The Ponsse Log­gers Cup was played for the third time in Timrå on 24 January 2026, so it is safe to say that a tra­di­tion has been born. The idea is fami­liar from the legen­dary Einari Kup: brin­ging Ponsse emplo­yees and cus­to­mers toget­her for a com­mon hobby, enjo­ying games, after­game and good com­pany.

This time, three teams step­ped on the ice. Buf­falo, the pride of the forest mac­hine industry and the reig­ning cham­pion of the last two Log­gers Cups, arri­ved from Fin­land. Swe­den, the host country, int­ro­duced two tough teams, Mam­moth and Scor­pion. The ros­ters of both the teams had so many high talents that the players in Buffalo’s loc­ker room could hardly believe their eyes: Sun­din, Hed­man, Laine, Karls­son…

The tour­na­ment was played in a hand­some set­ting on SHL club Timrå’s home ice, the SCA Arena. In addi­tion to hoc­key, the pro­gramme inclu­ded a Timrå-Fär­jes­tad BK lea­gue game, in which Ponsse acted as the match host. Even before the ska­tes hit the ice, the event offe­red a spec­tacu­lar start: out­side the arena stood a mas­sive Ponsse Mam­moth under bright lights and with a full log load.

In the first match, the Swe­dish Mam­moth and Scor­pion took on each other. Mam­moth star­ted strongly and led the game, but Scor­pion got a grip as the game progres­sed, inc­rea­sed the tempo and tur­ned the game to their advan­tage with a score of 5–2. Next, the atmosp­here really hea­ted up when Mam­moth faced Buf­falo, and the game took on the tone of a small inter­na­tio­nal match. The start of the game was ten­ta­tive. Buffalo’s long bus and boat jour­ney must still have been taking a toll on the player’s feet, but as the game progres­sed, the Fin­nish team found their rhythm and won the match con­vincingly 5–1.

In the final, the audience saw exactly what they were hoping for: Fin­land ver­sus Swe­den. Scor­pion and Buf­falo faced off, with Buf­falo con­si­de­red the slight favou­rite before the match. After all, it had sco­red two wins in the tour­na­ment and had put in an impres­sive per­for­mance in the pre­vious game. Howe­ver, it quickly tur­ned out on the ice that pre­dic­tions are just pre­dic­tions. Scor­pion came out strong and quickly took a 2–0 lead.

At this point, there was much more serious talk in Buffalo’s loc­ker room when Gene­ral Mana­ger Jaakko Lau­rila took over the situa­tion. The voice rose, the words were direct and the mes­sage was clear: this is not the famous Buf­falo hoc­key and this is not how the final is played. The words had an effect. Buf­falo retur­ned to the ice with a comple­tely dif­fe­rent look and sco­red three goals in a row, taking the lead.

In the end, howe­ver, Scor­pion did not shy away, but made “a basic Swe­dish catch up” and tied the game 3–3 at the very end. As there are no draws in the final, a penalty shoot-out was next to find out the cham­pion. The host team hand­led the pres­sure bet­ter and ulti­ma­tely won 5–3. When the last penalty shot went in, Scor­pion’s expe­rienced cap­tain Ola Sand­ström proudly lif­ted the Log­gers Cup trophy into the air, and the bois­te­rous celebra­tions really got underway.

The Ponsse Log­gers Cup Cham­pions­hip trophy now went to Swe­den for the first time. Con­gra­tu­la­tions to Scor­pion! The trophy is in good hands, at least until next year.

Please note regar­ding the pho­tos below: the pho­tos of the award cere­mony and celebra­tions are mis­sing the tour­na­ment’s top sco­rer and Scorpion’s lea­ding player Marcus Håden, who unfor­tu­na­tely was inju­red in the final. We wish Marcus a quick reco­very.

All in all, the day again showed what a great event the Log­gers Cup is growing into. Many games, a lot of talk and just the right amount of com­pe­ti­tion. Thanks to eve­ry­one invol­ved. We will con­ti­nue next year, and then Buf­falo will have only one goal: rematch.

Awar­ded players in the tour­na­ment:

• Best defen­der: HP Have­ri­nen
• Best attac­ker: Lizzy Bom­me­leyn
• Best goal­ten­der: Jimmy Bjur­teg
• Tour­na­ment figh­ter prize: Danne Pers­son

Video com­pi­la­tion of the tour­na­ment day Ponsse Match­värd — Före­tags­hoc­key