Masku Areena

The Masku Areena in Lempäälä does not announce itself from the street. A player can kick a puck into the corner without it ever leaving the glass. The building was raised in 1995, when most Finnish arenas were still wooden, and it has never been torn down. It sits beside tennis courts and a running track, but the arena itself is closed to the outside. A visitor arriving after a match will find the car park empty and the doors locked. Only the electronic board above the entrance still glows, showing the next game. The wheels came off for LeKi in the early 2010s, and the arena has not been rebuilt since. It is not a place for away supporters to linger. There are no bars, no museum, no café. The turnstiles open at 17:45 and close at 18:00. A match at the Masku Areena is played in a room, not a cathedral. The bookmakers are pricing a low-scoring game when the crowd is small, and the teams know it. The ice is kept at the same temperature in winter and summer. The boards are the same height as they were in 1995. The only thing that has changed is the name on the door.