Less than 200 kilometers from the Arctic Circle, a dozen young hockey players - the king sport in the reigning world champion Nordic country - leave the warmth of their changing rooms to begin their training in the cold winter.

With soaring energy prices this winter, many local teams are now facing difficulties.

In Oulu, the "Ahmat" ("wolverine") team had to give up opening its indoor ice rink and transferred its activities to the city's outdoor ice rink, faced with soaring electricity prices.

If the consumer in Finland suffers an average increase of 40% to 60% of his bill over one year, the club would have seen its energy costs triple if it had opened its ice rink, around 150,000 euros for the season.

give up

"The price increase was such that it was not possible to open at these prices," training manager Maarko Paananen told AFP.

© Olivier MORIN / AFP

In the country, many other ice rinks could follow if the current level of prices is maintained.

Outdoor hockey pitches like Pateniemi's - a football pitch frozen in winter to serve as a skating rink - are popular spots for groups of friends and families looking to skate.

In Finland, 30,000 children are registered in a club and many more practice this sport with friends or at school.

If for the young Ahmat players, the most important thing is to be able to benefit from their training time on the ice, parents and coaches are worried about the consequences if the situation were to continue.

"Although it's not that hot in our own rink, it's another thing to be at the mercy of the weather outside," said Katja Koistinen, a mother of one of the players.

The Ahmats also had to make concessions by sharing their training time with other teams, leading to longer journeys and uncertainty.

"If we have training here and there, we don't know how many players from the team will come," said 19-year-old coach Herman Hietajärvi.

With around 400 members, most of them minors, Ahmat is considered a small club.

But his training includes many former players who have become world champions or Olympic medalists, such as NHL player Sakari Manninen.

"The number of players is decreasing a lot at the moment. We cannot have new players when our own rink is closed," said Mr Paananen.

Difficult season

"This season promises to be rather difficult and especially in the new year when the costs could increase in many places", explains Jukka Toivakka, of the Finnish Hockey Federation.

If the situation is not yet dramatic, the association urges clubs to save energy and municipalities to maintain reasonable price levels.

After electricity imports from Russia were halted due to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, Finland launched an energy-saving campaign in October for the first time since the oil crisis from the 70s.

© Olivier MORIN / AFP

Another emblem of the Nordic country has been called into moderation: the sauna, at least the electrically powered version.

© 2022 AFP