The curse of the home races hovered above the Lions until one man decided to swing it away with his long hands, writes Jussi Paasi.
26.5. 22:45 • Updated May 26 22:59
– Let’s shout the roof off the home arena!
The master of ceremonies in the Tampere arena tried to wake up the sleeping Lions fans.
No one was interested. The viewers were silent. The soundscape was more or less similar to the semi-finals of the 2003 Home Games. The spectators thrilled themselves into silence. The two words surely creeped into the minds of those who followed hockey for longer. The Curse of Home Games.
The silence in the Arena was deafening. Slovakia had hit the Finnish net twice. First Adam Sykorathen Pavol Regenda. Sykora and Regenda are a big chunk of the future of hockey in Slovakia, as NHL topped Juraj Slafkovsky and Simon Nemec.
Of the four, Regenda, 22, is a direct age president. The other three are the 2004 vintage.
Slovak youth celebrated. Slovensko was refreshed in the hall.
The demand of a lonely viewer seems to be part of Finland’s exchange.
Mörkö appeared. Mörkö was born in 1985. The same year that Ilves last won the Finnish championship. That is, a very long time ago.
The national hero who experienced and won everything in international hockey had decided to ruin the celebrations of the youth of Slovakia. Alone.
At the Tampere World Championships Marko Anttila had never succeeded in scoring before the semi-finals. In the last game of the first series, Mörkö was already close, when the Czech Republic sought a reduction without a goalkeeper. But no, not even to an empty finish.
It is worth remembering that Anttila’s job description does not, in principle, include scoring. His job is to turn off the opponent’s stars. That’s what he does in the Lion together Saku Mäenalasen and Hannes Björnisen with.
Anttila, who moved from the Jokers to the lynx’s shirt at the end of this season, did not get to play in the Finnish Championship. Attempts were made to force her into the number one chain of tassel ears at times, but it turned out to be nothing. Even in the lower chains, Anttila’s play was surprisingly sluggish.
But something wonderful happens when Mörkö wears his national team shirt. And even then, when the stakes increase. Anttila is familiar with the formula. He did the same three years ago in Slovakia. Saved goals for important games. The end is history.
When Mörkö hit in for a long time, the master of ceremonies hatched from a favorite of more than two meters. Anttila slipped and slithered in the wet grass. In the middle of the trough, he began to giggle frantically towards the audience. Long hands waved as Mörkö signaled to the fans: I’m here, no worries.
And when Anttila hit the levels of the game, Mörkö-mania, similar to 2019, started to feel in the auditorium for a while.
The crowd was anxiously waiting for Anttila ‘s third goal, but Sakari Manninen was the one who got to hit the winning goal.
Slovakia applied for a tie at the end without a goalkeeper. And then what happened! Finland deprived the puck. Björninen fed Anttila a completely free space. And what did Anttila do! Refused to hat trick. Mörkö fed Mäenalas, who finished the final numbers.
Anttila organized quite a show. And when Mörkö fed Mäenalas from nowhere, he underlined: I am, above all, a team player.
For the host country, the World Hockey Championships have almost always been a difficult place to succeed. The Soviet Union won in Moscow in 1986, Sweden in Stockholm in 2013. Finland has never even won a medal at the home competition.
Now it seems that Mörkö has decided to take care of the end of the curse.