Spring 2017 will not be forgotten. llves, who came from last place in the pity stage of the playoffs, drove Tappara into a corner in the quarter-final series in a confusing way.
That is, the Ilves that was ruined by the Hakametsä era and financial constraints, which was nowhere near the Ilves of today. When Mark Flinck struck in the third period of the sixth semi-final to level the match a quarter of an hour before the end, Ilves was one goal away from the heaviest bomb in league history. Ilves was putting the reigning and future champion on vacation in the first round of the playoffs.
Tappara learned from the series, because in the following season 2017–2018, Ilves got a hard ride in the local competition. Wins 6–0, goal difference 23–7.
What happened then has its own story and even some kind of mystery. Since then, Ilves has held the scepter in Tampere in an unimaginable way.
Ilves takes in Tampere
Tappara has not been able to dominate the city for the entire season in six years, and did not this season either. Of course, Tappara has won Finnish championships along the way, something Ilves still has to dream about.
The local matches may have gone past Tappara from time to time when looking at the big picture, but it is known that the years of wrangling in the local ones have recently started to cause confusion and discussion in the office of the champion organization. It cannot be considered a great miracle, because Ilves has won no less than 23 of the previous 35 local games – that is, more than two out of three.
On Friday, Ilves already won its fifth local match this season when it collapsed Oula Palven with a last-second goal, Tappara 2–1. Tappara won only one of the six local matches.
– Tampere has had a setup that has slightly favored Ilves. As a clear underdog for them in previous years, local games were not individual games among others. And still not.
– They are under a lot of pressure to achieve, show, and thereby load everything into the game. In the past, there was no shame for them in the clear role of the underdog, no matter how hard it was, it also made it easier to enter the games. I would say that these games have been more important to Ilves in recent years, ‘s ice hockey expert Ismo Lehkonen ponders.
Valtteri Kemiläinen has played in Tappara’s shirt in local games for eight years, starting from autumn 2016.
– Yes, these local games are important to us too. When I came to Tampere, Ilves was a sympathetic small club, but now it is a big club to be taken seriously. You have to know how to tip your hat to them. We haven’t talked about these defeats in particular, but yes, getting kicked by Ilves always hurts more than other losses, you can’t get anywhere, Kemiläinen said.
Star guard for stretching
A year ago, the wins were even, but this season the ride was cold again for Tappara. A clearer analysis can be found for Ilves’ latest conquest of the scepter than in previous years.
Tappara’s new head coach Rikard Grönborg has created a no-cancellation style of play for the reigning doubles champion, and it has come at a price.
– There is a clear setup, where one (Tappara) takes a risk and the other (Ilves) exploits the possibilities of a counterattack. At some point, Tappara’s tendon has broken. The problem is that Tappara has too many minimen there for that style of play and some of them still have old ways of playing.
– There, the hair does not go all the way down the spine, and that creates a delay. Some don’t fit that style of play, because you have to be on your feet all the time and the stick should be long, and in addition, the backups are often missing when the defenders run against, says Lehkonen.
On Friday, Tappara committed this original sin significantly less than in previous encounters.
Ilves has not particularly roughed up Tappara, but has been able to make dents in the master’s holy places. It has often put Tappara on the defensive with its fast and high-quality puck control game, and has been, for example, more effective than its beloved enemy in special situations.
Whereas Ilves’ game repeatedly grinds certain patterns creating goal chances, Tappara’s game this season has often been confused and lacking in structure. Tappara has to rely too much on the goalkeeper’s play and exceptional scoring efficiency.
On the other hand, Ilves has also gotten to grips with the goalkeeper game.
A star goalkeeper who belongs to the undisputed elite of the series Christian from Heljango Ilves has made a regular line guard. Heljanko has played a couple of clean sheets over the years, but his otherwise excellent career statistics collapse against Ilves.
The average number of goals conceded increases by almost a goal and the save percentage drops by three and a half percent. Heljanko has won only nine of the 27 local matches he has played, i.e. every third. Otherwise, Heljanko is by far the most successful goalkeeper in the SM league in the previous six years, with a margin of more than 40 wins.
On Friday, Heljanko was his team’s best player.
– I don’t know if Ilves is any different from the others. It has a team of top players who are more efficient than others. These are only regular season games, and then we’ll see who’s who, Heljanko stated after the match was paused.
The loss to Heljango on Friday was certainly particularly frustrating, because he played an excellent match and had to give up the winning goal just a couple of seconds before the final buzzer. However, the goalkeeper originally from Helsinki did not agree to give the loss of the local match or the domination of the city more value than that.
– It doesn’t matter who we lose to. Local games went 1–5 to Ilves, but we have then taken points from games where Ilves has left them. The regular season victory is still in our own hands, so there is nothing to worry about.
Does the upper hand hold weight in the spring?
Now the question is, will Ilves’ advantage in the regular season matter if the teams meet in the playoffs in the spring? For Tappara, the bigger worry about Ilves is probably the quality of its own game. Playing on the puck is not among the league’s elite and, when the possession game has also taken a dive, there is little ground for championship dreams.
– That dynamic changes completely when the playoffs start. Then we get to the heart of coaching properly. Then it’s a series of matches and a marathon, where we see who can last and who can do the right things repeatedly, Lehkonen points out.
Heljango has a perfect place to put pressure on the Ilves camp, and he doesn’t miss it.
– Ilves is no longer a challenger here, they have dominated these games for some time already. When you look at their activities there, everything is clearly loaded with the fact that this is the spring. Of course, everyone wants to give them a piece of cake, including us. Both have to win quite a few more games before we even meet.
Story edited at 8:01 am. Antti Pennanen’s name changed to the correct one in the caption.