HIFK’s star forward Michaela Pejzlova, who is chasing the women’s hockey championship, will return to the rink when the series returns from its break in January.
The reigning champion of the Women’s Hockey League, Helsinki IFK, experienced a tough loss in November when the team’s Czech forward Michaela Pejzlova was injured.
– Pejzlova’s injury came during the national team tournament in Germany. He is rehabilitating well and getting ready for the spring season, head coach Saara Niemi told Urheilu.
Niemi believes that Pejzlova will be fit to play when HIFK starts its spring season. HIFK will return from the break on January 12 and face Tampere Ilves in an away match.
Pejzlova was the most effective player of the fall season, even though she played only 15 matches and was sidelined for six of the fights. Pejzlova scored 47 (21+26) power points.
The people from Helsinki ran from victory to victory throughout the early season, but had to face the matches played before the break with a ragged lineup. HIFK suffered losses to Kiekko-Espo and HPK right before the break.
– We had a similar situation – a lot of injuries – already in November-December last year. The good thing is that we are able to raise young players from the HIFK Academy team. They get valuable experiences this way, Niemi said.
Elisa Holopainen’s return boosts KalPa
The series break of the women’s ice hockey league started with an exciting situation. Kiekko-Espoo is at the top, HPK is one point away in second place and HIFK is two points away in third place. Niemi expects that KalPa will also rise to the top.
– KalPa has taken convincing profits when Elisa Holopainen returned to matches. I can see that the series will intensify towards the spring season. All teams have developed over the course of the fall.
The league ice has a large group of young players who are developing at a fast pace.
– The inexperience of the young players has been visible even in the early season. But now that more than 20 matches have been played, you can see how fast the young players are developing, Niemi noted.
“Offensive play is our strength”
The goal difference of 118–25 in HIFK’s autumn matches shows that the team’s defense has not been properly evaluated. On the other hand, Niemikin emphasizes that HIFK’s game is based above all on a powerful attack game.
– Attacking is our strength. Our way of playing is that we keep the puck as a team and we haven’t had to put any shots on defense in all matches. But if attacking falls short, then we have to be able to defend even better, Niemi estimates.
The head coach brought up other key issues as well.
– Directness and dullness are needed to score goals. Of course, we have a good work ethic for defending as well, but there have been many matches where we didn’t have to take care of that side (defending) with a hundred, Niemi pointed out.
There is still plenty of time to build the package towards the climax of the season.
– We have done quite well this autumn, but there are still many things in our game that we want to develop, Niemi thought.