HIFK and Kiekko-Espoo confirmed their place in the women’s hockey league finals on Sunday. According to Karoliina Rantamäki, HIFK must also focus on its own strong fighting game in the finals.
HIFK and Kiekko-Espoo confirmed their place in the women’s hockey league finals on Sunday. Each team defeated their opponents in the semi-finals in a clean game with a 3-0 win.
HIFK advanced to the finals for the first time in their history by winning the match against Kärpp clearly by 3-0. A 44-year-old veteran striker became the hero of the people of Helsinki Karoliina Rantamäkiwho finished two goals for his team.
– All the games were tight and they could have turned in any way. In hockey, everything is small, but we kept our own good game in every game, Rantamäki commented on Urheilu.
Rantamäki took the lead at the end of HIFK’s opening round Michaela Pejzlovan and Julia Liikalan preliminary work. In the second installment, Rantamäki succeeded with superiority. This time they were marked as feeders Johanna Kemppainen and Athena Locatelli.
Rantamäki was happy that the chain made its game perform better in the third match than before.
– The first goal was a really good direct attack. Michaela came to the rescue and found me a goal from the pole. In the second goal, Kemppainen brought the puck to the area with great superiority. He fired and I got to finish the rib, Rantamäki described.
Kiekko-Espoo will definitely reach the finals
In the second match of the day, the reigning champion Kiekko-Espoo won the TPS by as many as 7-1. The most effective of the people of Espoo were Elisa Holopainen, which if not finished score 2 + 2 = 4. Defender Nelli Laitinen in turn collected three entry points.
TPS was still in the middle of the match, when Holopainen took the lead to 2–1 lead in Kiekko-Espoo. At the end of the second round, however, the people of Espoo made it to the three – goal run when Tea Villilä and Nea Katajämäki succeeded in just over a minute apart.
In the final round, Kiekko-Espoo scored two more goals in about a minute, finishing 7-1 two minutes before the end of the regular time.
Kiekko-Espoo is a club familiar to EVU’s Rantamäki, who started his career in the women’s championship series in 1992–1993. Rantamäki played in Kiekko-Espoo and then in the Blues until the spring of 2007, after which he moved to Russia for 12 seasons. Rantamäki has played in HIFK for the last three seasons.
– On the other hand, Espoo has been around for quite some time. I don’t even realize how long I’ve been playing hockey, Rantamäki said.
The finals start next Sunday.
– We need to focus on our own good and strong fighting games and five games. Through it and with those snacks, Rantamäki lined up.