The Lions got a glorious start to the home race in every way. And even better is promised, writes Jussi Paasi.
There was quite a lot of rumble and roar in the Tampere Arena on Friday night.
The decibels were supposed to rise properly when the World Cup opened. But this time an exceptionally rough soundscape came Fredrik Pacius melodies.
Haloo Helsinki! dealt with the song Our Land with a violent grip. Rock toast hard. And finally from high up.
The ripping of the favorite band sank into the World Cup spectator stand. A more puritanical crowd could have reacted differently, but for the kick-off of the two-and-a-half-week puck carnival, the bet fit almost perfectly.
After the national anthem, an arena appeared on a giant media cube Sauli Niinistö. No polls are needed to measure the president’s support. The shouting storm of the lion fans said everything about the popularity. The gallery is at least as loud for Niinistö’s greeting as for the interpretation of the song Maamme.
Haloo Helsinki went wild, Sauli Niinistö charmed. There was only one cross-sectional sound in the auditorium. After the President of the Hockey Association Harri Nummela gave a speech, one loud supporter wondered, “where is v ***** a Kummola?”
Kalervo Kummolaa was not visible, but at the same time as the audience watched the Lions ’paint factory against Norway, a folk favorite was found in the arena of the arena who knows, as mentioned above, how to enchant the audience.
A national hero immortalized in a stamp. Mikael Granlund. Granlund flew to Finland almost immediately after the NHL season in Nashville ended.
When I told my colleague that I was going on a break to interview Granlund, he said that “I don’t think there are many sentences to come from there.”
It happened differently. Usually, from the mouth of a rather short-word Grandund, you literally pulped your speech. During each response, the attacker’s mouth gestures turned to Mairea’s smile.
I asked Granlund if the curse of the home races is no doubt. After all, the World Cup has traditionally been an almost impossible place for the host country to succeed. Only the Soviet Union (1986) and Sweden (2013) have managed to win gold in their competitions.
And on top of all that, MG is still one of the brightest stars in these races. As he skates on the ice, blue-and-white fans are all the time seeing in his eyes an upcoming air trick or some other dizzying stunt that solves big games.
I still asked the question and emphasized that it was necessary to put pressure on that setup. Granlund listened and continued to smile. The answer was all about the player’s attitude and why he wanted to come to Tampere after a hard NHL season.
– Nothing is nicer than that.
The lions’ poor preparation for the World Cup (four consecutive losses) was wiped out by fans with a clean opening victory. Norway was a full opponent when Finland did everything exactly as it should.
The Lions entertained the audience with a crisp interpretation of the song Maamme. Beautiful goals for the opponent’s net, none of their own, for fans of harsher grips, another fist fight over the trade.
When Mikael Granlund, who will soon be jumping into the trough, is added to that equation, the Lions have got off to a perfect start.