The Tampere giants of the SM league will fight for the victory in the regular season in Friday’s derby. For Ilves, the first place would be more valuable than Tapparaa, writes Urheilu’s news manager Pekka Aalto.
11:25am•Updated 11:45am
The Main Series of the Ice Hockey Championship League has offered an exceptionally thrilling finale. The struggle for each line only culminates in the last weekend. The regular season will be played today and Saturday. The first round of the playoffs starts already on Monday.
The solutions are open both in terms of winning the regular season, getting into the top six, and getting into the top ten.
Only one of the thrillers is missing, i.e. the relegation battle, but this text does not delve into the opening of the SM league.
Instead, let’s focus on Tappara and Ilves’ race.
The Tampere giants of the league meet today, and the bet is Paalupaikka for spring. A three-point win one way or the other would seal the regular season win today. The solution can also be extended to Saturday, when Ilves meets HPK and Tappara is the only league team.
Tappara: fri Ilves (k)
Ilves: Fri Tappara (v), Sat HPK (k)
Lock: Sat KalPa (v)
KalPa: Fri Pelicans (v), Sat Lukko (k)
Pelicans: Fri KalPa (l), Sat SaiPa (v)
Flies: Sat Jukurit (k)
HIFK: Fri TPS (k), Sat JYP (v)
Jukurit: Saturday Kärpät (v)
KooKoo: Fri SaiPa (k), Sat TPS (v)
HPK: Fri JYP (k), Sat Ilves (v)
In the event of a tie, the number of three-point victories is decided first, then the goal difference and the goals scored next.
In any case, the people of Tampere are in places 1–2 for the first time in the history of the SM league. Tappara endured its backlog of games and Ilves weathered the waves of the coach change. At the same time, Lukko fell from the top spot to scoring problems.
For Ilves, winning the regular season would be a particularly tough thing, because the last time the club was number one in the regular season was 35 years ago.
At the same time, it would guarantee home advantage until the end. Even though the people from Tampere play in the same arena, the home advantage matters.
Let’s assume that Tappara and Ilves meet in the finals and the series goes to the seventh game. The home team of that match gets a clearly larger number of its own supporters in the arena than the opponent, because with a season ticket or a playoff season ticket, the home team’s fans get the opportunity to populate the stands.
Especially for Ilves, home games in front of fans bouncing in a trance bring a big boost. Mekkala can also paralyze opponents and influence referees.
The first place in the regular season may well help already in the quarterfinals. A tough team pops out of six sacks. Even those who finish 8–10 are not bad, but basically the seventh placed team is of better quality than them.
For example, HIFK or Kärpät may start the playoffs through “Säälien”. In the semifinals, the winner of the regular season will definitely avoid the seventh in the regular season.
The lynx’s net rarely rings
Let’s briefly explain the power relations in Tampere. The situation is almost 50–50.
Tappara has the self-confidence brought by championships and an incredibly tough roster. Now that the team is not plagued by injuries, top-level league players remain outside the playing lineup. Due to the injury situation, Tappara had to react with acquisitions in the middle of the season. Although a couple of core players are still missing, the roster is fierce.
After the CHL win, Tappara hasn’t been at his best, but there are extra laps in the machine. It has been seen earlier in the season. Last season, it was seen in the TPS final that decided the championship, where the people of Turku were left at the feet of the axemen.
Even Ilves has plenty of tricks. There are top individuals in its ranks, but at the same time the group has formed a strong collective. It is still too early to give a final assessment of the decision to replace Joko Myrrä Antti Pennasellbut after the initial difficulties, the team has made a convincing impression.
Ilves is the dullest bunch in the series. It defends very well and the goalkeeper does the rest Marek Langhamer. Ilves has conceded dozens of goals less than, say, last season. The focus has been on blocking one’s own head both in team building and on the rink, and it shows. The average number of goals conceded is just over 2.
There are now a lot of centimeters and kilos in the assembly, which has paid off at least so far. According to all sense, the power surges even in the most important games.
The current team does not fully follow the Ilves tradition, but that hardly bothers the fans. A winning team is always beautiful.
In addition, Ilves is clearly the best in the SM league in special situations. Overpowering is the best in the series and underpowering is also good, which gives the team very good setups both for tonight and for the entire playoff spring.