Petri Kontiola can achieve the first championship of his career on Sunday. He denies that he was thinking about the championship, but does not want to give information about his team’s activities to the outside world.
follows the SM league finals moment by moment on its website. The Hockey Tour broadcasts every league final live. All finals will be heard live in Areena. The preliminary studios of the ice hockey round can be enjoyed in video form for the first time in the finals.
LAHTI. The fourth final has ended a few minutes ago when Petri Kontiola pedaling an exercise bike in the corridor of Lahti.
Tappara has just beaten Pelicans in the extra round 4–3. The first championship of Kontiola’s career is only one win away, as Tappara leads the series with 3–1 wins.
– Basic everyday life continues from here and the journey is over. Not here. Good feeling, but already gone, Kontiola acknowledges to Urheilu.
Kontiola spoke after the first match at the Ice Hockey Tour that he hasn’t even thought about winning the championship.
Still don’t have the championship in mind?
– Is not. Yes, that’s just for me, what I do every day. Everything else is a plus. Of course I understand the situation. The fight and the game is tough. At the end thank you stands. Let’s see how we can finish this.
In his long career, Kontiola has achieved, for example, three World Championship silvers, but he has not achieved a single championship in any team.
He spoke more than a year ago in an Ilves shirt, his eyes twinkling, how he wanted to lift the Canada cup.
– Maybe I thought about it too much then. You learn from your mistakes. Now I live in the moment and do things as well as I can. It was such a compelling need last year, Kontiola admits.
– If you start thinking about it and it doesn’t work out, then it’s a pretty hard knock. Fire or clay, I put everything on the line. Go as you go.
Pelicans led the fourth final 2–0 going into the final set, but Tappara came into the game under the leadership of Anton Levtchi.
Kontiola doesn’t want to open up about what Tappara went through during the break.
– I won’t tell any secrets. Nothing special happened. I don’t really want to talk about what’s going on or give information out. We were just playing.
Based on this comment, it is hard to believe that Kontiola is not thinking about the championship. He turns over all the stones to win.
The series continues on Sunday in Tampere. Then Tappara can celebrate its third consecutive championship.
– We put the best on the table, Kontiola said about Sunday.