Final Hakametsä warm-up: Ilves faces bolstered Kärpät on Wednesday

Ilves will stage its final practice match before the Liiga super season on Wednesday at Hakametsä. The warm-up follows last week's Hakametsä friendly against KalPa.

The opponent is a bolstered Oulun Kärpät. Parking at Hakametsä will be largely unavailable because of festival construction over the weekend. Expect limited spaces. The club strongly recommends using public transport and taking advantage of the Nyssen travel benefit. The match is included in Ilves’s 2026–27 regular-season tickets. Single tickets are on sale at ilves.lippu.fi, Lippupiste outlets and the Nokia Arena Ilves Shop, and the Hakametsä box office opens one hour before puck drop.

They have played three preseason matches. Last week they visited Finland’s oldest ice rink and beat KalPa in overtime when Tony Sund fired a precise wrist shot past Rasmus Korhonen, with assists from Luke Henman and Lukáš Jašek. Goaltender Mantas Armalis stopped 24 shots and remains unbeaten in club duty this campaign, compiling a shutout run of 128 minutes and 23 seconds plus one shootout.

According to Ilves, the team's final preseason encounter in Tampere ended with Ilves shutting out Kärpät 2–0. Captain Jan-Mikael Järvinen, rejoining after 19 seasons away, scored both goals (21:09 and 50:16). Rifalk made 29 saves for the shutout. The assists came from Jarkko Parikka and Austin Strand, respectively. Ilves also entered the last stretch of the friendlies having conceded just three goals across four matches, with opponents remaining scoreless in each of their last three games. Attendance for the match was 1,441.

Kärpät's tune-up slate includes three full games and one period: they beat KalPa in a shootout, had a 0–0 draw with Sport cut short after one period because of an ice-resurfacer issue, and lost to JYP (3–0) and Luleå HF (4–3 after overtime). Eemil Erholtz leads Kärpät’s preseason scoring with 1+2.

Last season the teams met several times. Kärpät claimed the opening pair decisively, winning by an aggregate of 13–4 including a 6–0 result. Ilves won 3–2 over the Christmas break and also took a 2–1 victory in Raksila in February.

Kärpät’s roster has seen notable exits, including Jani Hakanpää, Atte Ohtamaa, Aku Räty (returned to North America), Patrik Virta and retiree Sebastian Stålberg, and additions such as Rasmus Rissanen, Kalle Loponen, Aleksi Matinmikko, Eetu Koivistoinen, Wiktor Nilsson, Andreas Okany, Samuli Ratinen and Henrik Törnqvist. Coach Jani Manninen joins from Kiekko‑Vantaa.

Looking ahead to the 2026–2027 season, Ilves lists its opening run as a five-game road trip against Lukko, Ässät, HPK, Kärpät and KalPa. The home opener is at Nokia Arena on Friday 25 September versus KooKoo. Ticket sales for that match begin on Monday 31 August at 12:00 via ilves.lippu.fi and other listed sales channels.

If you can’t make Hakametsä, the Ilves vs Kärpät scrimmage is streamed live on ILVES+ from 17:45 with Mikko Aaltonen on the call. ILVES+ offers various packages: both sports €9.90/month, single-sport €6.90/month, season-ticket holders €4.90/month; annual both-sports €99.90 (season-ticket holders €49.90). A match pass is available for €9.90. Tickets include Tampere region public transport travel rights from three hours before the game until five hours after puck drop.