The final series of the Finnish Ice Hockey League will start on Wednesday in Tampere. Petteri Puhakka, who plays in Tappara’s four-time chain, talks about the great spring playoffs.
Simo Arkko,
Joel Holma,
Sam Such
20.4. 13:49 • Updated April 20th. 13:49
Puhe will follow the puck finals of the evening from 6 p.m. The opening final between Tappara and TPS starts at 6.30 pm. The women’s final at Kiekko-Espoo – HIFK will start at 7.15 pm. The championship is interrupted for the people of Espoo, who lead the series with 2-0 victories.
Petteri Puhakka has done a lot of so-called invisible work in Tappara this season: he deprives the puck, cuts the passes and makes the opponent’s game as difficult as possible. Puhakka does what is expected of a quadruple player.
In the playoffs, Puhaka’s name has surprisingly come to the fore.
In the quadruple chain of Tappara Joona Luoto, Otto Rauhala and Puhakka have been given an atypical amount of column space for the quad chain. The quadruple chain has become a power chain.
– It all starts with winning games at the defensive end, getting exploited, getting to attack and from there to the finish line. Now we have put in the finish line, Puhakka tells Sport about his chain’s work ethic.
Puhakka has scored goals with an amazing percentage. The man has shot 16 goals per goal in the spring playoffs and hit Four times.
Sports Expert Topi Nättinen emphasizes that the pace is exceptional
– It’s really rare that every fourth shot goes to the finish. He has fired 16 times, which is less than two shots per game.
Two power chains facing each other?
Puhakka, 21, played in the youth series in Kärpi, Oulu, and scored at a nice pace.
The striker switched from Fly to Tappara, whose league team has at least as much intrusion.
Last season, the games were tight.
– Game minutes don’t come easily in Tappara. Every minute has to be earned. Step by step, I have been able to develop and have had success. I hope to be able to develop in the future as well, the attacker says.
In Tappara’s four-time chain, Rauhala is drilling a hard percentage (58), and Luoto is a big and strong player.
– I bring the enthusiasm of youth to the chain. We start by defending first, Puhakka says.
Puhakka has scored seven power points in nine games in the playoffs, eight in Rauhala and as many as 15 in Luoto.
– The importance of this chain has been very great. Certainly expectations have been higher Anton Levtchin, Tyler Morley and Waltteri Merelän from the chain. They have been darkened. Tappara’s success is based on a broad front, Nättinen reflects.
Puhakka has once been on a level playing field in the playoffs when the opponent has scored a goal.
– Even if there are no points, they are important to the team, Nättinen opens the meaning of the chain.
The chemistry of Tappara’s four-chain chain has been felt in the playoffs Lukko and KooKoo.
Tappara won both sets 4-1. Final opponent TPS knocked down HIFK in the standings. Ilves bent 2–4 in the match.
– The opponent has a lot of skills in the field, Puhakka evaluates the Turku team.
TPS has had a similar power chain in the playoffs, Juuso Pärssisen pulled by the number one, where the edges are cooled Mikael Wipe and Markus Nurmi.
Are power chains played against each other? Expert Nättinen evaluates:
– In coaching Tappara, I might start by experimenting with how this kind of intimidation would work at first. Of course, special situations and the game load are decisive. The Persian chain will play for almost 20 minutes per game, and no one in the Rauhala chain has played such numbers.
A year ago, Tappara did not make it to the finals. In the bronze game it lost.
Now the team has a chance to win the Finnish championship for the first time since 2017.
– We have more better players and the game is better than a year ago. If one field has not worked, then another field has raised its level. We can win even with bad games, Puhakka concludes.