Liminga Niittomiehet was close to a real giant surprise on Saturday. The team playing the league qualifier against EräViikinkä from Helsinki had the first chance at home to secure promotion to the men’s Floorball League.
However, the big club ErVi was able to extend the decision to the fifth qualifying match after the penalty shootout.
The match started under ErV’s control, but the home team got into the match when Jussi Mettovaara scored the opening goal of the match after just six minutes of play.
In the second set, the intensity dropped a bit and the match progressed like the first set, under ErV’s fine control. However, the deciding set started with a 3–2 situation, with Niittomies leading the way.
ErVin Jani Kukkolafour-time floorball world champion, tied the game at 4-4 at the end of the three-set.
There were no goals in the overtime and thus the match was decided in the winning goal contest. ErV’s winning hit was tricked Tommi Rosendahl. The series will be decided in the fifth qualifying match, which will be played on Sunday in Helsinki.
Success filled the stands
This past spring in North Ostrobothnia, Liminga with 10,000 inhabitants has seen a real floorball addiction. The hall has been sold out in almost every promotion qualifying match. The journey of the “Niittarite” can be seen in the entire municipality, and the investments made in indoor basketball are now bearing fruit.
– Niittarit has brought us a strong spirit of togetherness in the whole municipality, the mayor of Liminga Pekka Rajala atmosphere before the decisive qualifying match On the website of the Floorball Association (you will switch to another service).
– You can go anywhere, floor bandy is discussed at coffee tables. This kind of story brings people together in a wonderful way.
The head of the municipality reminded that Liminka has been awarded twice as Finland’s most inventive municipality. The average age of the municipality is 31.3, and the number of families with children has also increased the popularity of floorball.
According to Rajala, the promotion to the league would help profile the youngest club in Finland in terms of demographics.
– We are agile, active and fast. Niittarit plays the same way on the court, so I immediately see a lot of similarities.
In the first round of the qualifiers, Liminka beat SaiPa with a 3–2 match win. The reapers were already 0–2 down in the match series, but three consecutive victories took the team to the second qualifying round against EräViikinkäi.
Just two seasons ago, Liminga did not have a proper hall and the representative team played for a few seasons in the neighboring municipality of Kempele. Now the framework is in order and the hall completed for the previous season has brought the matches back to the town.
This warms the president of the club Marko Kärsämän mind.
– We got the edari home and it has brought such a good boost to Liminka anyway. The team has been closer to juniors and people from Liminka, says Kärsämä.
– It seems that even the current grandstand capacity is not enough at the moment. Ever since the SaiPa series, the cabin has been pretty much full.
On Saturday, a long line gathered in the yard of the hall an hour and a half before the match. Reapers posted a video of the queue on Twitter.
After the losing match, the club announced on social media that a fan bus will go to the decisive qualifying match on Sunday.
In the background, club cooperation and own juniors
In addition to our own Juniors, Liminga’s team consists of players from clubs in the Oulu region. According to Kärsämä, the cooperation is close with the big club OFBC and OLS and Merikoski, and during the divar seasons the composition of the team has varied.
– Maybe now everything has clicked into place, so to speak, and there have been suitable roles for the players, Kärsämä says.
It’s an experienced team with plenty of young stars. Among the players, Kärsämä is especially good Eemil Äijälän and Iiro Savelanwho have been carrying the team for some time in terms of points.
– The head coach is the icing on the cake Niko Kvistiwho came to continue Jari Karjalainen good work from previous years, Kärsämä sums up.
EräVikings have a difficult season
EräViikingit is Finland’s largest floorball club with 1,700 active members. The club was born in 2016 as a merger of Tapanila Erä and SSV. Right in the 2016–2017 season, EräViikingit took SM silver in the men’s league.
This season, EräViikingit finished 11th in the men’s F-League regular season, last to last.
In the women’s F-league, EräViikingit was fourth and there have been successes in several junior age groups, but the men’s season turned out to be sad.
Executive Director of EräViikkini Jari Oksanen reported in Helsingin Sanomat (you will switch to another service)that the team deliberately brought in young people from the P21 team that won the Finnish championship last season.
– We knew the situation and knew how to prepare for not playing for the championship, but we couldn’t have expected such a difficult season, Oksanen lamented to HS.
Of course, the team also includes experienced players, such as the aforementioned Kukkola, 37, who has won four World Championship golds, and two world championships Mika Moilanen36.
Now, according to Oksanen, ErVi is building a new body from its own talents and building a foundation.
– Money does not flow freely in this sport to acquire players. Long-term work must be done.
Tonight we will find out if the charming group from Northern Pohjaland will make the big club continue to build their foundation in Divar.