The young players became decisive when the Pelicans cleared Ilves and cleared their way to the finals of the Finnish Hockey League.
Matti Lehtisaari,
Jussi Saarinen,
STT Sports
Lahti’s puck audience got a full stomach of sweets on Thursday night, when the Pelicans marched to the finals of the SM league. The regular season’s fourth-place Pelicans beat Tampere Ilves 3–1 and thus sealed their entry to the finals.
In the semifinal series against KalPa, Pelicans’ Finnish players scored only one goal. In Thursday’s struggle for a solution, the young people were responsible for the results. The winning goal was completed by the 24-year-old on Friday Joni Ikonenthe 21-year-old of the second hit Aatu Jämsen and a defender who turned 20 at the beginning of the third Topias Vilén (1+1).
– Maybe I still can’t understand what has happened. I will surely remember this for the rest of my life, but there is still one and even more wonderful step to take. Towards that next, Jämsen said.
The Pelicans dared to play bravely even on Thursday, even though the stakes were absolutely dead.
– We knew the bet, but it didn’t help to get excited because our good puck game would have disappeared. We just had to continue what we had been doing all season, Jämsen continued.
The Pelicans supporters, who watched the events in a frenzy, brought additional power in difficult moments.
– There was a little emergency at the end of the game, but this was an incredible evening, beamed the Pelicans captain Miika Roine in the sold-out (4,403 spectators) Lahti hall.
Ilves coach Pennanen: “Feeling empty and disappointed”
Ilves’ destiny is now to play for the bronze medals against Helsinki IFK. The head coach Antti Pennanen was in a serious mood when the final buzzer sounded in Lahti.
– Feeling quite empty and very disappointed. A big disappointment, there is plenty to digest and think about here for all of us lynx residents. We wanted and expected more, but we didn’t succeed.
– The opponent was more effective than us in special situations. They scored goals with superior power, while we didn’t succeed in our five-threes. Pelicans deservedly advanced to the finals, they have a good team and good coaching, Pennanen sent his praise to Tampere.
Ilves started the semi-final series as a big favorite. Pennanen admitted that the pressure started to show when the games did not go as expected.
– Expectations began to have an effect, although it is not always fully noticeable. The other side of the matter is that we played more excellent hockey than the one where we tensed up and froze, Pennanen estimates.
“It’s a big disappointment and there’s a lot of work ahead to get Ilves where the club belongs,” Pennanen said.