In the semi-finals of the Women’s Ice Hockey League, Kiekko-Espoo will face TPS and HIFK Kärpät. The first matches will be played on Wednesday.
Even the last semi-final teams of the Ice Hockey Women’s League survived on Saturday, when Kiekko-Espoo and HIFK managed their respective match series with 3–1 victories.
Kiekko-Espoo and HIFK went to the playoffs after the regular season as the biggest championship favorites, but both experienced surprise losses in the series. The flies and TPS, on the other hand, handled their own semi-finals directly with 3-0 victories.
However, Kiekko-Espoo sent KalPa on summer vacation with a clear 7–0 win on Saturday. The most powerful player in Espoo had been involved in as many as five hits Nelli Laitinen. The defender of the female lions hit the powers 2 + 3.
– Sometimes it hurts for days not to go in for anything and then for them to make everything happen. Today was one of the most successful. As a team, we played really smart in all three fields and we wanted to play a tie for the goalkeeper, Laitinen commented on Urheilulle.
Also a striker familiar from the Female Lion Elisa Holopainen made a hat trick and served one pass. Holopainen leads the playoffs stock market by far. He has scored 8 + 5 = 13 in four matches.
Despite the rude readings, the KalPa watchdog Tiina Ranne stretched the puck to the road a whopping 56 times.
Kiekko-Espoo, who lost the regular season without losing, lost to HIFK twice in the upper extension series. In the semi-finals, KalPa surprised the people of Espoo with a 4–2 victory on Thursday and took the playoffs to the fourth match. Laitinen was not worried about the losses.
– In the fall, we went from victory to victory. I think it is only good that we have had losses during the spring season. It’s not nice to lose, but we’ve got more fighting spirit. We know that winning is not an easy thing to do, but button performance is always required. HIFK games showed that you can’t expect anything, you have to fully charge every game. Nothing is free, Laitinen said.
The reigning champion in the semi-finals will face TPS, who advanced to the medal games for the first time. TPS knocked out Ilves with a 3–0 match win.
– There will definitely be a really interesting series. They played really well against three games against Ilves. We have to do the best if we want to make it to the finals, Laitinen saw.
HIFK sent HPK on summer vacation
HIFK applied for a 3–1 victory in Hämeenlinna. Athena Locatelli took the away team to the HIFK lead in 33.15, but Megan Delay leveled the game at the end of the second round. The final batch was started with 1-1 readings.
In the third installment Matilda Nilsson and Michaela Pejzlova both were overwhelming and the final scores were 3-1. HPK guard Kassidy Sauvelle recorded a whopping 55 fights when Iina Kuusela survived at the other end with 17 fights.
In the semi-finals starting on Wednesday, HIFK will face Flies, which defeated Kuortane 3–0 in their own semi-finals.
The career of two Finnish puck legends also ended on Saturday.
HPK attacker Riikka Noronen, 39, announced that the 27th season is the last of his career for him. Norose, who made her league debut at just 12 years old, holds several league records. Noronen is the player with the most matches in the Women’s League with almost 650 matches and the player with the most points (775).
Also KalPan Tanja Niskanen told reporters after the Beijing Olympics that the games have been played. The KalPa striker was at the center on Thursday as Kalpa stretched 4 to 2 for the fourth match in the series. Niskanen scored and scored two hits.
In an interview with STT last weekend, Niskanen said that he would focus on matters outside his sports career. He stressed the importance of the national team for his career.
– I have experienced almost everything and got it from the species. The national team has been a life hole for me, and it has played a big role, especially in the late stages of my career. I wouldn’t play anymore if I hadn’t been involved in the national team patterns, Niskanen said last Sunday.