KalPa reminds us in a beautiful way that ice hockey doesn’t have to be a stone-age threat of lassies, but the genuine joy of playing, where good behavior has its place, writes Jussi Paasi.
Jussi Paasi sports reporter
The second semi-final matches of the SM league live at Areena. Listen to the broadcast here from 16:45.
Kalevan Pallo. From Kuopio.
Before the start of the SM league season, who would have believed that KalPa would be fighting for access to the finals in April? No one.
The people of Kuopio will now challenge the reigning champion Tappara in the semi-finals. The first meeting ended in overtime with Tampere winning.
If KalPa’s success had to be explained in one word, it would be identity. The people of Savo have shown what identity means in hockey – and what it can achieve.
The team’s game identity is crystal clear. KalPa plays ice hockey with skating power, fast, cunning, creative, and daring with the puck. The game is always an opportunity for them, not a threat.
It is worth noting that the black and yellow identity also extends to the junior level. The style of Kalapalais can be recognized from afar. It has been shaped in Niirala’s montu for decades.
The strong originality is underlined by the fact that this team that reached the medal games has eight of KalPa’s own graduates.
Experienced rookie coach
Petri Karjalainen. Rookie coach.
Last fall, there were enough doubters. Regarding both KalPa and Karjalainen. When I asked a long-time hockey influencer what KalPa’s chances are this season, he turned the question in the direction of coaching.
– You’d rather ask if Pete from Karja sees Christmas as KalPa’s head coach, was the counter question.
Saw. And we are currently seeing a wonderful long spring.
For Karjalainen, the opposite happened to many new coaches in the SM league. Often the pilots of the first season have a shoe image quickly on the backside. Like the one who coached Pori Äss this season At Jere Härkälä.
Karjalainen has proven his ability as the head coach of a league club with lightning speed, in only about seven months. However, it may have gone unnoticed by many that the 43-year-old Karelian has a long and varied experience in coaching.
He became KalPa’s pilot from the club’s U20 team, but before becoming coach, Karjalainen collected spurs in the big leagues.
Karjalainen worked as an assistant coach in Davos of the Swiss league during three seasons. In the Russian KHL league, he was part of the coaching teams of Metallurg Magnitogorsk and Sibir Novosibirsk in the 2011-12 season. And in between, he also had time to be the assistant coach of Oulu Kärppie for three seasons.
Exemplary action
The Karelian has wiped the table with many of his more experienced colleagues this season, not only in game matters but also in behavior.
Lynx Antti Pennanen descended into obnoxious behavior towards the judges. Tapparan Rikard Grönborg frantically slammed the door of the changing room and yelled at himself a ten-ton fine in a low-style language.
The Pelicans Tommi Niemeläk too has “rehabilitated” himself as a constant prick of the judges. In sports circles, Niemelä is considered the worst complainer of the entire series. The nagging starts as soon as the puck drops onto the ice. You can ask the referees more about it.
After all, Pennanen seemed to have learned something from his embarrassing behavior, and from the end of the season he no longer focused on wearing striped shirts. Grönborg also seems to have calmed down at least somewhat.
But Karjalainen always behaves impeccably towards the judges. Of course, every coach’s emotions bubble up during the game, including Karjalainen’s, but he keeps the rumblings to himself and focuses on the essential, that is, coaching his team. Why waste time bashing the judges?
Liberated, relaxed, engaged
Look what happens next to Karjalainen on KalPa’s bench when the team scores a goal. There, the assistant coaches cheer as if the world championship has just been decided.
It perfectly reflects what KalPa is.
Everything you do exudes Joy, liberation, relaxation, enjoyment at every moment – and at the same time extreme commitment to the team. The players are trusted, they get freedom and thus bear their responsibilities.
The players, as well as the coaches, are allowed to enjoy, expressed as a lump: naatti. The essence of KalPa’s team is almost the opposite of, for example, this season’s HIFK.
It’s wonderful and at the same time even strange to watch in the often rigid and rigid world of hockey. KalPa reminds us in a beautiful way that ice hockey does not have to be a serious threat from the stone age of slobbers, but a genuine joy of sports and playing, where good behavior has its place.
Karelian and the whole of KalPa should be followed by everyone.
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