Helsinki has hosted the tournament once before, in 1981 with great success. We all look forward to great hockey games where the experience of long hockey careers will come to good use. It is of course nice to win a game, but a tournametn like this is also a very important social event for all participants. I am sure that Helsinki and its hotels, restaurants, shops, museums and people will do their best to make your stay plesantly memorable. Helsinki is a city of 550.000 inhabitants, an ideal place to meet old friends and make new ones.
Sports play an important role in the well-being of young and old alike.
So much the better if sports and exercise can be done in a relaxed mood, without the stress elements of a hard competition. Hockey is a sport played with the heart - and for the heart. With this in mind you can all be winners. On behalf of the City of Helsinki and its citizens I bid you cordially welcome and wish you the best of luck.