– Go away now! Thrown a Bulgarian in that place!
– What are they doing now? Slow-motion pass in the middle area! Slow motion input! It’s amazing, hahahaha!
Ismo Lehkonen the joy knew no bounds in the Jääkiekkiorkis studio when he followed Tappara’s progress in the SM league.
Tampere’s game offered a bewildering number of things that you are not used to seeing in a big club game.
Lehkonen admitted that he has not previously been offended by Tappara’s way of playing hockey. Of course, he has always appreciated the exemplary and successful work of the Axebreasts, but the way of the game itself has been far from what the experienced expert enjoys.
It is easy to agree with Lehkonen’s enthusiasm. The SM league, actually the entire Finnish (club) ice hockey, has longed for years exactly what Tappara is doing now.
The first period of the JYP-Tappara match played in Jyväskylä was a prime example of that. It was an incredible hockey celebration. And the season is just beginning.
During that one inning, Tappara did exactly what he wanted in the rink. The puck moved quickly and beautifully from player to player, the game flowed in a way that gets everyone who follows hockey fired up.
The players had permission to fulfill themselves, permission to take risks. Permission to try something crazy.
Even if it’s the “Bulgarian” that Lehkonen admires, i.e. the blind pass from behind. Such was presented this time by Tappara’s attacker Philip Granath. In a situation where Tappara would have played it safe before. Risks were now allowed.
No slow starts with the puck, no slimy midfield, i.e. a five-player defensive formation in the midfield. Nothing that will make the spectators yawn and the players frustrated.
A cult player creeps into my mind Tuomas Vänttinen words from a few years ago. Vänttinen, who played in Sport’s shirt at the end of his league career, described the meeting with Tappara as follows:
– There they were waiting in their seats in the central area, with the wipers on. Even though I played against them for 25 minutes in a match, I didn’t even break a sweat.
Now the opponent’s sweat was flowing.
Bold, fearless, entertaining. How beautiful it is to watch when the game was given to those who the game belongs to: the players.
Ice hockey at its best
Of course, this is not a new invention. A similar mood was seen in a smaller club last season, when Tommi Niemelän piloted by Pelicans, it was the superior bright spot of the SM league, which gave freedom to the players, dared to take risks – and progressed with a smile all the way to the league finals.
But the big clubs in the main league don’t have it then Antti Törmänen The kind of playful fireworks seen in HIFK times, which Tappara is now firing into the domestic sky.
Almost a year ago, I wrote a comment in which I begged Tappara’s head coach at the time Jussi Tapolaa and Kärppien’s colleague Lauri Marjamäki to push the gas to the bottom.
Tapola and Marjamäki did not listen to the reporter’s nonsense. Of course. They have their own style of coaching. And their style has won championships.
But will we win again?
Tappara’s club management thought that a change had to be made, even though there had been success. The evolution of hockey calls for that change, where the pace is accelerating, skill must be exposed more and more, players must be able to fulfill themselves, the public must get value for their ticket money.
I bet before the start of the season that HIFK will win gold this season. I’m still betting on it, even though, like Lehkonen, I confess to being a great admirer of Tappara’s current style of play.
And if it happens that the axe-breasts do not succeed in defending the championship, Tappara has still done a huge service for the Finnish latke.
It has already shown its new coach in September Rikard Grönborgin management, that things can be done differently, even in a big club. As long as you dare.
That royal style, as Lehkonen called Tappara’s current style, is hockey at its most beautiful.
Tampere has been the ice hockey capital of Finland in recent years. Now that title is underlined with a thick marker.