Last week was a tough test for Tappara, the most successful SM league club of the previous ten years. Within five days, the reigning double champion faced three teams from the top four: Jukurit, Ilves and HIFK. Even though Saturday’s overtime win over Helsinki inspired the old mental toughness of Tappara, the week could not be called a success even with a good will.
During the week, Tappara took only three out of nine points.
Losses at home to Jukurei and Ilves, together with a poor performance in Helsinki, left a huge number of questions on the table.
What happened to Tappara? Why has Tappara won only two of its twelve previous matches?
Gameplay takes more than gives
When the team crashes in the way seen, there tend to be many problems in the background. This is the case with Tapparanki.
First, it’s good to look at the big picture. It is undeniable that a club that has played in medal games for ten years is an organization Jukka Rautakorvin and Jussi Tapolan after an era at a large hinge point. There have been a lot of changes at every level, and it can’t be invisible on the ice. Changes have been made to the club management, coaching has changed and the players have experienced significant changes.
It was a big illusion that Tappara started the SM league season with a crushing record of 13-1. Tappara was by far the luckiest team in the beginning of the season and got much more than they deserved through the game. For example, the team scored 33 goals in the first 14 matches, expecting 55 hits. The other teams did not come close to Tappara’s readings in this regard.
Behind the result, the team’s way of playing already showed the problems that were coming.
When talking about Tappara’s season, the discussion about the style of play is at the center of everything. The fact that the new head coach Rickard Grönborg has brought a new stimulus to Finnish ice hockey with his active way of playing, is only a positive thing and has definitely increased the entertainment value. Another discussion is how Tappara has been able to implement a challenging style of play and what kind of backbone it gives the team for the spring.
After two thirds of the season have been played, Grönborg’s style of play has been eaten alive in many places. Especially in the CHL, the result was ugly.
Playing tappara has too often turned into sloppy running, especially when it comes to playing hair – it’s like inviting other top trainers to dinner. It is by no means a coincidence that Our game teaches Antti Pennanen Ilves has turned the polite Tappara into a hack in local matches. It’s nice to counterattack against a broken five.
From time to time, Tappara even seems to have reacted to the problems by playing a little more moderately, but in the top games last week, the team returned to headless chicken hockey.
In order to play quality hockey, which Grönborg is ambitiously trying to play, Tappara would need much more repetitions and better quality – and definitely healthy – player material. Now the pieces are very loose, because the team does not play the same game from change to change. In recent weeks, the opponents have taken all the joy out of Tappara’s always breaking five.
The style of play creates quite a threatening image for Tappara’s triple championship dreams.
If the most successful club in the history of the league is going to play singles in the spring as seen in the hair-raising game and force the offensive game by playing, there will be big difficulties. Clubs that play well under pressure will make a goalkeeper Christian Heljangon about life behind the Tappara five really difficult.
Did the club management succeed?
There are also structural problems behind Tappara’s difficulties. The first one is related to injuries. Especially Veli-Matti Savinainen serious knee injuries are a huge setback for the team. The last one to fall from the line was the one that performed weakly recently Nicolas Babtiste. Previously, he was injured in the middle of the season Petri Kontiola, who is returning to the rink possibly this week. Only started its season after Christmas Kristian Tanuskaan is known to be not in full swing.
In addition to the ragged game, the team’s roster is therefore badly torn, partly due to injuries, partly already from the start. Especially in building the mid lane to the level of a championship team, a new GM Antti Tuomenoksa did not work out.
After 16 matches, it’s hard to say anything about Kontiola’s real level other than that they really had to hurry. Of course, this was to be expected after a long break. But is Kontiola the solution to the problems of the middle lane? I wouldn’t give up everything for it.
Otherwise, the middle is available Heikki from Liede, Take Somppi, Right Central, Otto Rauhalaa and so on. The club management had permission to expect better. You can find it on the wings, if the team were healthy, but in the middle, the last top quality, intrigue and playmaking skills are missing. In starts, Tappara has dropped from last season’s 52.5 percent to 49, the lower middle level of the league. Jori Lehterän Nokia Arena has not been able to fill the gap it left.
In general, four of the six most effective players from last season are gone. Carter Camper and Nick Halloran have been good acquisitions, but the whole is not at the level of last season.
Tuomenoksa’s acquisitions in the middle of the season don’t seem to have particularly hit either. Defenders Olli Juolevi and Tobias Ekberg as well as a 35-year-old center winger Taylor Matson based on the beginning, they are not the wise moving players that the team would have needed. However, it is common knowledge that the player market is dry throughout Europe. It’s bad to come out of nothing.
Gap year
The season of tappara smells like a gap year. There is a lot on the table for both the coaching and the players. In many places, the way of playing eats more than it would give a backbone and the players are plagued by injuries. Chain formations are in search and self-confidence seems to have taken a hit more strongly than in years – this is also strongly related to coaching problems. Especially in difficult times, even good players need regular support.
Now Tappara wins what it wins through individuals and a loose reaction game.
And still you shouldn’t lose focus: Tappara is still second in the standings and the regular season win is in its own hands. But now we are talking about Tampere’s Tappara with Tappara’s standards.
Maybe what Rickard Grönborg is trying to bring to Tappara will not be completed within this season. It would be quite a hit in the middle of all the upheaval to roll to the third consecutive championship under the leadership of a new coach, a completely changed way of playing and a significantly modified team. Of course, Tappara must always aim for the championship, but no tree grows to heaven. It is good to maintain realism and moderation in expectations.
During the previous ten years, Rautakorpi and Tapola, together with the rest of the club management, created a pipeline of success in Tappara that has never been seen before in Finnish league hockey.
It is only human that the transition to a new era is not a painless process. And this does not mean that Tappara should aim for the brightest this season as well. Everything is still possible.
Sometimes it’s still harder to come down from the top.