In the final series, Nokian will face TPS, who defeated Happe in their own semi-final series. Both semifinal winners cleared the series cleanly with four wins.
In the finals of the men’s F-League in floor bandy, KrP from Nokia and TPS from Turku, who previously reached silver, meet at their best. The series will therefore see a new champion team this spring.
Nokia progressed to the finals by defeating Espoon Oilers in the fourth semi-final meeting with goals 10–6. Nokia won the match series cleanly 4–0.
The match was still tied at 3-3 in the last minute of the second period, but then an experienced player stepped up Henri Johansson, 37. Johansson scored a 4–3 goal at the end of the set and continued scoring with two hits in the second set. The hat trick was born in ten minutes of play.
The Oilers Aaro Astalan After the 4-6 reduction, Johansson hit one more shot, which was the winning goal. Johansson netted 4+1 from the match. Justus Kainulainen was the Oilers’ most effective (1+2).
Johansson, who holds the all-time scoring record in the F-League regular season, has now scored 99 playoff goals in his career. It qualifies for fifth place in the all-time statistics.
– There is a great atmosphere in the team. The whole season went well for me as well. In the spring games, you just have to enjoy and let go, Johansson said in an interview with Ruudu.
This season, Johansson has scored 13 playoff goals. Above, only 16 goals have been scored by Oilers’ Kainulainen and TPS Miko Kailiala.
A year ago, Nokia played in the final series for the first time. Tampere Classic celebrated the championship. The team from Nokia has two bronze medals.
– Great experiences left over from last spring. We were learning how to hustle there. It was close, yet so far. It feels like we’ve learned how to play in a leadership position and how to get through the game. The young boys are older again and I try to stay cool myself, said Johansson, who represented Nokia in the 2009–10 season.
Another deciding game with fewer goals
In the final match of the F-League, Nokia will face TPS, who also advanced to the finals with a 4–0 win after defeating Jyväskylä Happe 3–2 in the four-legged match.
The match went on for a long time with TPS leading 2–1 until Happeen Eppu Suhanto hit the equalizer early in the third set.
Mikko Hautaniemi nailed TPS to the finals with his winning goal in 51.48 from Kailiala’s quick cross pass.
– Challenging game. It wasn’t terribly clinical. Then we got a goal like that. When there’s a shovel on the ground, there’s no need to do anything. They are easy goals, Hautaniemi said in an interview with Ruuttu.
Kailiala had the most effective points in a match with few goals, 1+1. In addition to Suhanno, Happeelta managed to score Matti Minkkinen (1+0).
TPS conceded only nine goals against Happee in the semi-finals. Hautaniemi was satisfied with his team’s defensive play.
– Didn’t give the opponent much of a chance. We made their offense pretty dull.
Until now, TPS’s only place in the finals and a medal are from spring 2019, when the people of Turku lost to Classic. In the last two seasons, TPS finished fourth.