Michal Kovařčík: Hock­ey Play­er’s Jour­ney from the Czech Repub­lic to Oulu

Michal Kovařčík is a 28-year-old Czech ice hock­ey play­er who has lived in Fin­land for three years, first in Mikke­li and then in Oulu. Cur­rent­ly, he plays cen­ter for Oulun Kär­pät in Finland’s top ice hock­ey league. We inter­viewed Michal to hear his thoughts about liv­ing in Oulu.

Michal moved to Oulu in ear­ly autumn 2024, just before the start of the Finnish Hock­ey League sea­son. He had played the pre­vi­ous two sea­sons for Mikke­lin Juku­rit.

– Before I came here, I only knew that Oulu is a big city and that Kär­pät is one of the best ice hock­ey teams in Fin­land. How­ev­er, I was very excit­ed. Mar­tin Jan­dus, anoth­er Czech hock­ey play­er who was play­ing here before me, helped me a lot with the move, he says.

Life in Oulu

For Michal, who lived in Třinec, Czech Repub­lic, and then in Mikke­li, Oulu felt like a very large city.

– I spend most of my time either in train­ing or match­es. How­ev­er, some­times I like to go to a restau­rant with my friends. I have lived in small towns, so the num­ber of restau­rants in Oulu feels huge – there are so many places to choose from, he laughs.

Besides restau­rants, there is plen­ty to see and do in Oulu. Michal names Nal­likari as one of his favorite places in Oulu.

– The last time I vis­it­ed Nal­likari was in Feb­ru­ary when my girl­friend was vis­it­ing Oulu from the Czech Repub­lic. The sun was shin­ing and there was snow every­where. It was a lot of fun!

The dark­ness of the Finnish win­ter was chal­leng­ing at first, but Michal says he got used to it after the first year. The fol­low­ing win­ters haven’t felt as dif­fi­cult.

“When the days are dark­er, the snow in Oulu makes it feel like it’s brighter.”

– I like snow, espe­cial­ly dur­ing Christ­mas time. For the last cou­ple of win­ters there hasn’t been snow in the Czech Repub­lic. In Oulu, there’s lots of snow, which is nice. I think that when the days are dark­er, the snow also makes it feel like it’s brighter, Michal says.

Encoun­ters with Finns

Accord­ing to Michal, one of the biggest dif­fer­ences between Fin­land and the Czech Repub­lic is the peo­ple.

– Over­all, peo­ple in Fin­land are very kind and always calm. In the Czech Repub­lic, it is pret­ty com­mon for peo­ple to behave more arro­gant­ly. Espe­cial­ly the peo­ple work­ing at restau­rants and shops, he describes.

Michal has­n’t had any prob­lems with the lan­guage, as prac­ti­cal­ly every­one speaks Eng­lish. The only dif­fi­cul­ty is find­ing ice hock­ey-relat­ed news in Eng­lish. On the oth­er hand, he feels that this might have reduced the pres­sure he experiences.

Michal men­tions that it is rare for peo­ple to rec­og­nize him out­side the ice rink in the Czech Repub­lic. In Oulu, the sit­u­a­tion is dif­fer­ent.

– Here peo­ple some­times stop me on the street and ask for a pho­to. Often, they also want to talk to me about ice hock­ey. It’s actu­al­ly nice because it’s great to hear some­one else’s opin­ion. No one has ever said any­thing bad to me, they just cheer me and the whole team on.

Team Spir­it and Aim­ing for the Top

After two sea­sons in the Finnish Hock­ey League, Michal dreamt of win­ning the cham­pi­onship. That’s why he joined Oulun Kär­pät last autumn.

– Unfor­tu­nate­ly, this sea­son has­n’t gone as we expect­ed. But in the end, it’s hock­ey, and some­times it does­n’t go the way you want. I hope we can still turn things around by the end of the sea­son, he says.

Despite every­thing, the atmos­phere in the team has remained good.

– All peo­ple in the team are good guys, and the team spir­it has been great from the start. I have espe­cial­ly become good friends with the oth­er imports in the team. We like to go for din­ner togeth­er almost every week, and we have got­ten to know each oth­er very well.

Mem­o­ries and Lessons from Fin­land

Michal’s con­tract with Kär­pät ends this sea­son. Next year, he will move back to play in his home­town Třinec. Michal says that although he likes Oulu, his plan has always been to move on to new chal­lenges after spend­ing three years in Fin­land.

– When I received a good offer from my home­town team in the Czech Repub­lic, it felt like every­thing fell into place. It’s great to be able to spend more time with my girl­friend and fam­i­ly again.

He will remem­ber Fin­land for the way he grew both as a play­er and as a per­son while liv­ing here.

– I am grate­ful for the oppor­tu­ni­ties that Kär­pät and Juku­rit have giv­en me. I am leav­ing Fin­land as a much bet­ter play­er. I have also learned to take care of myself and made new friends with whom I will like­ly stay in touch for a long time after we have split ways, he says.

Michal will cher­ish his time in Oulu. He rec­om­mends the city to any­one con­sid­er­ing mov­ing to Oulu.

– I have always thought that I feel more at home in small cities. How­ev­er, I have enjoyed my time in Oulu. There is a lot of things to do and see dur­ing all sea­sons, but every­day life is still peace­ful.