NoU Ringette was able to celebrate at home when he took the fifth Ringete Finnish Championship in his club history. Nokia employees knocked down Kiekko-Espoo directly with three match wins.
6.4. 20:38 • Updated 6.4. 22:11
Nokia’s NoU Ringette did not let Kiekko-Espoo surprise Ringete in the third final, but took the Finnish championship straight with a win of 3–0. The players from Espoo, who were against the back wall, fought hard, but were unable to stretch to victory, and the decisive match ended for the home team NoU 6–5.
NoU took a grip on the game right in the first set, but despite several attempts, managed to finish with just one hit. In the second set, Kiekko-Espoo got a better grip on the game, but NoU was more accurate in his finish. Match opening finish finished Jenni Linnamäki increased his balance to two hits and Elina Raesola excelled in both goal scoring and passing.
In the third round, events were seen for the first two minutes in front of the whole match, as NoU’s Maija Väyrynen punished his team last season and took the home team to a 4-1 lead. Immediately after, Kiekko-Espoo narrowed Tanja Ahosen hit, but Väyrynen hit again half a minute later. If in the previous match the coolers retaliated against Kiekko-Espoo, now they retaliated against NoU. The Espoo team struggled with two superiority goals to level in the third installment.
However, the rush in Puck-Espoo did not last until the end, and the Nokians played quite smartly in the fourth round after Roosa Salonen pushed the winning goal of the match by a time of 47.45. Also a well-tuned NoU goalkeeper Kaisa Katajisto took important booths towards the end of the batch. Katajisto withdrew 38/43 in a steady twist when Kiekko-Espoo Meini Kärnän the balance was 39/45. The power players in Espoo were Katariina Kurikko (2 + 1) and Jenna Hakkarainen (2 + 0).
Last season, NoU Ringette had to settle for silver medals, when LL-89 from Lapland, who gave up her Finnish Championship place for this season, won the championship. NoU won the previous two championships before this and was also number one in the seasons 2015 and 2016. Kiekko-Espoo has never won a championship in the Finnish Championship series.
Experienced Elina Raesola admitted to Urheilu that the team was not in the solving game at its best, but it still scored a sufficient number of goals and was able to defend closely in the end.
– The final series was really fast-paced, and it was nice to get new resistance to these games from time to time, Raesola said, referring to the previous finals, when the opponent has mostly been LL-89.
– The game remained relatively clean and fast-paced. Great goals were seen from both teams.
For Roosa Salonen, who scored the final goal, celebrating the championship in the home hall is a dream come true, as the team has celebrated previous championships in the away field. After his decision goal, Salonen had decided that he no longer wanted to travel to Espoo to play.
– The only thing that came to mind was that now the sack is being fought to the end. I want this resolved now. Now we are fighting for the last breath to get to the party today, the ecstatic Salonen said and as the team’s DJ, he assured that the playlist is already ready.
– It’s been a long time. Now let’s celebrate until morning!
Update at 9.34 pm: Comments from Raesola and Salonen added.