The reigning champion of the Ice Hockey Women’s League, HIFK, was a rude hostess in Sunday’s round against TPS.
The people from Helsinki crushed the people from Turku 12–1, but one of HIFK’s players was above the rest: the French striker Clara Rozier was involved in almost every hit of his team.
In the end, Rozier was marked with 5+5 power.
– Clara has a really good episode below. It’s an up-and-coming season and he’s been picking up points at a steady pace, but of course 5+5 in one game is an extraordinary achievement. I think I blew on his shoulder a couple of times during the game, that the shoulder is on fire, HIFK’s head coach Saara Niemi commented to Urheilu.
According to Niemi, the whole team was involved in helping Rozier to double-digit performances.
– Clara will surely remember the match for the rest of her life, but it was great to see how the whole team lived together. When Clara had nine points below, the whole team’s goal was to reach the top ten. Clara’s success gave energy to the whole team.
There were hints of the French striker’s wild blow already on Saturday, when HIFK upset RoK with a score of 7–1. Rozier was marked with 2+3 in Saturday’s match.
In the two matches of the weekend, the French striker scored seven goals and provided eight assists.
Rozier, who grew up in a small French village near the Alps, arrived in Helsinki for the 2020–21 season on the recommendation of his French teammates.
Nicknamed “Kalle”, Rozier has enjoyed himself in HIFK’s ranks ever since.
– Clara doesn’t have a great shot, but she has a strong hunger for goals. He has a knack for seeing where the goalkeeper is positioned, and he is a goal scorer in profile. He sees his teammates well, Niemi begins.
– When he focuses on fighting, quick reaction ability and does things well from the point of view of defense, it can also be seen in the points. He is playing his best season with us and is currently a really comprehensive player.
Niemi reminds that Rozier’s entire field has been very successful. Central striker Sanni Vanhanen is second in the points market and left attacking Pauliina Salonen the thirteenth.
Rozier’s grounder Athena Locatelli and heading towards the journey of the Lionesses like Old Man Siiri Yrjölä have been responsible for the defense.
– They have supported Clara’s successes. They have really good synching and they play a fast game. The chemicals have helped.
HIFK got its star back
The home team’s second most effective player on Sunday was Michaela Pejzlova, who hit twice and had two assists.
The Czech striker was sidelined from the Helsinki squad for almost two months due to an injury. Pejzlova returned to the lineup on January 20, and was immediately named the Women’s League Player of the Month for January.
With the win, HIFK kept the gap to league leader Kiekko-Espoose by one point.
However, the team from Helsinki started the season six points behind, as the star player Pejzlova played last season without a playing permit.
At the turn of the year, the team from Helsinki had a rare four-game losing streak, when HIFK lost to Kiekko-Espo and HPK in December and to Ilves and KalPa in January.
However, the team suffered from injuries when, among other things, experienced players were sidelined Karoliina Rantamäkinational team striker Julia Liikala and Pejzlova.
– We had experienced players who were used to getting results, absent for a long time. Our game is based a lot on the puck game, we try to stay on the puck and we are a pretty good team at that. Of course, the lack of top court affected the game, commented Niemi.
On the other hand, the head coach also sees the losing streak as an important lesson.
– I see it as a valuable experience that we had to dig deeper and dig stones towards the end of the season. Our three-four court players have been given a bigger role and that has helped them again as we head towards spring.
After being cleared by the sick, the team has connected victory after victory.
– Now it’s a good situation, when everyone is back on track. We are leaving for the national team break with good feelings. There are two tough matches left in the regular season and the victory is in our own hands.
Kiekko-Espoo in the lead
Like HIFK, Kiekko-Espoo also organized a goal celebration against RoK: Even in Espoo, the scoreboard showed 12–1 at the end of the game.
The home team had a dream start to the match when they led with three goals after only four minutes. The people of Espoo scored all three goals within a minute and Kiekko-Espoo finally went into the break with a 5–0 lead.
In the second set, the home team struck twice, but in the final set Alexandra Väyrynen had to surrender five times again with the Rovaniemi goal. However, Väyryse accumulated 55 tackles.
Häre is the power player of the home team Emma Nuutinen, who scored four goals and served two assists.
Going on the journey of the female lions next week Julia Schalin manufactured power 2+2 and also the one leaving with the national team Ada Eronen collected four assists. For the one who returned to the Espoo team for the rest of the season after the visit to China Mint for Tuomi three assists were recorded.
In Tampere, Ilves defeated Kärpät 4–3. Kuortane surprised KalPa at home and won 3–2.
The Women’s League Regular Season ends after the national team break in two weeks.
See all the results of the Women’s League on page 231 and Series table on page 233.