The biggest topic of conversation during the ice hockey championship league season has been the HIFK forward Iiro Pakarinen great finishing touch. The 33-year-old player has scored no fewer than 22 goals in 19 matches.
On Saturday, with his hat-trick against KalPa, he broke his SM league goal record (19) from ten years ago.
It is worth noting that Pakarinen’s finishing pace is faster than Arto Javanainenwho holds the single-season scoring record. He finished 36 years ago with 47 goals in 44 matches. Pakarinen’s reading is now 1.16 per goal, while Javanainen once had 1.07.
Nowadays, there are much more matches in the SM league regular season, 60 matches, so there is a good chance that Pakarinen’s goal balance for the whole season will rise to very high numbers.
Urheilu’s ice hockey expert Top Nättinen reminds that Pakarinen has always been a top player. Ten years ago, Pakarinen led the Lions to the semi-finals at the World Cup in Belarus with his 3–2 goal against Canada.
In 2022, he was about to achieve a historic ice hockey Olympic victory for Finland.
Now at HIFK, Pakarinen is by his side Jori Lehterän and Kristian Vesalainen top players like Lehterä is at the top of the points exchange, Pakarinen is second and Vesalainen is fourth.
– The chain has remained the same since the training matches. Overwhelming Luke Martin and Petr Kodytek have kept up. Self-confidence has only started to grow. He has scouted the opponent’s goalkeepers more. He has invested in small things. There is a lot of luck in this, Nättinen reflects.
The expert describes Pakaris as a player who is thought of as a balanced third link between two top players. He is at his best when it comes to physicality and puck possession.
– He can score points at his best, but he has never made such numbers. However, he is a reliable player with the ability to score power points. Even if there are no power points, he will still be a valuable player for his team throughout his career.
Apply for the goal
It is typical of Pakarinen’s goals that he has scored them from in front of the goal or very close to it. Nättinen is not surprised, knowing what kind of player Pakarinen is in terms of profile.
– In the superiority game, he plays in the middle. He has scored five goals since then. With five against five, he knows his place as a mask player. He lets Lehterä and Vesalainen, who are more skilled on the puck, run the game. He is able to find space for himself in front of the goal.
Pakarinen has also developed his playing.
– He has definitely received a message about how to position himself in front of the goal and how to read packs and goalkeepers. That’s where the pipeline is built.
Young hockey enthusiasts learn from YouTube about spectacular goals from the top of the NHL. Aleksandr Ovechkin and Patrik Laine such as an effective shot with superiority ignites.
Nättinen reminds us that among the scorers of modern times, for example, the Toronto Maple Leafs Austin Matthews scores most of his goals from three or four meters in front of the goal.
Nättinen also highlights another important detail about Pakarinen’s goals.
– He has scored 14 goals with one touch. He has put the rebound in the number one or pulled directly from the pass. If you want to score, you have to be in front of the goal and score with one touch.
40 goals?
Lehterä and Pakarinen already played together last season. According to Nättinen, the seed of success was planted in training games where Lehterä, Pakarinen and Vesalainen were connected together.
– Now the top was so narrow, so the head coach Ville Peltonen I must have thought that I had to put all my eggs in one basket, says Nättinen.
Nättinen praises Pelto for giving the trio time to gather common experiences.
– The composition has remained the same in five-on-five play and in superiority. This is a good lesson that if good players are given time, the result can be like this at best.
Nättinen says that Pakarinen can break the 40-goal mark if he stays healthy. The expert bases his view on what shooting percentages the winner of the SM league goal exchange has had at the end of the regular season.
1. Arto Javanainen, TPS (47) 1987–1988
2. Raimo Summanen, Ilves (45) 1982–1983
3. Arto Javanainen, Ässät (44) 1985–1986
4. Jukka Vilander, TPS (43) 1988–1989
Erkki Laine (1982–1983), Timo Turunen (1972–1973), Risto Kurkinen (1986–1987) and Kai Nurminen (1999–2000) have managed 41 goals in a season.
The last time 40 goals were broken was in the 1999–2000 season, when TPS Kai Nurminen scored 41 goals in 54 matches.
– Usually the median drops to around 14 or 15 percent. A few times have been won with a shooting percentage of more than twenty, that is, every fifth would go. Pakarinen currently has more than 38, which is certainly on the side. Still, it’s a harder pace than the others.
– 40 goals can be broken, but the pace will definitely level off. Opponents will scout HIFK in a different way in the future. I believe that Javanainen’s goalscoring record will stand, says Nättinen.