The Swedish referees allowed a lot of stick interference and wrestling in Tuesday’s CHL semifinal, which is why the match between Zug and Tappara became a puck match of the old federation, writes Urheilu’s news manager Pekka Aalto.
Prison rules. That’s how you could sum up the line of judges in Tuesday night’s CHL semi-final between Zug and Tappara, from which the people of Tampere advanced to the final of the series. The Swedish referee duo Mikael Nord and Tobias Björk made sure that the hockey match of the old federation was seen in Switzerland. The line of judges was ancient: eye for eye, tooth for tooth, and transverse for transverse.
There were no bigger shenanigans in the game. It’s not really about thanking the Swedish duo, but about the contribution of the game, which did not allow overshoots. Everything else was allowed. With the stick, you could block both sides so severely that you don’t see something like that very often in modern hockey.
The game offered a kind of time travel back 20 years. Oddly enough, the leading team in Finland’s goal-scoring game was Tappara even then.
Now the head coach of the team Jussi Tapola brought up puck politics after the 3–2 win (total goals 5–2). The hosts got four superiority, Tappara none.
– I have to remember that the CHL’s headquarters is in Zug. And there was even more public pressure. But we were aware of the big risk in advance – and we were ready to tolerate it, Tapola said For Aamulehti (you switch to another service).
In a way, Tuesday’s fencing brought a breath of fresh air from the past. Every cent was fought for, and according to the referee’s line, the team defending its goal had the advantage. The price of the paint was high. I’ve missed this sometimes.
For example, and especially in today’s NHL, the situation has been turned upside down. There, the defender’s main job is to make the attacker look good. As compensation for the work of the slalom stick, the defenders are also paid a reasonable compensation, of course not as much as the attackers.
The NHL’s tola was summed up best by the goalkeeper Kaapo Kähkönen In Ilta-Sanom (you switch to another service) some time ago:
– Excited to see where this goes. Will this be a jungle in ten years’ time, where there will only be children running around, frolicking and doing whatever they like, Kähkönen stated.
The value of defense and starting players has been in a downward spiral in the NHL for years, because the selection of means to protect one’s own goal has been narrowed significantly. Nowadays, NHL games resemble video games where you can whistling through the entire five to score a goal.
It’s been a long time since Europeans had to fear for their own health in the NHL.
But back to Switzerland, where the referees didn’t even whistle, but a sad composite was served to the hands.
It’s no wonder that Zug’s former NHL player, for example, had a good time in the atmosphere Justin Abdelkader, whose DNA still has a hint of the taala league from 15 years ago. He thundered both his own and strangers equally and was difficult for Tappara to hold.
In the end, however, Tappara endured Christian Heljangon in the lead and grabbed the second consecutive finals place in the CHL. For the people of Tampere, the saddest thing is that, like last year, they have to play the final match away from home. Luleaja’s CHL performances were so much better than Tappara that the ax shirts will chase the championship on February 18 in Sweden, the home country of Mikael Nord and Tobias Björk.