The fourth final match of the SM league Pelicans-Tappara live on Puhee on Tuesday evening from 18:10.
In the hockey league finals, one topic has come up after every game: the referee line. Even the Pelicans coach has had enough of beard rustling Tommi Niemelä insisted that he should not criticize the judges. After the third match, criticism was offered by the head coach of the losing team, Tappara Jussi Tapola.
Sports expert Top Nättinen I don’t think there is anything new in the situation, because there is always enough talk about referees during the playoffs. For him, however, the line of judges has followed a very typical playoff line.
– Even though it is said that the line will not change in the playoffs, the price of ice will increase and you will be allowed to play more competitive games, Nättinen said.
According to Nättinen, the refereeing of the match series has not helped either team. In three matches, 17 minor penalties have been given and only one overtime goal has been seen. The amount is roughly the same as in last season’s finals, but significantly less than in other end-of-year matches.
Many judges may have their hand glued to their thigh in the finals, Nättinen states. He thinks it’s confusing, because the longer the matches go, the more the fighting situations increase and the intensity increases, but the cooldowns decrease.
– You would think that it would go hand in hand. I do understand the confusion.
Is it the right way to snooze in the middle of a game?
According to Topi Nättinen, the referee’s line discussion is not so much about the referees who have been whistled, but about those who have not been whistled. However, in his opinion, both teams have had the same amount of such situations.
You wouldn’t necessarily believe this because of how Tapola has raised the judges to the tip of the stick. In Tappara’s camp, Nättinen would pay more attention to nerve control than to complaining about judgments. If you want to influence the judges, opening up at a press conference is not the right way in his opinion.
– I don’t know if it’s the right way to snort and grunt in the middle of the game. It’s more like moving the gaze somewhere else. Attention away from the players’ performances. A frustrated person, a frustrated coach trying to find explanations.
The coach naturally tries to always get an advantage for his own team, but in Nättinen’s opinion, at least Tapola has failed in this. Just as Tapola failed in that, when he teased Ilves and Pelicans about ice fishing and filming in the semi-finals.
In Nättinen’s opinion, this acknowledgment did not lead to anything positive for Tappara.
Nättinen believes that, at the moment, Tapola is primarily upset by its lack of alignment in the refereeing line.
– It’s not just that Tappara was treated unfairly, but in general that the players of both teams don’t know what they can and can’t do on the field.
Pelicans focused on the essentials
Tappara took the first two finals games, but the Pelicans caught fire in the third. In Nättinen’s opinion, the people of Lahti didn’t fool around anymore after the first game, and out of the last six games, the Pelicans have won at least five of them.
Pelicans have used Tappara’s weapons and tried to turn situations around quickly. Tappara has had to defend more and has had to attack five on five. Nättinen compares the situation to the Ilves series, where Pelicans got a mental grip on Tampere and advanced to the next round with a 4–2 win.
– (Tapparan) Brother Matti Savinainen is even better in his role than (Ilvens) Tommi Tikka, but I feel that the pushing and shoving remains a bit of a lonely man’s job. (of the Pelicans) Ben Blood understood after the first game that it’s not worth sitting on the ice, otherwise the series will be lost.
According to Nättinen, the Pelicans have no longer engaged in pushing or poking more than their number. Of course, they defend themselves and the goal, but otherwise it doesn’t spill over. The players are focused on the essentials.
– Everyone knows that if you try to bully, poke and prod someone and the other person just turns their cheek, continues to do their own thing and doesn’t let it affect them, then it starts to get annoying. If the opponent doesn’t heat up, then they try to heat up the judges, and then we see that the focus is on the wrong things.
The fourth match of the final series will be played on Tuesday in Lahti, which many players consider a nasty place to play – not least because of the passionate Lahti audience. Nättinen doesn’t think that booing from the audience would put pressure on the judges.
– There are professional judges. They have to be able to handle situations. In my opinion, the coolies that have been whistled have gone exactly right. All of them have been perfectly justifiable cold cuts, Nättinen stated.
– The problem has become the refrigerators that were not whistled. It speaks to the fact that the public is not allowed to be influenced.