Colorado and Columbus had to meet huge expectations on Friday in Tampere. Mikko Rantanen and Patrik Laine did not disappoint, writes Urheilu’s news manager Pekka Aalto.
4.11. 23:28•Updated 0:02
Patrik Laine a goal, a world-class show and the best hockey on the planet. That summed up the Finnish hockey fans’ expectations for Friday’s NHL match.
The wishes came true on Friday evening in Tampere. Not completely, but quite well nonetheless.
Let’s start from the fact that the match between Columbus and Colorado has been expected since the end of April, when the NHL announced the pair of matches in Tampere. Around the same time, Ilves secured its first medal in the SM league in 21 years and Tappara won another Finnish championship. Both were celebrated at Tampere’s new arena. We’ll get back to it later on how this relates to tonight’s NHL matchup.
When Colorado took the Stanley Cup in June and Laine’s continuation in Columbus was confirmed in July, the setting for Tampere’s NHL hekuma started to be right.
This week, the drug got even worse when the Avalanche’s star center Nathan MacKinnon was excited to praise the Bear beer and the champions liked the reindeer shake. The boy also remembered the sauna and updates it on social media.
Seriously, the NHL does an excellent job of marketing off the rink. The players don’t miss selfies with chubby women and take care of their media work to the last. The machinery is as greased as MacKinnon’s hamstring.
Let’s go to three wishes. Laine’s return to her hometown was a success, which in itself is not surprising. The man has always played so well when the interest in him is the greatest in Finland.
In Friday’s game, the crowd in the arena already had time to get excited at the beginning of the second period, but the slowdown revealed that Jakub Voracek guided Laine inside the wristband. Of course, a disappointed sigh could be heard from the stands.
Well, it didn’t take long until Laine corrected the situation with a sharp move Alexander Georgiev from the neighborhood.
Based on the first episode, it seemed that Laine will only make two viewers happy. They managed to recover the pucks that Laine directed to the stands. The second batch guaranteed that others who paid hundreds for Laine did not have to be disappointed either.
How about a world-class show? Those who were there already remember from the NHL games in Helsinki four years ago that these games do not create a proper puck atmosphere. Instead of shouts, let alone chants of support, in Areena you hear mostly muffled voices. Even in Tampere, the decibels rose high mainly when the Finnish stars were introduced to the audience before the game or when they stretched the opponent’s net.
Of course, towards the end, the going got better and at 55 minutes, there was even a wave around the groves for a while. The audience was full, 12,882.
The NHL-level arena provided a great setting and everything seemed to go smoothly, as it should. The biggest culprits for the lack of a wow effect are the regular users of the arena, Ilves and Tappara, who have been flaming pytinki since last December. Both Tampere clubs have gotten more out of the media cube, LED strips and sound reproduction than the NHL.
When you add to this a genuine support culture, the playoffs of the SM League cover the regular season games of the NHL 6–0. If we talk about the hockey event, Friday night was at least as good marketing for the SM league as it was for the NHL. In Finland, there is reason to be proud of our main league.
Finally, a few words about the best hockey on the planet. It’s not too much to say that the Colorado Avalanche is the best hockey team in the world. Marinated in disappointments and winged by superstars, the Avalanche stormed to become the NHL champion with a brilliant game that took the whole sport one point further.
Now, of course, the team is not at the same level as it was four months ago, but there was a glimmer of glory in Tampere. He carried the number one cloak Mikko Rantanen (3+1), whose game is blunt and effective. Colorado finally won 6–3 and the caps flew to the ice when Rantanen sealed his hat trick.
Columbus, on the other hand, looks like a team whose head coach hasn’t fixed a single control game in his life. Blue Jackets should reserve a seat for the return flight For Jukka Jalosewho was in Tampere watching the NHL hype.
The best shout of the game was heard in the opening set, when Colorado completed the 2-0 goal and Columbus was completely over the moon.
“Good Kekäläinen!” echoed from the stands. The shout was about 100 percent sarcasm.
The teams meet again on Saturday at 20:00. Live broadcast as on Friday on channels at 19:45.