ostrobothnia in english 2 / 2015
DESCRIPTION
ÂTRANSCRIPT
Ostr obothni a IN ENGLISH
Photo: Huy Phan
EDITORIALWritten by Teija Tynkkinen
Welcome to read the second Ostrobothnia in English! The first magazine got in about one month more than 2000 readers. We are glad to continue entertaining you with the things, people and life in Ostrobothnia area. We have a lot of new in this magazine, such as sports section, WSOY book reviews, new technology of 3D printing and events around Ostrobothnia.
If you want to be part of the volunteer staff of the magazine, you are very welcome to contact us. The magazine is all about the people in the Ostrobothnia area, so you don?t have to be professional.
The next magazine will be published in June 5th and the deadline is 29th of May.
Enjoyable reading!
CONTACT INFORMATION: EDITOR IN CHIEF: [email protected] ART DIRECTOR: [email protected] PRESS OFFICER: [email protected]
JUNE
5.-14.6.2015 Ilmajoen musiikkijuhlat
Are you a fan of the Opera? If yes, this festival is right choise for you. Festival celebrates it's 40
years history with the special consert with one of the biggest stars in finnish opera: Karita Mattila. Enjoy the nice atmosphere of small traditional
Ilmajoki-city.
19.-20.6. Lentäjien juhannus, Kauhava
Old mid-summer festival is back again! This event combines the Finnish rock music, 90's dance music and air show. Weird combination, but may suit for you if you like artists like Kolmas Nainen,
Popeda, Pandora and Basic Element.
24.-27.6. Provinssirock, Seinäjoki
One of the most traditional rock festivals in Finland has tried to find itself for the past few
years. This year promises a lot. Definitely suits for you if you like relaxed atmosphere and want to
enjoy the real rock festival in middle of the green and beautiful Isle of Törnävä. Don't miss this if you
want so see stars like Muse, Calvin Harris and Faiht No More. This is the only real old fassion
rock festival in Ostrobothnia.
26.-29.6. Mustakari in Memories, Kokkola
Festivals on the beach! Mustakari in Memories is a nice small festival with Finnish stars like Yö,
Jonne Aaron and Arttu Wiskari.
JULY
8.-12.7. Seinäjoen tangomarkkinat
This is the only place in Finland where middle aged finnish people dance in the streets and sing tango karaoke all day round. Rent a mobile home,
park it where ever you want and open a beer - this festival is not too sophisticated.
10.-12.7. Härmälääset Häjyylyt, Kauhava
Small event in Kauhava (Alahärmä & Ylihärmä). Good opportunity to see some local outdoor theatre,musician and small art exhibitions.
17.-18.7. Solar Sound Festival, Seinäjoki
Solar Sound Festival brings urban and electronic music in the city centre of Seinäjoki. Festival gets
bigger every year and it gathers young music lovers together. Far East Movement, Pendulum and Finnish
artist like Stig gets on board.
19.-26.7. Jaakon päivät, Pietarsaari
During the daytime this summer city festival suits the whole family but during the nights it may be
quite wild. Be ready to find something special from festivals? second hand market.
22.-26.7. Kokkola Opera Summer, Kokkola
Festival celebrates its tenth anniversary between 22 and 26 July 2015. Good chance to hear the
seldom heard opera in one act by Jean Sibelius, ?Maiden in the Tower? and a world premiere of a new piece ?The Maiden of Harrbåda?. The festival
also has series of concerts in historic and beautiful locations around Kokkola
24.-25.7. Kuortaneen kuhinat, Kuortane
This is the most important event if you are born in Kuortane. Small festival gathers old friends
together once in the summer. Big market in daytime, some music and parties in the evening.
30.7.-6.8. Korsholman musiikkijuhlat, Korsholm
Korsholma musicfestivals is good opportunity to hear chamber and classic music. Some easy going
free conserts are available as well as bigger concerts.
Wild wi ld summer in Ostrobothnia Back your bag ? Summer in Ostrobothnia is full of events that you can't miss!
31.7.-1.8. Vanhan paukun festivaalit, Lapua
Small festival in a cosy old factory area in Lapua. Usually you can see some small local
bands and few bigger artists on stage.
AUGUST
6.8. Night of Arts Vaasa
Definitely the biggest event in Vaasa is the Night of Arts. City is full off happenings that you
can't miss ? music, art, dance and open doors are waiting for you. This festival is always in the middle of the week but that doesn't stop people
wondering around the streets and sitting in bars.
7.-8.8. Power Truck Show, Alahärmä
Power Truck Show is the biggest trucking event in Finland. Besides the trucks you can enjoy the evening parties and live music with the truck
drivers.
15.8. Wasa Open Air, Vaasa
Joyride, The Look and listen to your heart - Swedish pop rock duo, Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle are starring this new Festival in Vaasa - Other artist will announced later...
28.-30.8. The Venetian Night, Kokkola
The Venetian Night is the festival of water, fire and light. It ends the summer season with
music, fireworks and parties. One bigger festival in city centre and several small happenings
around the Kokkola area.
Written by Tuire Hautala
Blood Donor Challenge
Blood donation saves lives. Donated blood will be used for example for surgery patients, accident victims, cancer patients and premature babies.
All the parliamentary election candidates are challenged to donate blood before the election date, 19th of April. Everyone else is also invited to join and support the campaign by joining the group on Facebook or donating blood: https://www.facebook.com/events/361606340689399/ Please join even if you cannot donate by yourself.
Blood donation sessions nearby can be found on the Veripalvelu?s web: http://www.veripalvelu.fi/www/verenluovutustilaisuudet
Blood Donor Challange
Background photo: Huy Phan
OPEN
MON-FRI 10-16
(OR AS AGREED UPON)
ADDRESS
ISOKATU 15
67100 KOKKOLA
TEL: +358 504060515
YOU´ LL
FIND US
ALSO
FROM
&
Background photo: Johan Nguyen advertisement
M ike Tyson:
Untisputed Truth:
My Autography
(wsoy, 538 pages)
Book Revi ew
Michael "Mike" Tyson (born June 30, 1966) is an American retired professional boxer.
Tyson is a former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and holds the record as the youngest boxer to win the WBC, WBA and IBF heavyweight titles at 20 years, 4 months, and 22 days old.
In this, his first, autobiography, ?Iron? Mike Tyson pulls no punches and lays bare the story of his remarkable life and career. Co-written with Larry Sloman, this is a visceral, and unputdown-able story of a man born and raised to brutality, who reached the heights of stardom before falling to crime, substance abuse and infamy.
Background photo: Johan Nguyen
Written by Timo Kankaapää
The most recent episode of the Explore Finland Radio Show podcast, I visited Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences (SeAMK). It was interesting to speak to a couple of international students, Winnie from China and Betti from Hungary, who had travelled to Finland primarily to study either short-term, or an entire degree course. Hearing their experiences of moving to Finland, it was good to compare and contrast with my own.
It also gave me some time to think and consider their thoughts alongside one or two experiences with my company, Xport (www.xport.fi). Before Christmas 2014, we were approached by somebody who had graduated from Seinäjoki UAS two years ago and has found it difficult to find a permanent job since then. She asked if she could do a Työkokeilu (work placement) at Xport.
As a small, new company we don't have huge resources but this gave us an opportunity to work with somebody, without huge cost to the company, to
see how things might work and it turned out really well. Lien's been with us for two months and has been a real asset to the company already.
This makes me wonder know how many other international students are struggling to find work after graduating, not just in Pohjanmaa (Ostrobothnia) region, but around Finland in general. It seems this is a similar story when it comes to intern placements as well. As part of their degree courses, students are required to undertake a period of work experience, approx. five months, and they're finding it difficult to find suitable positions.
We have had three interns working at Xport during the last year and each one brought different skills to the company, this is both international students and Finnish students as well. It is a resource to which more companies in Pohjanmaa should be open-minded; consider what an international student could bring to your company. Don't think of it as an inconvenience, as something that might c
create a bit more work for you. It's more likely that if you give people an opportunity that they will be a benefit to your company. Why not use it as an opportunity to work on a project that just hasn't previously had the time or resources. That what we've done at Xport.
Let's not waste the resources being generated for the business community by the colleges and universities. We all contribute taxes to pay for University courses, so why not make use of it and reap the rewards from these students and graduates. One final consideration, one day these young students may have a business of their own, and they will already be in your network ? who knows what opportunities that might bring to your company i the future?
The first part of my conversation at Seinäjoki UAS is here http://explorefinlandpodcast.com/2015/03/28/episode13/ part two will be released soon!
EXPLORE FINLAND RADIO SHOW
Ostrobothnia Resources Use Them Or
Lose ThemWritten by Mark Witshear
My name is Steve Eglese and I come originally from near Coventry in England. In 2009 I met my fiancé Mari in Spain, both of us on holiday then, and we began a long distance relationship. At that
time I was a retail manager but in 2011 we decided long distance was too much and in November of that year I moved to Kokkola.
We now have our own place in the town centre and I have completed a BBA in Business Management at Centria University of
Applied Sciences since moving here. I currently find myself unemployed and whilst times can be challenging I try to fill my time by staying active, managing a few websites and of course,
learning Finnish!
MEET OUR NEW SPORTSWRITER
"Kokkola". I'm not sure what answer I was expecting when I asked "what part of Finland do you come from?" to my now fiancé, but it wasn't that. Given that my knowledge pretty much ran dry after Helsinki I resorted to everybody's informative friend 'Google' to find out more. Aside finding out that Finland was considerably larger than I had first anticipated I found a town with a population in size not too dissimilar to my then local town. The difference however, was that instead of being surrounded by a city with over three hundred thousand people and just a half hour drive from the second city of England, Kokkola seemed to be surrounded by well, not much. Before my first visit here then, I really did not know what to expect.
Upon my arrival here I was a little shocked, after a rather long and arduous night train from Tampere, to be stood looking at a town centre that could have been one of many in western Europe. As we drove away from the train station I quickly realised that despite this Kokkola was as I had thought not a giant metropolis but more a smallish town with modest buildings and pleasant looking residential areas.
As my visits here became more regular I quickly came to realise that Kokkola's size was irrelevant and that the town had most everything that one could expect. Sure it's a long drive to Vaasa to find the nearest larger town or city but it is not one that is needed for anything other than leisure. Once me and my girlfriend had decided enough was enough travelling back and forth between England and Finland Kokkola would soon become my home. My first visit was nearly 6 years ago now and during this time I have grown very fond of my town and some of the beauty that it possesses.
Kokkola and the surrounding area has so much to offer and I would recommend anybody who can to come and visit here. In the summer there are tons of stunning nature walks through forests and along the coast and one could spend hours trying to track them all or for a less active day there are sandy beaches which range from the central and popular to the gorgeous and secluded and whilst it may be a little bracing the sea is always available for a swim. In winter whilst the weather may be a little less welcoming there are many ways to enjoy oneself still from cross country skiing, ice skating to just sledding on the snow.
I think what I find best about living here is that the town has all the usual destinations one could want such as restaurants, a cinema, bowling alleys, bars & clubs etcetera but within 5 minutes of cycling away from the town one can find oneself surrounded by nature. Whilst that may sound simple and the norm here in Finland to someone from the centre of England it can be a rare delight. I'm not sure what my future holds and where I will live later in life but for now I intend to enjoy Kokkola and Finland as much as I can.
Outside of Veikkausliiga there are many teams where one can go and enjoy some local football. The Finnish second tier, Ykkönen, is home to AC Oulu (ACO) and Vasa IFK (VIFK) while the third tier, Kakkonen, is split regionally and in Kakkonen North one is spoilt for choice when it comes to Ostrobothnian teams.
AC OULU HOPING FOR RETURN TO VEIKKAUSLIIGA
ACO were founded in 2002 and have twice managed to rise to Veikkausliiga, playing in the 2007 and 2010 seasons, but each time were relegated back to Ykkönen after one year. The team will be hoping to continue their climbing positions, having finished 6th, 5th and 4th in Ykkönen over the last 3 seasons, to once again reach the top flight.
ACO kicked their season off in round 3 of the Suomen Cup with a 3-1 home win over VIFK, Dritan Stafsula, Toni Tahvanainen and Morten Gerster Peipinen scoring the goals for the home team. In the next round ACO defeated OTP 2-0 in an all Oulu affair with Henry Mäkäräinen and Niklas Jokalainen finding the net. The team went into round 5 with a home tie against Veikkausliiga opponents VPS and despite going a goal down after just over ten minutes were able to take victory over their higher placed opponents thanks to second half goals from Aapo Heikkilä and Stafsula. ACO have been drawn at home again in round 6, this time to play PS Kemi in a battle of the Ykkönen rivals. The game is scheduled to be played on or around April 16th.
The league season for ACO begins on Saturday 2nd May at 16:00 when they play host to PK-35 Vantaa before TPS of Turku come to town the following week on Saturday 9th May at 15:00. Their first away game comes on Wednesday 13th May when they travel to Pori to take on FC Jazz, kickoff is at 19:30.
AC Oulu play their cold weather games at the Arina Arena and their Ykkönen home fixtures are played at Raatti Stadium. For more information on ACO and tickets visit www.acoulu.fi.
CAN VIFK BUILD ON PROMOTION AND MAINTAIN YKKÖNEN PLACE?
Vasa IFK come into the 2015 season having won promotion from Kakkonen last year, finishing top of the West Group. The team last played in Ykkönen in 2008 when they were relegated after a 3 year stay in the division. Since then they played in both the North and the West groups of Kakkonen before winning the latter.
The start of their season saw disappointment in round 3 of the Suomen Cup, when they were beaten 3-1 away to AC Oulu. Trailing 1-0, Lasse Linjala appeared to have given VIFK a lifeline when he equalised in the 81st minute, but Oulu retook the lead just two minutes later and then added insult to injury with another goal in stoppage time.
VIFK will focus their attention on the league now then and begin with a trip to Tammisaari to play EIF of Saturday 2nd May at 16:00. Staying on the road, the team then travels to play PK-35 Vantaa on Sunday 10th May with kick-off at 18:30. The first home game of the season comes when they host MP, of Mikkeli, on Wednesday 13th May, the game starts at 18:30.
VIFK play their cold weather games at Botnia Hall and their Ykkönen home fixtures are played at Hietalahti Stadium. For more information on VIFK visit www.vifk.fi.
KAKKONEN NORTH SEES BATTLE OF OSTROBOTHNIA
Kakkonen is the third tier of Finnish football and is split into 4 regional groups of North, East, South and West. Kakkonen North consists of 10 teams and 7 of those find their homes within Ostrobothnia. They are FC Kiisto from Vaasa, Kerho 07 from Seinäjoki, JBK from Pietarsaari, FC YPA from Ylivieska, OPS from Oulu and both KPV and GBK from Kokkola. All except FC Kiisto played in Kakkonen last year, albeit Kerho 07 played in the West group.
KPV, JBK and GBK were the only representatives to enter the Suomen Cup from the league and have experience mixed results. In round 3 GBK defeated another team from Kokkola, KPS, 7-1 in a one sided affair that saw 6 different GBK goal scorers including Tom Melarti who scored a brace. GBK moved on to round 4 and a home fixture against Ykkönen members PS Kemi and the visitors ran out 4-1 winners in the game, Melarti scoring the lone goal for GBK.
KPV and JBK began their Suomen Cup with a clash against each other in round 3 as the latter made the short trip to Kokkola. It was the home side who progressed to the next round, defeating JBK 3-0 with goals from Kim Palosaari, Lasse Känsälä and Teemu Mäki. Round 4 saw KPV again playing host to a Pietarsaari team as top flight members FF Jaro came to visit and Kokkola shocked their higher placed opponents with another 3-0 win. A first half own goal and a second half double from Palosaari did the damage.
Round 5 saw KPV continue their good cup run with a 5-0 away win over Kajaani Haka. Goals in the first half from Harri Heiermann, Henri Myntti and 2 from Ville Huuhka set the tone of the match before Myntti added his second and KPV's fifth midway through the second half. KPV then head to round 6 and have been rewarded with a home fixture against HIFK of Veikkausliiga. The fixture is scheduled to be played on or around 16th April.
The league fixtures get underway Saturday 25th April with GBK hosting AC Kajaani, OPS hosting TP-47 from Tornio and JBK welcoming FC Kiisto, all three fixtures are scheduled to kickoff at 16:00. FC YPA start their season the following day when FC Santa Claus from Rovaniemi (of course!) come to Ylivieska with kickoff also at 16:00. KPV and Kerho 07 complete the first round of fixtures when they meet in Kokkola on Tuesday 28th April with kick-off at 18:30.
MUCH MORE LOCAL FOOTBALL TO CHOOSE FROM
The football league season in Finland is just around the corner and fans in Ostrobothnia hoping to enjoy the action have a plethora of teams to choose from. The top league in Finland, Veikkausliiga, gets underway the second week in April and Ostrobothnia boasts three members of the 12 team league: Last year's runner up Seinäjoen Jalkopallokerho (SJK) of Seinäjoki, Vaasan Palloseura (VPS) of Vaasa and Fotbollsföreningen Jaro (FF Jaro) of Pietarsaari.
SJK TRYING TO BUILD ON SILVER MEDAL
SJK were founded in 2007 and enjoyed a successful season in Veikkausliiga last year after winning promotion from Finland's second tier, Ykkönen, in 2013. The team finished second behind perennial league favourites HJK of Helsinki and will now have a chance to qualify for the Europa League later this year.
SJK are coached by Simo Valakari who during his playing career amassed over 30 caps for the Finnish national team. In the squad are midfielders Wayne Brown and Jussi Vasara as well as forwards Toni Lehtinen and Akseli Pelvas. Brown, from England, has played in over 50 games for Bristol Rovers in the English third and fourth tiers while Vasara joins from FC Honka where he made 182 appearances, scoring 34 goals. Lehtinen has over 70 appearances with 30 goals for SJK since 2012 and Pelvas is starting his second season at the club having scored 11 times in 29 games last year.
In the first competitive competition of the year, the Liiga Cup, the team progressed to the quarter finals from group C with a perfect record of 4 games, 4 wins against FF Jaro and VPS with Pelvas scoring 5 times. In the quarter final they were beaten at home in a penalty shootout by RoPS from Rovaniemi, who have gone on to reach the final, after goals from Pelvas and Vasara secured a 2-2 draw in the regulation 90 minutes.
SJK play host to KuPS from Kuopio in round 5 of the Suomen Cup (Cup of Finland) and a win here would set up a home match against FC Lahti in round 6. Their league campaign kicks off with a trip to Turku to play FC Inter on Sunday 12th April at 17:00. The first home fixture in the league gives the team the chance to avenge their Liiga Cup exit as they welcome RoPS back to Seinäjoki on Sunday 19th April.
SJK play home games at the Wallsport Arena or Jouppilanvuori during the later winter months and the Veikkausliiga home fixtures are played at Sienäjoen Keskuskenttä. For more information on SJK and tickets visit www.sjk2007.fi.
CAN VPS GET BACK INTO THE TOP THREE?
VPS have been playing football since 1924 and finished 4th last season after taking the bronze medal position the year before and finishing 8th in 2012. The team, under head coach Olli Huttunen, formerly the national team coach, will be hoping to keep the good finishes of the last two years going in 2015.
The squad consists of a number of experienced players including Ville Koskimaa in defence, midfielders Jesper Engström and Tony Björk and in attack Jamaican born Steven Morrissey. Koskimaa is in his second spell with VPS, having joined in 2005 before transferring to FC Honka in 2009 for 2 seasons then returning, during these two spells he has 195 appearances. Engström joined in 2011 and since then has played 105 times while Björk has been a member of the VPS squad since 2008, playing 169 times and scoring 14 goals. Morrissey joined from Jamaican team Portmore United in 2011 and has scored 25 goals in 66 appearances for VPS.
VPS had a mixed start to their competitive season, qualifying second of their group in the Liiga Cup behind SJK. VPS recorded victories both home and away against FF Jaro, Koskimaa giving the team a 1-0 win in Pietarsaari before two Jordan Seabrook goals helped the team to a 2-1 win in the reverse fixture. The team were however unable to score in both games against SJK, going down 1-0 away and then 3-0 at home. In the quarter finals the team travelled to Helsinki to play HIFK where a goal from Tuomas Lähdesmäki was unable to help them avoid defeat and they lost 2-1.
The next competitive action came in round 5 of the Suomen Cup and APS suffered a shock when they were knocked out by lower league opposition AC Oulu. They travelled to Oulu and were ahead after only 11 minutes through Juho Mäkelä but were unable to build on their lead and two goals for ACO on 69 and 76 minutes ultimately ended their cup campaign at the first hurdle.
Their league season starts with away games at HIFK and KuPS on Sunday 12th and Thursday 23rd April respectively. Their first home fixture in Veikkausliiga is scheduled to be on Sunday 26th April when they host FC Lahti at 16:00.
VPS play their late winter home games at the Fennia Arena and their Veikkausliiga home fixtures are played at the Hietalahti Stadium. For more information on VPS and tickets visit www.vepsu.fi.
TOP FLIGHT FOOTBALL IN OSTROBOTHNIA
FF JARO LOOK FOR CONTINUED IMPROVEMENT
FF Jaro head into this season having recorded their highest position in the league since 2010 last year when they finished 6th. This was a much welcomed improvement on previous seasons which saw them finish 10th in 2013 and 11th in 2012 when they avoided relegation by just one point.
The team are coached by Alexei Eremenko Sr. and his 16 year old son Sergei Eremenko, younger brother of Alexei Jr. and Roman, is in the squad for the coming season. Among his teammates are goalkeeper Jesse Öst, midfielder Jonas Emet and forward Shahdon Winchester. Öst played 24 times last season and since 2010 has over 70 appearances for the club. Emet was last year's top goal scorer with 14 goals in 32 appearances while Winchester was second highest finishing with 9 goals from 31 games played.
Jaro have experienced a difficult start to their competitive season, having lost all 5 games so far. They began with in the Liiga Cup where they were knocked out in the group stage. They lost 1-0 at home to VPS to start before losing 4-0 at SJK in a game where their misery was compounded by a red card for Peter Opiyo. The away trip to VPS saw Joona Veteli score Jaro's first goal of the season but it wasn't enough and they slipped to a 2-1 defeat before a goal packed home game against SJK saw Eremenko score twice and Veteli grab his second of the season in a 4-3 defeat. Their next competitive action came in the form of round 4 of the Suomen Cup and the team was shocked by lower league KPV, who defeated Jaro 3-0 in Kokkola.
Jaro start their Veikkausliiga campaign with three home games as they host IFK Mariehamn, SJK and Ilves from Tampere. IFK Mariehamn come to town Sunday 12th April and kick-off is at 17:00 before SJK and Ilves visit on Tuesday 23rd and Wednesday 29th April respectively, both games beginning at 18:30.
Jaro play their Veikkausliiga home games at Pietarsaari Keskuskenttä and their late winter home games are played at Tellushalli. For more information on FF Jaro and tickets visit www.ffjaro.fi.
TI IKERIT TRY TO GET BACK TO ONE
If you live in Kokkola, you may have noticed that there is a sport outside of ice hockey and football that a lot of people can be found talking about. That is of course volleyball and the local team Kokkola Tiikerit but they are not the only representatives from Ostrobothnia to play at the top level in Finland this past season as we also had Etta from Oulu and Särkät Volley from Kalajoki.
Tiikerit came into this season with a one aim: to win back the Mestaruusliiga gold medal. Kokkola caught volleyball fever at the end of the 2012-13 when Tiikerit became the national champions and came so close last year to winning back-to-back when they were beaten in the final by VaLePa from Sastamala near Tampere.
The team has already gained a measure of revenge on VaLePa this season as they defeated the south-westerners in the final of the Suomen Cup. The cup's finals weekend was played on the 3rd and 4th of January and on the Saturday Tiikerit made no mistakes, booking their final place with a 3-0 defeat of Sampo while VaLePa dropped just the one game as they overcame Hurrikaani of Loimaa 3-1. The two teams then played for the cup on the Sunday with the black and yellows of Kokkola celebrating a 3-1 win in the match.
Back in the league both Tiikerit and VaLePa were showing the form that took them to the play off finals the previous year leading the way at the top of the table. In the end it was VaLePa who finished top of the table but only on game difference as the two both collected 82 points on the way, amazingly both teams scored exactly 2793 game points during the season.
Kokkola went into the playoffs as the number two seed and faced off against LEKA Volley from Kuopio. The quarter finals are played as a best of 5 series and Tiikerit wasted no time, winning the first 3 games and securing a whitewash victory. The team in fact only lost 1 game on the way to the win, winning the first two home matches 3-0 before losing the first game away from home only to win the next three and take a 3-1 victory.
In the semi finals, to be played as a best of seven series, Tiikerit found themselves up against Raisio Loimu. The Kokkola team were only more troubled to the tune of 2 games as they won the first 4 matches (3-1, 3-1, 3-1, 3-0) and booked their place in the playoff final. Who they face there is yet to be decided as in the other semi final VaLePa and Hurrikaani are currently tied at 2 matches each.
The final is scheduled to start on April 11th with the home team dependent on whoever wins the second semi final. Tiikerit will switch their home stadium to Kokkolan Jäähalli for the final allowing for many extra fans to watch the game.
Etta came into this season having been defeated quarter finalists the previous two years and after a regular season that saw them finish 6th they headed into a quarter final clash against Loimu. Unfortunately for Etta it would be a familiar story for them as they were unable to overcome their higher placed opponents, losing the first 3 matches (1-3, 0-3, 1-3) and bringing their season to a close at the same stage as previous years. They will look to see if next season can take them that one step further.
For Särkät, who had won promotion from the First Division in 2013-14, it was to be a troubled season. The team from Kalajoki managed just 6 wins throughout the year and ended the season bottom of the table with just 10 points. They were able to finish the season on a somewhat of a good note however, as they defeated KyKy from Kyyjärvi 3-0 (3-0, 3-1, 3-0) in the battle for a place in Mestaruusliiga for the 2015-16 season.
Written by Steve Eglese
In any means, 3D printing is not a new technology. The fundamental techniques of modern additive manufacturing were invented is 1980?s, but long printers were too large to use and too expensive to buy.
What made 3D printing blooming was the expiring of the first 3d printing patents in the beginning of 2000?s. The first open source printer that almost anybody can build was RepRap. When RepRap was released to the internet in 2004, the cheapest commercial 3D printer cost 30000?, as RepRap cost <2000? to build.
RepRap, printer developed by british engineer Adrian Bowyer, uses so called fused deposition modeling (FDM) what basically means that printer is a sophisticated computer controlled glue gun. The build material is provided to the printer in the form of filament made from plastic/polymer rolled from a reel. Filament is being fed thru high temperature nozzle and by moving extruder in XYZ-axes, the desired object is formed layer by layer in all dimensions.
The maker culture around the world embraced RepRap because of it?s versatility and low cost and it has since got thousands of commercial and non-commercial iterations. And as always when technology goes open source, development has been rapid. RepRap?s FDM technology has become the most common technology in 3D-printing.
3D PRINTING INDUSTRIAL GAM ECHANGER?
In more larger scale chinese have
3D-printed 10 full size concrete houses in 24h.
Almost all industries can benefit from the rapid prototyping, as it shortens the time of making prototypes from months to weeks or even days.
To the coughing Finnish forest industry 3D-printable wood polymers could offer an interesting opportunity. Current printers are already able to print several different wood filaments, which are usually 40-50% of wood fiber and rest is binding polymer, like PET or more ecological PLA. Wood fibers are light and strong, and wood has also many other properties what makes it ideal 3D printing composite.
Technical Research Centre of Finland VTT has already developed technology to make plastic type polymer directly from birch. This could potentially be used to 100% wooden and 100% domestic substitute for imported materials, like PLA and ABS, but unfortunately this research data is not public domain.
Many of the current 3D-printed materials are quite easy to recycle back to 3D printable material, so the home of the near future home could be able to recycle it?s plastics on it?s own. No more waste
disposal systems, plastic/materials are
grinded and to be printed to new things as needed.
Today, you can make almost anything with 3D printer, from Boeing airplane turbines to perfect fit shoe insoles at home.
Currently consumer grade 3D-printers cost from several thousand euros to measly 150?. To make use of 3D-printer in home, no rendering skills are required, although you can make much more use of it if you know the basics.
There are many website in the internet that provide ready-to-be-printable 3D models. Need a lamp shade, nano SIM-adapter or a mount for your GoPro? You can download thousands of free models from sites like Thingiverse or Youmagine.
With 3D printing, the complexity of the product comes free, so many shapes that are hard or even impossible to to create with traditional manufacturing techniques are easy to print. The drawback of 3D-printing mainly the slow speed, larger objects can take even days to manufacture, although Carbon 3D recently introduced a new printing technology that is supposedly 100x faster than previous.
3D-printing has already revolutionized the production of prosthesic limbs, used by jewelry artists and with 3D scanning/rendering it?s easy to make custom fit and fully personalized prosthetic legs, hands and other individually measured parts, like fully 3d printed eyeglasses.
As the open source 3D-printing movement goes forward and patents expire, people could be able to print more of their everyday needs in their own home and move more towards to the un-centralized production (fin. ?lähituotanto?), where goods are being made in home or neighbourhood instead on large factories in China.
More goods are also being produced upon request, so there is less surplus and waste. It will be a glorious day when I can print all spare parts to my Volvo in my own garage instead to visiting the nearest Biltema, but this will take still take many years. But in June 2015 another major 3D printing patent is again expiring. This time some of the key patents regarding selective laser sintering technology are due. This could mean that printing metal objects in your garage is not so far away.
In the Ostrobothnia region there is at least two 3D printing startups, Minifactory from Seinäjoki and Suomen 3D-tulostustekniikka from Kauhava. Latter is releasing the first Finnish recyclable and biodegradable PLA-filament brand soon, and Minifactory?s accurate 3D printers have been already acknowledged widely.
While it is difficult to get a global assessment of how big the 3D industry currently is, estimates are that the market was worth about 2-4 billion euros in 2013, 6 billion euros in 2015 and market will be worth 14 billion in 2018. This makes 3d printing one of the fastest growing industries with over 100% growth rate per year.
In the EU, The Netherlands is leading the adoption of 3D printing and the local industry is predicted to be worth 45M? this year. The fast growth in Netherlands is mainly because of two reasons: It?s a small country, there is not a lot of space for large production facilities - and maybe even more importantly - the local goverment has an active plan to support creative industries. One would hope that opportunity would be more eagerly grasped also here in Finland.
Oh, and the RepRap? It stands for Replicating Rapid Prototyper. The main goal of this ambitious open source project is to build a self-replicating machines and to make them freely available for the benefit of everyone. So even as RepRap can be considered the father of all the current consumer 3d printers, it is actually a wider idea and has taken the shape of a 3D printer just by change. The project just took a major leap forwards when RepRap?s got ability to print conductive filaments and so they are now able to print the most of their own circuitry.
Written by Mikko Kangas
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Photos: Johan Nguyen&Huy Phan