Helsinki Jokerit played in the old Helsinki Ice Hall until the 1996–1997 season.
Waltteri Immonen is a long-time Jokerit person. Vesa Parviainen
In C More’s new Jokerit documentary series, the phases of the ice hockey club in the old Helsinki ice rink, more familiarly known as Nordis, are reviewed.
Jokerit played for the Nordis until the 1996–1997 season together with Helsinki IFK.
The physical and mental separation between IFK and Jokerit players occurred in 1998–1999, when Jokerit moved to the newly completed Hartwall arena. HIFK was supposed to follow, but disputes over many different issues watered down the move.
In connection with the move, Joker’s players also had to say goodbye to the secret club located in Nordis’ uumen.
The legendary captain of the Jokers Walter Immonen according to him, it was a place for the players to calm down in the maintenance rooms of the hall.
– It’s probably a bit of a stupid name, the sneaky one. It wasn’t like that in the true sense of the word, but a place to calm down, where we could slow down the rounds and let the players go through the games between us. When he left the hall door, there were always fans waiting outside. It was a different world then, you had to be yourself, but with a filter, Immonen recalled.
– That was an important thing for us. There we came up with many good and sometimes a little worse ideas, which were put into practice.
“That ugly logo”
Tommi Santala and Teemu Laine fan the goal in November 1999 in a jersey that went down in history in its own way. Jarno Juuti
In connection with the move, Jokerit decided to change the logo when Nike became the club’s partner. The Jokerit had increased its financial strength through the decades, when success came on the ice in the form of championships and medals.
The then club director Hjallis Harkimo knew how to extract marketing potential from the players in a way that had not been seen before in Finnish ice hockey.
The Joker’s familiar jester logo changed to a different one for a few seasons. Jokerie’s current co-owner Markus Selini didn’t like the grinning jester in the side profile at the time.
– Jokers had that ugly logo for a while. It didn’t feel like the Jokers anymore. In my opinion, it was one of the biggest mistakes that has ever happened in Finnish latäk, Selin said in the documentary
The logo quickly changed back to the current one.
All parts of the Jokerit documentary can be viewed at C More.
Today, Markus Selin is also the co-owner of Jokeri. Pete Anikari