Having recently arrived in Oulu with great fanfare By Nick Ritchie debuting on Wednesday could not be considered a great success. Tappara beat Kärpät, who has performed poorly recently, 4–1. Ritchie was on the ice during the 0–1 and 1–3 setbacks.
– It is not fair to judge him at this stage. Let’s wait for five matches and then comment, said Kärppie’s coach Lauri Marjamäki at the press conference about the opening match of Ritchie, who arrived in Oulu on Monday.
The 188-centimeter and 106-kilogram attacker seemed slow and clumsy in the Tampere rink, and was unable to help Kärppi with his play. Ritchie, who played in the NHL last season in Arizona and Calgary, did not get any good evidence of his puck skills.
Next, the 27-year-old Canadian made up for two small losses and still played the second most of the Kärppi’s forwards in the opening set. In the second set, Ritchie’s responsibility dropped to just three minutes, but he clocked more than five minutes in the final set. In total, he played the eighth most of the Kärppie forwards with a combined time of 14:45.
– Interesting play from Marjamäki. Coming here from North America, the time difference is noticeable, and when you add to that a new line of referees and a new team’s way of playing, I would have hoped for a slightly easier run-in for Ritchie, who is not the lightest player, said Puhe’s hockey expert Ismo Lehkonen.
Ritchie had one shot in the third period and the team’s worst reading -2 was recorded in his power statistics.
– The first one came for a reason, I wasn’t quite sure about the second one. They are whistled here, the judges are maybe a little different too. I got a good lesson today, Ritchie commented at the farewell, according to STT.
– I’m not going to lie, I was a bit rusty. You can practice it as much as you want, but it’s not the same as playing.
“It’s a strong bitch”
Flies Marko Anttilan in Tampere, we saw an even game where Tappara scored goals from their own positions – unlike the visiting team.
In his speech, Anttila was optimistic about Ritchie, a difficult acquisition for his marines.
– It’s a strong one, isn’t it? Of course, he only came to Oulu 24 hours ago, we’ll give him a few games to get used to the rhythm and everything else. I saw that he can definitely score goals, a good guy for us for sure and will help us the further the season progresses, says Anttila.
Is it possible that the Finnish and Canadian Mörkö would meet again in the same chain?
– We’ll see how this season turns out. Of course I have my own things to do and Ritchie certainly has his own, Anttila hinted at the different roles of the players.
Lehkonen set HIFK’s top players
Helsinki IFK, one of the champion favorites of the men’s hockey league, lost for the fourth time in a row, when Jukurit won their home game 5–3. The hero of Mikkeli had pulled off his first hat trick Daniel Mäkiaho22.
Second-generation Mäkiaho is also one of HIFK’s great men by Frank Moberg grandchild.
– Yes, these HIFK games always ignite when we were at Nordis matches with grandfather as a little boy, Mäkiaho told STT.
On Puhe, Ismo Lehkonen criticized the performances of HIFK’s leading players.
– HIFK is facing a crisis, the team’s trend is downward. If you want to win the championship in the spring, you can’t take the hoe even in November four times in a row like this. More must be demanded From Jori Lehterä, Kristian Vesalainen and Eetu Koivistoinen and from leading packages From Luke Martin and From Tony Sund.
According to Lehkonen, HIFK’s playing in Mikkeli was characterized by indiscipline (8×2 min) and arrogant playing, especially in the attacking area.
– In any field, you can’t show up to the workplace half-carelessly. HIFK’s problem is not the duna department, but the leading players. It’s not enough to wear a nice looking golden helmet and make a nice pass every now and then. Change after change, you have to set an example for the team, instructed Lehkonen.
Also a helmet trick for Jens Lööke
Sport claimed a 4–3 overtime win from Rauma, for which the people of Vaasa have a hat trick to thank Jens Lööke.
In Kouvola, Ässät won 2–1 away from home, it was only the second win for the team in November. Aces super promise Lenny Hämeenaho scored his 10th goal of the season, the father of the winning goal Jonathan Davidson scored his first hit of the season.
KalPa and Pelicans couldn’t find out the winner even in overtime, but KalPa won in the shootout Miikka Pitkänen was the only one to score and gave KalPa a 4–3 victory.
Ice Hockey Championship League:
Jukurit – HIFK 5–3 (2-1, 1-0, 2-2)
KalPa – Pelicans vl 4-3 (1-1, 1-1, 1-1)
65.00 4–3 Pitkänen vl
KooKoo – Aces 1–2 (1-0, 0-2, 0-0)
Lock – Sport and 3–4 (1-0, 0-1, 2-2)
60.58 3–4 Lööke (Leppänen, Sundström)
Tappara – Kräpt 4–1 (2-1, 0-0, 2-0)
Series table