Aho and Teräväinen have quietly risen to the top of the NHL’s best underpower players – Finnish stars tell the reasons for valuable readings

Underpowering is often not considered the most fascinating part of a hockey game, as it is ultimately a goal-scoring game. However, it would be easy to argue that with winning, high-quality ice-cold gaming correlates even more strongly than a game of superiority.

There is strong statistical support for this argument.

If we look at the statistics for the teams that won the Stanley Cup from 2010 onwards, Alivoima, the combination that finally made the pitcher, has often been good already in the base series. The average ranking of the previous twelve champions in the regular season underpower statistics is 9. Among the top five, the champion has been in the base series six times.

The ranking of the champion’s superiority game has been 14th on average. The top five has only been surprised twice.

– It’s no secret that the game of underpower is more important. It’s easy to find that if an underpower game leaks, you’ll have to make up for the pentathlon for fear of a hailstorm. If the coolers scare you, you can’t be just as rough in defensive play, a long line hockey coach Ismo Lehkonen says.

Carolina is one of the teams for whom underpowering has long been an important strength. During the current season, Hurricane Alivoima has been the best in the entire league. One year back, Carolina’s ranking was fourth and two years back third. As a result, Carolina’s underpower has been the best in the NHL for the previous three seasons.

At the individual level, the best Alivoima in the league is a great compliment to the team’s two Finnish stars Sebastian Aholle and Teuvo to Sharp.

Although the duo, known for their sharp playing head and puck skills, have impressed the general public above all with their offensive head skills, the duo’s toolbox also includes tools for goal-blocking. Of the Carolina attackers in the previous three years, only the captain Jordan Staal has recorded more underpowered minutes than Finns.

Teräväinen in particular is a player who rarely saw him grow up in the NHL as a model student of underpower.

– In June, I didn’t play with force. At the World Championships for under 20s Karri Kivi it hit me with force and it worked really well. Then I started playing it in the Jokers as well. In the NHL, I first played it a bit in Chicago and now we have been playing with “Sepe” (Aho) for a couple of years, Teräväinen tells Urheilu.

Although Sharp lives on the puck, this has found the lowest core of underpower gaming at the level of thought.

– It’s a special task and a big part of the game. Usually the best guys play in these situations and through that it is a great tribute to the coach. After all, it’s a nice challenge to always try to stop your opponent from scoring the best, Helsinki continues.

Aho is already perceived as a more versatile player when he is younger, and the player himself wants to nurture this idea.

– Force majeure is a matter of honor. Special situations are a big part of the game and are often solved by games. If there’s a five-to-five-playing condition and Underpower in good shape, it gives you a chance to win games, and that’s why this job is done. If I think about myself, I want to be versatile and help the team in every way. Underpower is one part of it, the Aho line.

In the end, the glory of Aho and Teräväinen in the game of underpower is not even surprising, because in the end, too, the understanding of the game is the most important of the features. Teams, of course, have their own templates, but the actions of the superiority five must be able to anticipate and be able to react to them quickly.

Defending rackets also plays an important role in the game of underpower.

– Sharp defends with a racket so well that no sense. He reads underage as an open book. Aho has a continuous charge on. Both have top-notch racket defense. These dudes recognize situations and don’t go through the feeds from there. When the puck is not in the opponent’s possession, it is struck immediately. Such players are valuable, Lehkonen glows.

Sharp talks about brain teasers.

– It’s the kind of brainstorming when you’re trying to figure out where the puck could go next. When it succeeds, you’re already going there to take your time away. Underforce must move quickly, anticipate and exclude certain feed directions. You have to be able to interpret where someone could enter it next. I think game literacy is the most important feature.

Aho and Teräväinen are excellent examples of modern-day underpower players who do their job more through playful and racket defense than through physicality and puck blocking.

Aho says the trend of underpower gaming is a bit modernized anyway.

– The general line in the NHL is to put a lot of pressure on the puck. The idea is that time and space are taken away. Of course, each team has details that could be listed here, but playing with puck pressure is based. That’s the main trend now.

In addition to exceptional individual skills, the seamless interplay between Sharp and Aho is based on shared experiences. The duo have been representing the same team for six years now, and in addition to overpowering and underpowering, they have gained common experience playing in the same top five in even weeks.

Over the years, Aho has often found the duo to think the same way about the game.

– It’s a big deal in our case. We read each other well and through that we know where the other is going. We place each other well because they both know how to anticipate and read the game, Teräväinen says.

– Common experiences help and we know exactly exactly how the other will rank or when he or she will leave under pressure. There are also some little details that we whine about when we go on the ice that I remember that thing. It’s mostly about having to play a lot together. When he knows and feels the other, it takes the delay out of the game, Aho shouts.

For all this speech, the statistics provide convincing proof. Aho has the best statistical record in the entire league in the underperformance for the previous three years in, among other things, the finish spot statistics in the shooting and number one sectors. Sharp can be found in both statistics in three places. As the beginner of the underpower game, Aho is also one of the best in the league.

The excellent dueling of the Finnish duo is not limited to the protection of their own goal, as Aho and Teräväinen mercilessly struggle against careless puck losses. If the force majeure quintile is not amused, or it cannot be defended carefully, the probability of a force majeure hit increases exponentially.

In the last three years, Aho has scored more underpower goals in the NHL than any other player.

– These are things that are practically not agreed in advance at all. The first thing is always that the opponent does not score a goal. If we come fresh on the ice and the superiority has been there for a longer time, it will help us to start attacking. Some bounce puck that you are already going to put pressure on is also a situation that is being attacked, Aho says.

Sharp brings out Aho’s skating skills.

– If the opportunity comes off the loose disc, then just one foot in front of the other. If there is any power, loose discs are worth going because they often become good places. Superior players may not always be on their own after a puck loss.

– Of course, “Sepe” is an excellent skater and he quickly escapes with a couple of kicks. Our teamwork works here too. When he sees that I get exploited, it often sounds like they “Teukka” fast. When I throw the puck in there, he’s already going, Sharp opens.