CHL - Round Up - SaiPa Lappeenranta

SaiPa Lappeenranta

SaiPa who are based in Lappeenranta were in Group I with DEL side Eisbaren Berlin and Swedish team Lulea Hockey. The Finns were far too strong for their opponents as they racked up four wins from four to top the group.
Sun, Aug 21 Eisbaren Berlin (a) 4-2
Eisbaren Berlin missed the chance to go alone in first place in their group with a tight home loss to SaiPa Lappeenranta at Mercedes Benz Arena. The first period saw the home side have more than their fair share of chances and possession, while the Finns looked dangerous on the break. Die Eisbaren took the lead at 13:57 in somewhat controversial circumstances – a scramble in the crease eventually saw Nick Petersen poke the puck home but the SaiPa players were adamant the goal should not stand due to crease violations. The referees however, after video review, didn't agree and the goal stood. Berlin's lead lasted for just over a minute though – John McFarland helping himself to a rebound to tie the game at 15:01 and end the period at one each. Jooma Jaaskelainen put the visitors ahead early in the middle period, before the home side rallied to create long spells of pressure – just without managing the breakthrough. A power-play chance towards the end of the period should have been a chance for the Eisbaren to level; however, Matti Jarvinen pounced on a loose puck to cooly slot home on the breakaway shorthanded and increase SaiPa's lead to two. In the final period the Eisbaren huffed and puffed but were unable to find a way past Jussi Markkanen. Daniel Fischbuch did pull one back with around ten minutes to go, but a blistering snapshot from Brett Carson cancelled it out to give SaiPa a 4-2 win. Uwe Krupp post-game thought that SaiPa overall deserved to win. "To be fair, I think it was the right result. They played with a high physical tempo and are a good team. We played well too, created some good scoring chances, but couldn't get the goals when we needed them," he said.
SaiPa head coach Ari Santanen agreed, saying, "We tried to be physical and play hard. It was a tough game, both teams skated very hard through 60 minutes, and I think that we defended better than Berlin. We always have a chance to score playing like that, and we did so." 

Tue, Aug 23 Lulea Hockey (a) 4-2
2014-15 CHL champions Lulea Hockey were in a spot of bother after suffering their second defeat in as many games this season. Following their loss in Berlin, they welcomed SaiPa to Northern Sweden hoping to get back on track on home ice. SaiPa had other ideas though and took the lead with 12:36 played in the match – Mikael Kuronen opening the scoring. Lulea were unable to tie the game over the course of the remainder of the period, or indeed during the second twenty minutes either, SaiPa fending of three Lulea powerplays in the process to keep the scores level. With the final period underway, the Finnish guests were finally undone by an own goal from Simon Backma- who got the last touch as the puck flew across the crease and deflected into the net at 41:11, the goal credited to Lulea's Kael Mouillierat. The game turned back in SaiPa's favour though just under five minutes before the end as Eetu Koski batted home a bouncing puck after Backman's shot was deflected, to put the visitors back in front. Any hopes Lulea had of tying the game all-but evaporated when Anton Hedman was ejected on a major penalty for Checking to the Head with 4:20 remaining. This gave SaiPa a man advantage until the end of the game, and they finally made the breakthrough with 22 seconds to play – John McFarland scoring on the empty net for what was assumed to be the last action of the game. I face, it was just the start of a spell which saw three goals in 20 seconds, as Lulea's Christian Jaros went through the Finnish defence by himself to score to-shelf with 8 seconds left to play. Again, Lulea took the goalie out but last the draw and could only watch as Backman added a second empty-netter with two seconds left on the board.
“It feels quite disappointing that we couldn’t manage to win this game. We controlled the game and outshot them with quite a huge margin but we didn’t manage to score enough goals, and that’s why we lost," said Stefan Nilsson, Lulea's head coach, after the game. "Obviously we now have to win both of our remaining games. We need to capitalize on our scoring chances, and score more than our opponents." Asked about Hedman's major penalty, Nilsson answered, "I couldn’t really tell in which direction the hit were, but if he hit him in head there's nothing to discuss. The rule book says it’s five and a game."

On the opposite bench, SaiPa head coach Ari Santanen was delighted with his team's performance. "We knew that Lulea would come hard, so defence was very important for us. We didn't have os many chances to score, but we took them when it mattered and got important goals. No we'll go home with two wins under our belt, and look forward to the next games" he said in the post-game interview session.

The result leaves SaiPa six points clear of Lulea, with the Swedes now staring elimination in the face unless they can win the return leg against the Finns and beat Eisbaren Berlin at home.

Sun, Sep 04 Lulea Hockey (h) 3-2 SO
With no points after two games, Lulea Hockey were in need of a huge performance in their third game if they wanted to avoid being on the verge of elimination in Group I. In what was by far their best effort of the young season so far, they dominated previously unbeaten SaiPa Lappeenranta in their own rink for most of the game, but it still wasn't enough to get three points. After leading 2-0, they had to settle for one point after a 3-2 shootout loss. Lulea's purpose was evident almost right off the opening faceoff as they fired several shots on Jussi Markkanen, but in the 12th minute the SaiPa goalie gave up a juicy rebound on Daine Todd's high shot and Karl Fabricius pounced on it and had a wide-open net in which to deposit the game's first goal. They continued to carry the play through the second period and Julius Junttila made it 2-0 in the 35th minute, as his shot hit a SaiPa stick and fooled Markkanen. Lulea nearly got a third goal on a third-period power play, which would have surely put the game away, but it was called back due to an interference call against Bill Sweatt. Once the SaiPa power play clicked in they made it count, as Matti Jarvinen's shot was deflected mid-air by Curtis Hamilton with 8:39 to play. Lulea complained of a high-stick, but after video review the goal was confirmed. That gave the home team a momentum boost and they pushed hard for the equalizer after that, very nearly forcing it across the line in a goalmouth scramble with just over four minutes to play, but Joel Lassinantti came up with a big goal-line stand. SaiPa went to the power play with 1:14 to go and, with Markkanen pulled for a 6-on-4 advantage, they got the equalizer with a minute to go when Eetu Koski's slapper pinballed past Lassinantti. After a scorless five-minute overtime, the game was decided in a shootout. Matti Jarvinen scored on SaiPa's first attempt, and that was the only goal in 10 attempts either way, with Lulea's Johan Forsberg shooting wide to end the game.
"I feel that this game was little bit different that the game in the Lulea," said SaiPa head coach Ari Santanen. "We didn't start well, I don't know why. For most of the game, Lulea were skating much better than us and moved the puck better than we did but still we we played well defensively. The last 10 minutes of the third period were excellent for us. We fore-checked very hard and had so many chances to score. It was a really tough game."
With the win, SaiPa are guaranteed a spot in the Round of 32, and they need only one point from their last game against Eisbaren Berlin to secure top spot in the group. As for Lulea, they have their first point, but still need a win at home against Berlin and help from SaiPa.
"We had the game and then we let them back into it in the third period with some scoring chances," a disappointed Stefan Nilsson, Lulea head coach, said after the game. "I don't know why we did it. we played the way we wanted for two periods, had a two-goal lead, and we talked about keeping their chances down, but we just couldn't hold on." About the last game, he lamented, "We don't have our destiny in our own hands anymore, but we're going to do everything we can to beat Berlin."
Sat, Sep 10 Eisbaren Berlin (h) 6-3

Eisbaren Berlin headed to Finland to face SaiPa knowing that it was still possible for them to win Group I with a regulation win. Having Lulea go out of the competition earlier in the week, neither side had to worry about missing the cut for the Round of 32. In the end, a 6-3 win means that SaiPa finishes first and Eisbaren second. Things started well for the visitors, who were backed by a good number of vocal fans – Florian Busch put Berlin ahead with under nine minutes played. Still leading going into the second period, the Eisbaren then found themselves on the wrong end of a 10 minute spell of dominance by the home side. John McFarland started the scoring for SaiPa at 24:58 when he tipped home Brett Carson's pass, and less than four minutes later Mikael Kuronen had the final touch on a 2-on-1 counterattack for the Finns to put them ahead. With 35:19 played, McFarland fired through the five-hole of Frans Tuohimaa to cap a wonderful solo skate through the Berlin zone to put SaiPa 3-1 up at the break. At the beginning of the final period Berlin, who needed a regulation win to take top spot in the group, got themselves back in the game – Kyle Wilson the scorer with just under 15 minutes to play. That hope was short-lived, though, as Eetu Koski's snapshot flew into the net 80 seconds later to re-establish SaiPa's two-goal advantage. Curtis Hamilton added number five for the hosts with 9:10 to play to give them a comfortable lead, however the Berlin club was not out of it yet. Busch tapped home Spencer Machacek pass out in front for his second of the game while shorthanded to bring Die Eisbaren back to within two again. The game looked to be heading for a 5-3 finish, but SaiPa were determined to have the last laugh – McFarland notching his hat-trick with another fine individual goal, this one with 1:34 remaining to give SaiPa the 6-3 win.
“This was a really great game for this time of the season,” said McFarland, the 24-year-old Canadian starting his first season in Europe. “I'm always happy when I can score so many goals like that, and I'm really happy that I could help my team with those goals. Today it was obviously a good game. I like to score a goals, that’s part of my nature. It feels great that everybody helped each other.”
“It was huge win for us today,” SaiPa head coach Ari Santanen said of the game that won them the group. “After first period the game seemed a pretty high uphill road for us. Lucky for us, goalie Tuohimaa kept us in the game in the first period and were only one goal behind. We changed our game strategy to the second period and lifted our wingers little bit higher. That’s helped our playing and, secondly, we moved better and win one to one situations. Also, the goals we scored helped us. Esibaren are a strong team. They have big guys which  are strong in contact and move well. We had all the time challenges with that. The third period was smart defending but we gave up that shorthanded goal.”
“Both games were quite similar,” Eisbaren head coach Uwe Krupp answered when asked to compare the two games between the two teams. “The first period was the greater period and we had good pressure on SaiPa and had quality scoring chances, but unfortunately the score was only 1-0. And the second period was the mirror image of the first game, where we had lots of chances and lots of pressure on SaiPa. SaiPa played better too – they scored lots of goals.
“I was happy with the way we played," Krupp continued. "We ended up getting many good chances in the third period and tried to come back. I liked the way we played.”