The Aurora Borealis Cup () is the trophy awarded by the

Finnish Ice Hockey Association The Finnish Ice Hockey Association (, ) is the sport governing body, governing body of ice hockey in Finland. Since the late 1980s, Finland has enjoyed a period of success on the international stage and, , the Finland men's national ice hockey t ...

to the victorious team of the

Auroraliiga The is the national premier league for women's ice hockey in Finland. Founded by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association as the Naisten Suomen mestaruus, SM-sarja (NSMs; ) in 1982, it was known as the Naisten Liiga (NSML;) from 2017 until being rebr ...

playoffs, the

Finnish Champion In Finland, the (SM; ) is the winner of the highest level of national competition in a particular sport. (), abbreviated , is the competition in which the winning athlete, team, or club is named Finnish Champion. is commonly used when discuss ...

in women's

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

Project

Christopher Shapardanov, Canadian

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

to Finland, first conceived of the Aurora Borealis Cup in September 2009, after a visit to the Finnish Ice Hockey Museum () in

Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...

and conversation with

Jyrki Lumme Jyrki Olavi Lumme (born July 16, 1966) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) and SM-liiga. After beginning his career in Finland, playing with Ilves Tampere for three seas ...

and Kimmo Leinonen, chairman of the Finnish Ice Hockey Museum Association (). The project was motivated by a desire to honor the quality of play in Auroraliiga and as a symbol of support in the promotion of women's ice hockey. The project was then commissioned through the fundraising efforts of the Finnish-Canadian community, with significant financial contributions from Osuuspankki. Several Canadian former players, including

Sami Jo Small Sami Jo Small (born March 25, 1976) is a Canadian former ice hockey goaltender. As a member of the Canada women's national ice hockey team, Canadian national team, she was an Olympic Games, Olympic gold medallist and four-time IIHF World Women ...

and

Darren Boyko Darren Boyko (born January 16, 1964) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Boyko is best known for a one-game stint in the NHL and the Elitserien. He played one game in the NHL for the Winnipeg Jets in 1989 and one game in Elitse ...

, contributed to fundraising efforts and other aspects of the project. The design and manufacture was executed by Toronto-based Awardco. The completed Aurora Borealis Cup was presented by Ambassador Shapardanov and received by

Kalervo Kummola Kalervo Juhani Kummola (born 21 November 1945) is a Finnish ice hockey executive, businessman, and politician. He co-founded the hockey club Kiekko-67 at age 21, was later marketing director for HC TPS, HC Turun Palloseura, and chief executive o ...

, Chairman of the

, on 21 March 2011. An exact replica of the Aurora Borealis Cup was also given to the , where it's on permanent display in a place of prominence opposite the original .

Design

The design of the trophy pays homage to the natural and cultural similarities between Finland and Canada. Both

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

nations are renowned for the ability to observe the

Aurora Borealis An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

, also called the Northern Lights, after which the cup is named. Likewise, the choice of materials celebrate the countries' natural affinity. The metal elements of the trophy are Canadian

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

, the wood is

maple ''Acer'' is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the soapberry family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated si ...

, and a ring of

labradorite Labradorite (( Ca, Na)( Al, Si)4 O8) is a calcium-enriched feldspar mineral first identified in Labrador, Canada, which can display an iridescent effect ( schiller). Labradorite is an intermediate to calcic member of the plagioclase series. It ...

circles the foot of the cup. The cup itself depicts the Northern Lights over a

coniferous Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

landscape. Text documenting the donation of the trophy is engraved in four languages on the upper tier of the base to highlight the official bilingualism of each country; the text appears in Finnish and Swedish, the official languages of Finland, and in English and

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

, the

official languages of Canada The official languages of Canada are English and French, which "have equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in all institutions of the Parliament and Government of Canada," according to Canada's constitution. "Offici ...

. The lower tiers of the base feature 60 metal plates, originally intended to be engraved with the names of the champion teams until the plates were filled in 2070.

Championship history

Prior to the introduction of the Aurora Borealis Cup, the Naisten SM-sarja champion received the . The was first awarded in

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

at the conclusion of the inaugural Naisten SM-sarja season to

Helsingin Jääkiekkoklubi Helsingin Jääkiekkoklubi () or HJK for short is an ice hockey club located in Helsinki, Finland. The team was formed in 1972 when the ice hockey department of Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi was disestablished, but they are considered as different cl ...

(HJK) and it was used continuously through the 2009–10 season. The trophy was retired in the spring of 2011 and is now on display at the . As champions of the 2011 Naisten SM-sarja playoffs, HPK Hämeenlinna were the first team to receive the Aurora Borealis Cup.

Finnish Champions by season

''Notes: As they are various names of the same franchise, the records of Espoon Kiekkoseura (EKS), Espoo Blues, and Espoo United are all included in the history of Kiekko-Espoo. The club Jyväskylän Palloilijat Hockey Team (JyP HT) updated its name to JYP in 1997 and the record of JyP HT is included in the history of JYP.'' Sources:

References

External links

* League information and statistics fro
Eliteprospects.com
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Aurora Borealis Cup Women's ice hockey competitions in Finland