Five matches, a save percentage of 81 and an average of five goals conceded per match.
The starting point guard for the Colorado Avalanche Alexander Georgiev28, the statistics from the fall are scary reading. In the first two matches, the Russian-Bulgarian goalkeeper was pulled from the match in the middle of the game.
In none of the five games did his save percentage even get above 85, and yet no change to the play was made until the sixth game. This confused NHL followers in many places, considering how difficult it was for Georgiev already last spring. After getting started, a young Finn Justus Annunen24, has played three matches in a row and won each of them.
Urheilu caught up with the club’s goalkeeper coach Jussi Parkkilan to comment on the twists and turns in the Avalanche’s goaltending department.
Colorado’s goalie situation has spoken, where do we go now?
– Now it hasn’t been easy, but sometimes it has to be like that, even though nobody wants it and it’s really uncomfortable for everyone. From there you just have to push yourself up and believe in your own work. A lot of work has been done, but nothing has been changed. You have to believe in yourself.
– Annunen got a chance and answered his challenge nicely. I’m really proud of the boy. The team had successes and so did Annunen. He will definitely gain confidence from these. However, he is still at the stage where experiences are sought for him.
Why was Georgiev fouled again and again, even though the puck didn’t stick?
– With us, the head coach makes the decisions and that’s how we go. When the start as a team was weak, and Justus is still a new guy, the head coach Jared Bednar wanted to use the so-called “number one horse”. He decides on these with us fully. Sometimes we agree, sometimes we disagree, but it doesn’t matter much if I disagree when he has made his decision. I’m with you on that one.
– Sometimes, of course, we discuss, for example, before game trips, which games are for which goalkeeper. That way, I know how to plan exercises based on that and more. This has also been a good school for Justus, that everything doesn’t always come easy. And you don’t have to come. Sometimes you have to fight and bite your teeth in the style of the old alliance, and you can’t start to mourn. We worked hard when he wasn’t playing.
– The bank also needs to do some work, because the time will come for him as well. Now he is impressed by the fact that the work has been done well and with high quality. In his case, the quality of training has increased. It’s not always just about quantity. In this respect, he has grown a lot.
Is the team still playing for Georgiev, so to speak, for whom last spring was really difficult?
– It has to be, because he is our player. Now we have to help him out of that situation, and I have to help him too. It wasn’t a good start in the playoffs (last season), but after the initial slump, he was our best player. Considering his level, he ended up playing at a really hard level in the Winnipeg and Dallas leagues.
– This is a big year for him when his contract is up and so on. He certainly has a lot of all kinds of thoughts in his head too. It’s not always easy to get the pieces to fit, but he’s a tough guy to get things done. Relaxation comes through successes.
Is Annunen ready for the role of starting goalkeeper?
– Physically, he is in great shape and in that respect he was already ready last year. On the physical side, nothing will ever get stuck.
– The head coach is a different matter from what his absolute top level is. See you later. I see a lot of potential in him to become a number one guard. In other words, I don’t see any reason why he can’t be a really tough guy. The boy probably doesn’t even know yet how much there is in the stuff.
What role does Kaapo Kähkönen, who is looking for a game feel from the farm, play in the pattern?
– We didn’t have a third goalkeeper, so numerically we had a crying need for one. That’s why the club management followed the situation and this hit the right spot. We just needed more numbers in the organization. If something happens suddenly, we have two NHL goalies. Let’s see with time what the club’s long-term plan is.
Is it possible that at some point in Colorado we will go with two Finnish veskars?
– Unfortunately, I can’t say anything about that. Everything is possible, and all it takes is for someone to catch a cold, for example. You never know what’s going to happen here because there are so many variables. There are injuries and other things, or sometimes you have to move a piece to something to make room in the salary cap and so on.
There is a lot of talk about the pressure of the head coach, but what kind of pressure do you feel when there is turbulence in the goalkeeping department?
– It’s not terribly nice when many places are already talking about whether the guy should be replaced. But that’s part of the job. I just have to believe in my own work. You have to be confident in yourself and in the fact that you have done good work in the past and got good results with the guys in the long term. My faith has not wavered. Now we’re just trying to get quality workouts under, and that’s where it will come from.
You have previously coached in the KHL and talked about the heavy pressure from the Russian club managers. Do you get better peace of mind in the NHL?
– In Russia, it was quite windy at times. As a result, the leather has thickened quite a lot. But it is now quite clear that the head has not been ironed here either, when this has happened. Nobody likes this. This is a pretty raw results sports world. It’s not praise day in and day out. There will be feedback and it should be. Then, when things get better, we know how to praise. I have loved being in this organization since day one and I still do. There are a lot of games left, now we just have to keep working.
How will gaming go in the future?
– Now we just go one day and one game at a time. On Saturday, fortunately, we have a training day after a long time and then we play two home games on consecutive days. Of course, both goalkeepers can play there. Then again, we will look at the next steps, but we will go with this template for the next few days. Now we won’t make any two-week plan, but let’s go with a shorter sample.