Evenly convincing, but the last blade is missing.
That’s what the floorball men’s F-League team Westend Indians could have said before. The team has only reached the semi-finals once before at the main league level.
Now the team is playing the second semi-final series in its club history against the local opponent and perennial favorite Esport Oilers.
And what a thrilling drama the match series has offered.
First, the Oilers roll
On Saturday, the Indians and Oilers played the fourth match of the semi-final series at the Espoo arena. 1,842 supporters had arrived to watch the match.
That’s a lot in a sport the size of floorball, but a little when you consider that the hall can hold nearly 7,000 fans during a full ice hockey match.
The TV pictures showed a lot of empty blue benches.
The Oilers, who won the regular season, led the semi-final series entering the match with a 3–0 win. The team only needed a win to secure a place in the finals.
Everything seemed certain in terms of the Oilers’ place in the finals, when there were still about two and a half minutes left in the match. The “Oljymiehet” or Oilers led the match with a superstar of the sport Justus Kainulainen by hitting 4–3.
Many thought that this was the end of the Indians’ season that had started well.
And what else!
Indians Samuli Huppunen equalized by the Oilers goaltender Markus Laakson groping. A good minute after Huppunen’s hit, the Indians took the lead Joonatan Lindholm on the finish line. Final score 5–4 for the Indians.
The pattern repeats itself
On Sunday, the teams’ Fifth meeting took place again at the Espoo arena. With a win, the Oilers would go to the finals against Tampere Classic, who secured a place in the finals on Monday at the expense of Nokian KRP.
The Oilers team could have thought before the evening that “we won’t lose another game”.
However, the Indians clearly disagreed.
The third set was tied at 3–3.
The Westend team managed to score twice at the beginning of the set. After that, goals were scored in turn – Oilers two and Indians one.
In the end, the Indians were stronger in the decisive moments of the match and won 6–5.
Hats off especially to the goalkeeper of the “Inkars”. Juuso for Jokisalo, who made good saves throughout the match. The defensive work of the field players was also at a good level. The team collected no less than 20 blocks against the Oilers’ seven.
Silly Tuesday night
In the teams’ sixth meeting, they returned from the big ice hall to a more normal environment, namely the Indians’ home sanctuary in Otahalli.
748 spectators had arrived this time.
At the start of the third period, the Oilers had already gone on a four-goal runaway and led 5–1. At this point, at the latest, the end of the match series seemed almost certain. Nothing could stand in the way of the Oilers’ finals berth.
Right?
In the first ten minutes, both teams scored once.
After this, the Indians took goalkeeper Jokisalo off when there were about ten minutes left on the clock.
Paint! situation 6–9
Paint! situation 7–9
Paint! situation 8–9
All three Indians goals came without a goaltender. So without a goalkeeper! How could a team like the Oilers not get the ball into an empty pocket in ten minutes?
With 10 seconds to go, I joined the Indians Valtteri Kainulainen an empty goal opened up, but Laakso made a great save.
Rurutu’s match commentator Tuomo Reponen asks:
– Is that the fight that will decide the match?
Well, it didn’t work out. The Oilers Tuomas Iiskola takes the ice and the Indians tie the game with one second left on the Game Clock. You read that right, one second left.
– At the very last second Samuli Junnila succeeds. The incredible match goes to overtime.
Overtime is only collected for 45 seconds and the Indians Juuso Kekki plucks the ball away from Justus Kainulainen, and performs a “miracle”.
A miracle that probably only Indians gamblers believed in, if at all.
The Indians have risen from the brink of the summer vacation, the match wins are equal 3–3.
The place in the final will be decided in the seventh match of the series, which will be played on Friday at the Tapiola Sports Hall.
According to floorball expert and commentator Repose, no team has turned a best-of-7 series from 0–3 into a win. Even from a 0–2 loss position, they have not risen to victory, Reponen writes messaging service on his X account.
You can imagine that the Oilers camp is very surprised at the moment. How can a star-studded team lose that kind of lead in a series and within games?
The Indians camp, on the other hand, is currently experiencing a spring the likes of which has not been seen in the history of the club.