
A Delaware County youth hockey club is hosting a tournament with players from across the Atlantic Ocean. The Haverford Hawks say the Finland and U.S. exchange is now in its 25th year and players are forming bonds that can last a lifetime.
HAVERFORD, Pa. - A Delaware County youth hockey club is hosting a tournament with players from across the Atlantic Ocean.
The Haverford Hawks Hockey Club welcomed the Viikingit Hockey Club of Helsinki for an annual Finland USA Exchange program.
Started in 1999, the exchange brings together 11 and 12-year-old players who take turns hosting one another, alternating each year.
"There’s just a relationship that’s built like no other. I think it’s that uniqueness that just has that everlasting lifelong connection," said Jeffrey Brody, the Finland Chair for the Haverford Hawks Hockey Club. "This year we had a whole day in New York City, we spent a whole day in Philly. This past Sunday we were at the Flyers game. All the kids got to skate on the Wells Fargo ice."
Hawks player Cameron Scott of Lower Merion is hosting Severi Kemppainen of the Helsinki Club this year and will travel to Finland next year.
"Just seeing what Finland is like because my brother went and he said it was really amazing, so I want to see it," said Scott.
Scott said he has learned a few words in Finnish from Kemppainen and the two have been playing street hockey and video games at home.
The founders of the exchange program are John Wert and Pertti Rinta-Panttila.
The Rinta-Panttila family moved from Helsinki to Philadelphia and hosted their son’s Finnish hockey friends for the Christmas break. The boys played with several other Haverford Hawks players in a local school tournament and the rest is history.
Now 25 years later, Rinta-Panttila’s grandson is a member of the Haverford Hawks Hockey Club with plans to participate in the exchange program in a couple years.
"We’ve had hundreds of kids either coming here from Finland or with us going there and it’s wonderful to know all these kids had a chance to do that," said Wert. "We still have friends over in Finland, who we’ve known for all of these years and we keep in touch. I’ve been there 13 or 14 times. Sometimes not even with hockey just because we’ve made these relationships."