The TPS player’s injury has been talked about since Wednesday. The Tappara mascot’s ill-fated attempt to wild the audience attracted international attention as well.
Tampere Tappara’s mascot, Tapsu, became an international topic of conversation. The reason is in Wednesday’s match, when Tappara and TPS started their match series in the quarterfinals of the SM league.
Defender of TPS Jimi Finlandwho is on the sidelines from Friday night’s second quarter-final encounter, missed Tapparan Oiva Keskinen to tackle at the beginning of the match.
At the same time, Tapsu jumped from the side of the stand towards the Plexiglas. Finland crashed into the side of the rink in exactly the same place and at the same time.
At least in the TPS camp, it was felt that Tapsu contributed to the injury, because the springboard did not work as normal due to the “double contact”.
– Don’t all parties agree that if the mascot contributed to the player’s injury with his actions, then it was wrong, CEO of TPS Aki Holma commented to Urheilu.
Head coach of TPS Tommi Miettinen stated Ilta-Sanomthat “definitely wrong action from the mascot”.
– In the situation, it was the worst luck in the world that Taklaus happened to hit the exact spot where the mascot was standing. The mascot was certainly excited and tried to wild the audience, but still a thoughtless act from him, Miettinen continued.
Holma told that TPS has been in contact with Tappara and the matter has been discussed.
Also Tappara’s event manager Aki Hautamäki told Ilta-Sanom that the matter has been discussed with TPS. According to him, the clubs had agreed not to make a big fuss about it.
– The matter has gone through, as it should be done frankly. Damages are damages and improbabilities are improbabilities, Hautamäki told IS.
However, the confusing episode has also spread internationally. For example, the well-known American sports website Bleacher Report shared a video of the situation on their social media channels.
– A strange story from the Finnish SM League: Tappara’s mascot was accused of injuring an opponent’s player when he leaned on the glass during a tackle.
Some of the social media commentators bought the idea that Tapsu could have contributed to Finland’s unfortunate injury. Some don’t understand blaming the mascot.
– Who will be accused next? An announcer?
Also, for example, the Swedish public radio SVT reports about the case.
– The mascot “Tapsu” got into a bad light in Finland during the hockey playoffs.
– A potential mascot scandal has arisen in Finland, veistelas for his part Aftonbladet.
According to Aftonbladet, something completely different than the Swedish coach has been talking in the quarterfinals of the SM league Rikard Grönborgin first playoff win in Tappara.
Swedish newspapers also noted how Tapparan Hautamäki had replied to the Finnish media that Tapsu could not give comments because “the mascot cannot speak”.
However, the person performing the clap had recently been in contact with Turku.
– Of course, this was a sad thing for him as well, and he is really sorry about this. This was a completely sincere accident, Hautamäki commented to IS.