Ilves star acquisition Sami Niku played his first game in his new club on Tuesday against KalPa. Niku’s debut in his new club was successful, when Ilves claimed a 6–2 victory over Kuopio.
Joona Ikonen hit a hat trick.
Niku was left without power points in the match, but Urheilu’s hockey expert Top Nättinen saw the same elements in the defender’s moves as earlier this season in JYP’s bunt.
– Pretty much what I expected. Still looking for joint play, but really close to his best basic game, Nättinen commented on Radio Finland’s Ice Hockey Tour.
Niku, who leads the defenders’ points market with 11+26, arrived in Ilves from JYP, where he got into the middle of a lot of trouble.
JYP was thrown into playful chaos after Jukka Rautakorpi and Ville Nieminen got a surprise kick before Christmas. Having stepped into the helm Mikko Heiskanen benched Niku in the HIFK match played two weeks ago.
It also turned out that Heiskanen did not want the star defender to arrive at the hall the next day. After that, Niku didn’t play in JYP anymore.
Great shared history
Niku is a huge reinforcement for Ilves, who are at the top of the league and aiming for the Finnish championship, to an already even more dynamic group.
With Niku and Ilves’ head coach Antti Pennasell have a common history from the World Youth Championships in Helsinki eight years ago. The tournament ended for the Young Lions Kasperi Kapanen to a memorable overtime goal and a jubilant golden celebration.
Pennanen was heard Jukka Jalonen to the coaching group of the piloted team. The two recently went through old ones on the phone.
– We remembered how the previous encounter ended. We get a good puck player who has seen the world. Has played in the NHL and returned to the League from there. He has got a family and many things have happened, Pennanen nurtures Niku’s growth as a player.
“I’m not perfect”
Niku interested journalists even before the KalPa game.
– He has earned attention by playing very well. Of course, there are all kinds of things around him and JYP, which you media seem to be very interested in, Pennanen threw.
Pennanen did not want to comment on the JYP saga.
– I’m not going to interfere in matters between Niku and JYP. He is now trying to help us, Pennanen acknowledged.
Urheilu’s hockey expert Nättinen believed that the benching experience left Nikuu with eternal scars.
– The club management wanted to show who rules. Sami knew his own worth. It was such a benching that I think Niku will never play in JYP again, Nättinen laughs.
Niku said that he had dealt with the difficult recent times with, among other things, his father and other family members. According to him, the culprit in the JYP saga is both the club and the player.
– There is probably some fault on both sides. I’m not perfect either. Yes, there is usually a small fault in both.
Did you push the trainer too hard?
– I can’t say about that.
Was it a humiliating time?
– It was not humiliating in any way.
Separated from family
Niku is the father of two small children. The children and life partner remained in Jyväskylä for the time being.
However, Niku does not see the situation as a problem.
– Drives a bit back and forth between Tampere and Jyväskylä. It’s not such a big trip after all, Niku sees.
Ilvis has a lot of away games in the next two weeks. According to Niku, the family plans to arrive in Tampere after that.
Pennanen summarizes Niku’s value as we head towards the important spring.
– My own experience is that when there is a tight spot, his bat doesn’t start shaking.
“Full of excuses”
A total of five matches were played on Wednesday. In other matches, KooKoo defeated JYP 5–4 in overtime, Kärpät destroyed the crisis club SaiPa 5–2, Ässät won 2–1 against Pelicans and Lukko beat HIFK with 3–2 goals after the winning goal contest.
At the same time, Ässät ended the Pelicans’ winning streak of no less than eight games.
Luko’s winning goal into HIFK’s net was answered Steven Jandric.
According to Nättinen, HIFK is still not convincing in relation to its fiercest opponents Ilves and Tapparaa. Lukko led the match after the second set 2–1.
– Now it should be an all-time line-up. There are underperformers like Kristian Vesalainen and Juha Jääskä at the moment. There are some small question marks in the goaltending department.
– HIFK is full of excuses. This is not enough at all, Nättinen loaded in the second break.
HIFK–Lukko vl. 2–3 (0–0, 1–2, 1–0, 0–0, 0–1)
JYP–KooKoo and. 4–5 (0–1, 2–1, 2–2, 0–1)
Aces–Pelicans 2–1 (0–1, 1–0, 1–0)
SaiPa–Kärpät 2–5 (0–1, 2–3, 0–1)
KalPa–Ilves 2–6 (2–2, 0–2, 0–2)
You can find all the scorers of the round in this link. You can access the league table here.