[scotian]

Are any of you seasoned Europe or Russia vets aware of the pick up or pond hockey scenes in hockey playing countries such as Finland, the Czech Republic and Russia? I think it would be a fun trip to go over there for a month or two with hockey gear and just randomly show up at local rinks or lakes where guys are playing non-competitive and loosely organized games of hockey. It could be a great way to experience the local culture, meet new friends and of course get drunk and go out chasing women after the game. Do you guys think this is feasible and would the locals be cool with a random Canadian dude showing up to shoot some puck? I'm pretty sure that if a couple Russian or Swedish guys showed up in Canada and traveled to a few cities or especially small towns to do this, they would be well received by the locals.

In Canada its fairly easy to find pick up games at local arenas or outdoor rinks; you show up, pay a few bucks then lace up the skates and hit the ice. Hopefully some locals can help me out, Chaos, what are your thoughts on this, could I spend a couple of weeks in Finland partying and playing hockey?

[Laner]

Finland would be awesome for this I would imagine.

In Sweden I played some shinny on borrowed gear but it was similar to BC where we played in the community center or school rink. It gets better obviously the further north you go, and a friend from Orsa-Mora was a wizard on the ice. For more fun at night I might try something in Varmland like Karlstad.

My families pastime is always a huge game of pond on Boxing Day. Two years ago we had the whole pond up at Silverstar and almost 20 players and it got intense!

Great idea, I can imagine a Siberian Express train trip hop on/off tour and just grab your gear bag and show up at the rink in some small Siberian town. Love it.

[Dan Woolf]

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[MrRoundtree]

I planned to do this last year too and even apply for a floorball league or ice hockey league in Paris. Ibv didnt work out but its something I would like to do..guys who show up here at a pond who are from other countries are always well received.

In Bad Gastein austria there is an outdoor rink too i was planning to play with a bunch of fins but didnt work out because it started raining.

[scotian]

(11-19-2015 12:25 PM)Laner Wrote:  

Finland would be awesome for this I would imagine.

In Sweden I played some shinny on borrowed gear but it was similar to BC where we played in the community center or school rink. It gets better obviously the further north you go, and a friend from Orsa-Mora was a wizard on the ice. For more fun at night I might try something in Varmland like Karlstad.

My families pastime is always a huge game of pond on Boxing Day. Two years ago we had the whole pond up at Silverstar and almost 20 players and it got intense!

Great idea, I can imagine a Siberian Express train trip hop on/off tour and just grab your gear bag and show up at the rink in some small Siberian town. Love it.

That would be epic, I'll look into that train ride. Russia would probably be the most difficult place as far as visas, language barriers and logistics goes but what an experience it would be.

(11-19-2015 04:23 PM)MrRoundtree Wrote:  

I planned to do this last year too and even apply for a floorball league or ice hockey league in Paris. Ibv didnt work out but its something I would like to do..guys who show up here at a pond who are from other countries are always well received.

In Bad Gastein austria there is an outdoor rink too i was planning to play with a bunch of fins but didnt work out because it started raining.

I played organized hockey in France many years ago and the level of hockey was surprisingly good but it seems like even in the bigger cities I played in (south west France), there aren't that many rinks around and I don't recall there being pick up games. I'm gonna have to dig around a bit more on the internet. I'm thinking that cities like Helsinki, Prague and most in Russia would have multiple rinks to hit up, we'll see.