Tampere’s Tappara won the Ice Hockey Championship regular season for the third time in a row.
Tappara didn’t leave anything to chance on Tuesday, but took care of the regular season in a familiar command by beating HPK 3–1. Exactly 200 goals and 123 points guaranteed the first place for Tappara when heading towards the dawn of spring.
League champion Ilves rose to 120 points by defeating TPS plagued by a stomach disease epidemic clearly 6-1. Lynx Oula Palve became number one in the points exchange of the SM league with 0+3 performances of the evening with a total of 20+44=64 narrowly overtaking JYP Jerry Turkulainen (21+42=63).
Even though Turkulainen’s stock market victory remained a dream, the season was great for him personally. The Turku resident won the vote of the Players’ Association, or SJRY.
– I am really taken by the award I received. The fellow players voted for the best, so that’s a great thing. Feeling pretty empty. It’s been a tough season and everything has gone through. It’s great that we won, Turkulainen told STT.
In the final round, four teams fought for the home advantage of the other two quarterfinals. As expected, Pelicans took care of SaiPa with a 3–0 victory and thus sealed their third place.
Lahti goalkeeper Niklas Kokko continued his great mood by saving his fifth clean sheet of the season. Will the big bad IFK make you smile, Pelicans captain Miika Roine?
– You can say that. IFK lights up big. I was able to participate in the 2015–16 season when we met IFK the last time. It was a great series even though we lost it. The home halls of both teams were swollen. We are ready. I hope that the final result will be different from the last time, Roine told STT.
The last home advantage was taken by Kärpät, who defeated Jukurit Liiga’s goal monster Teemu Turunen with a winning goal 3–2. The same teams will meet in the quarterfinals. In the matches of the regular season, the victories of Kärppi and Jukur were equal 2–2, and the points were equal 6–6.
HIFK, seeded by KalPa 3–0 in Helsinki on Tuesday, finished sixth in the regular season and will face Pelicans in the quarterfinals. The semi-finals start on Wednesday, March 20, except for Ilves’ home match, which is scheduled for Thursday, March 21.
For the last place in the playoffs, there was a wild fight in Vaasa. Risto Dufvan piloted by Sport lost its two-goal lead when Eemil Erholtz and Jan-Mikael Järvinen brought the Aces to 2–2. Sport’s Swedish center, scored two goals Johan Sundström however, suti scored the decisive 3–2 hit in front of the goal in 56:03.
KalPa, which has reached seventh place, will meet Sport in the 1st round of the playoffs, while Lukko, eighth in the regular season, will meet TPS in the west coast series.
The playoffs of the opening round, separated by two wins, start on Friday in Kuopio and Rauma. The TPS–Lukko game is on Saturday and Sport–KalPa on Sunday. If necessary, we will still play on Monday in Kuopio and Rauma.
Aces’ season ended in the final round on Tuesday, as did the seasons of KooKoo, JYP, HPK and SaiPa, the bottom end of the series.
Final round of the Ice Hockey SM League regular season:
HIFK – KalPa 0-3 (0-0.0-0.0-3)
Jukurit – Kräpt 2-3 (1-1.1-1.0-1)
51.15 2-3 Turunen (Kemppainen, Kivistö)
JYP – Lock vl 5-4 (2-0.0-2.2-2)
65.00 5-4 Gardiner vl
Pelicans-SaiPa 3-0 (0-0.1-0.2-0)
Sport – Aces 3-2 (0-0.2-1.1-1)
56.03 3-2 Sundström (Leppänen, Heikkinen)
Tappara – HPK 3-1 (1-0.0-0.2-1)
TPS – Ilves 1-6 (0-1.0-1.1-4)