Pennanen Leijonat left the Czech Republic to zero in the EHT home tournament | Sports in a nutshell

Leijonat, coached by Antti Pennanen, continued on the road to victory in the EHT hockey home tournament. Senior man Harri Pesonen excelled as Finland’s power man.

The active Lions cemented their victory with a strong opening set, where the players who play professionally in Switzerland hit with individual performances Harri Pesonen and Toni Rajala. The Czech Republic, which had defeated Sweden on Thursday, bowed to Finland in a dull 0-4 score at the Helsinki Ice Hall.

Power package Pesonen completed the 1–0 and 3–0 goals and increased his goal balance in the tournament to three. He excelled in puck possession in the offensive zone, from which he was able to shoot to give Finland a 1–0 lead in 4:52. Chain mate Kristian Vesalainen created good pressure in the situation.

The 36-year-old Pesonen scored his second success of the evening with a superior power from the corner of the goal in 27:32 from Rajala’s preliminary work. The Finnish captain of SCL Tigers is an Olympic champion and world champion, just like Rajalak.

– Today, the whole gang was at the fair from the very beginning. Overall performance. “We pressured the game in the Czech end and we were dull in scoring,” said Vesalainen, who played a good 13 minutes in his home hall.

Czech defender in the final minute of the opening set by Ronald Knot the rough loss of the puck in their own attack area backfired, and Rajala, who had usurped the game tool, blazed through the drive, hitting a brilliant curl into the upper right corner of the puck with a 2-0 goalie shot.

In the second, broken set, the ice hatches opened wide. KalPa’s Czech striker Matyas Kantner used a cross stick in a side hustle Ahti Oksanen on the back side and received a command to shower for 5+20 minutes.

Arttu Ruotsalainen in the third period, with a world-class knuckle lift, he sealed Finland’s 4–0 victory in the upper upper corner of the game. Miro Aaltonen got an assist point thanks to the exploitation of the middle area.

Växjö’s goalkeeper Emil Larmi shone between the posts and needed 34 puck stops for his clean sheet.

– It was quite clear to see the Czech places today. There will always be some situations. The guy didn’t have a lot of opportunities in front of the goal. I like how our game looks now. Let’s go and not mean, and yet it’s really close to my own, Larmi praised the new look of the Lions.

The Czech got to play in the third set with five against three, but could not swing the net even then. Lock defender Nuutti Viitasalo got the puck painfully on his leg, but played until the end of the underpower of the defender and finally unloaded it at the other end of the game equipment, receiving thunderous applause from the audience.

The EHT requirement is big for the star players of the SM league

Of the Lions’ seven tournament goals, five have come from a player playing in Switzerland and two in the SHL. Not a single Finn playing in the SM league has yet accumulated power points.

Tapparan Petteri Puhakka23, played the second A national team game of his career on Saturday and got a good 11 minutes of ice time. The good thing was that he was able to improve his own game from his debut match on Thursday. Puhakka admitted that the level of requirements for the EHT increases significantly for a league player.

– Here (EHT) there is more struggle and the game is more physical. There is less space and time, which means situations come much faster than in the league, Puhakka compared.

IFK forward Vesalainen, who has totaled 11+15=26 points in the 21 league games he has played, added to Puhaka’s comments that playing on the puck at the EHT level is significantly reduced compared to League games.

Leijonat ends the EHT home tournament on Sunday with a traditional Father’s Day match against Sweden and plays for the tournament win.