On Friday, HIFK played the 15th match in its club history in Tampere’s new arena. Earlier tonight, the team had failed to win there.
Helsinki IFK celebrated its first ever victory in the Tampere arena on Friday night, when it beat Tappara 4-1 in the hockey SM league match.
Before tonight, HIFK had lost a total of 14 matches in the Arena, which was put into use in the 2021-2022 season, when the away matches of the Helsinki team are included there against both Tapparaa and Ilves.
– Great feeling to finally win here, HIFK’s third goal scorer Iiro Pakarinen rejoiced after the match in an interview with MTV.
The striker admitted that there has been “a little too much” talk in the team’s dressing room in the past about the fact that it has not previously managed to win in that arena, and that has created extra pressure.
– Now today we didn’t take too much pressure from it. We just let it go, and a good result came, Pakarinen continued.
“Smooth torque”
Just under six minutes of playing time had passed in the opening set, when HIFK took the lead. Panu Mieho caught the puck after a careless pass from the people of Tampere, ran to the goal and buried the puck Tappara keeper Juha Metsola behind.
Exactly one minute later, the players of the Helsinki team got to breathe again. This time he had represented Tapparaa in the second season in scoring Jori Lehteräwho took his chance by putting the puck in the net in front of the goal Tony Sundin after skillful preliminary work.
In the fourth minute of the third period, the people of Tampere succeeded in narrowing down, when Aleksi Matinmiko HIFK’s goalie sank the shot from near the blue line Roope Taponen by. In the end, the goal was Tappara’s only one of the night.
In the middle of the final set Iiro Pakarinen put the puck in the net at the end of the Helsinki attack. Tappara was fiercely looking for a reduction, still without a goalkeeper, but HIFK Jesse Seppälä finished his team’s winning numbers 4–1 to an empty goal.
– It was a high-quality match. There were few places, and you really had to fight to get to the finish line. It was a constant struggle, Pakarinen described the match in an interview with MTV.
HIFK continues at the top of the league table with a clean game, as it has collected a full 12 points from its four matches this season.
After three games, in addition to Friday’s loss, Tappara has one three-point win and one loss after the shootout.
Series table