SaiPa take on Tappara in one of two all-Finnish match-ups this round. While SaiPa enter as the seeded team by virtue of winning their group, most observers will probably pick Tappara as the favourites. The defending Finnish champs under-performed in the group stage with a high roster turnover in the off-season, but are off to a good start domestically, topping the league standings heading into the Round of 32. SaiPa, on the other hand, have struggled and sit 11th. These teams have met once so far in Liiga play, with Tappara winning 5-3 in Lappeenranta on 20 September. The familiarity between these two teams should make this an interesting two-game set.
Closer look: SaiPa Lappeenranta
(3-1-0-0, 8 points, 17:9, 1st in Group I)
In their return to the CHL this season, SaiPa were nearly perfect in the group stage, dropping only one point and finishing with 11 to win Group I easily. They got off to an excellent start with a pair of 4-2 road wins in Berlin and Lulea. They got off to a slow start in their home debut against Lulea and fell down a couple goals, but rallied to tie it in the third period and eventually won in a shootout, 3-2. They then sealed the group win by beating Eisbaren 6-3. SaiPa showed an impressive combination of solid defence and timely scoring in the group stage, and they will have to continue that if they want to advance past their own league champions in the next round.
John
McFarland
5+1, +4
Top Forward & CRAMO Top Scorer: Canadian forward John McFarland was on fire in SaiPa’s last game against Eisbaren Berlin. He scored a hat-trick and also assisted on one goal. Overall, he has collected 6 points so far in the CHL. As SaiPa head coach Ari Santanen said, McFarland can be a very important part of this team and team’s progress in the playoff stage. “When others loosened the grip, he went and scored a goal,” Santanen said. McFarland is a very fast skater who shoots on the right side. This is his first season in any European league and he has shown his skills and his potential in the wider rink. It seems that he has found his way, but will he be able to maintain this scoring pace?
Per
Savilahti-Nagander
3+1, even
Top Defenceman: Per Savilahti-Nagander is the anchor of SaiPa’s defensive game, and the right-shooting d-man is also important on the penalty kill. Savilahti-Nagander knows how to win in the CHL, as a member of Lulea Hockey in 2014-15 - in that victorious CHL season he contributed 5 points in 12 games. This season he already has 3 points after four games played. Savilahti-Nagander is loyal for his former and current teams, having played almost all of his career either with Lulea or SaiPa. Savilahti-Nagander has played the most games by an import player in SaiPa history. The question is, will this team loyal defenceman show his team the way to the victory in the Champions Hockey League?
Frans
Tuohimaa
92.86 %
Top Goaltender: Goaltender Frans Tuohimaa has taken his place as the main man between the pipes. Originally slated to be the back-up behind Jussi Markkanen, Tuohimaa played half of his team's games in the CHL group stage with a 92.86 save percentage. Coach Santanen said that Tuohimaa kept his team in the last game against Eisbaren Berlin with some big saves. Will he continue to out-perform former NHL goalie Markkanen as the season goes on?
Closer look: Tappara Tampere
(2-0-0-2, 6 points, 7:9, 2nd in Group C)
Tappara were expected to in their group, but were plagued by a lack of scoring, finding the net only seven times in four games. They started out with a mildly surprising 4-1 loss in Mannheim, but responded wth a solid 3-1 win in Lugano. It looked like they were on their way and would clean up at home, but were beaten by Lugano by the same 3-1 score, leaving them needing a regulation win in their last game in order to advance. Against Mannheim, they got off to a fast start – scoring twice in the first period – then barely escaped with a 2-1 win. They're still alive, but know they'll have to be better if they hope to go any further. They're off to a good start domestically, though, and a month of league play, they should be ready to take on one of their Liiga opponents in early October.
Henrik
Haapala
2+1, +1
Top Forward & CRAMO Top Scorer: Henrik Haapala is an excellent example of the junior path that Tappara can provide. Lempaala-born Haapala’s junior team is officially LeKi but he transferred to Tappara at an early age. After that, he went through the different stages and finally got the first chance in the Liiga in 2011-12 – this is now his sixth season in the league. Haapala has spent some time on loan in the second-tier Mestis over the years but has gradually gotten more responsibility and taken it well. Last season, he recorded 36 points in 65 regular-season and playoff games and he has continued from there. He is the Top Scorer for Tappara in both the CHL and Liiga – a truly remarkable man.
Pekka
Saravo
0+1, +1
Top Defenceman: Pekka Saravo has become over the years a sort of cult player to Tappara’s fans. The 36-year-old is Tappara’s own junior product and has played in the Liiga since 2000-01. He has spent 13 of his 18 professional seasons in Tappara and has risen to a true leader status. Saravo isn’t exactly flashy or a star player. He is good in physical play and can handle the puck well. What he does, he does professionally and leads the Tappara defence by example. Saravo is respected so much that he has a song named after him by Finnish rap group Mansesteri.
Dominik
Hrachovina
96.43%
Top Goaltender: Young Czech Dominik Hrachovina has truly made a name for himself this season. The 22-year-old first arrived in Finland in 2010 when he played for Tuto, a second-division club in Turku. A year later he transferred to the Tappara organization and has steadily climbed the ladder up towards playing in the Liiga. This season is the first one when he has truly gotten the chance prove himself. Teemu Lassila has carried some of the responsibility but Hrachovina has played most of the games so far and at an excellent level. The young man plays with confidence and leads the defensive efforts with his perfect Finnish in a distinctive Tampere dialect.
First Leg
This is a match-up between two Liiga teams, but despite their respective places in the standings at the moment – Tappara first and SaiPa 11th – they reverted to their CHL Group Stage forms tonight, with the visitors from Lappeenranta winning 2-0. It was a stiflingly solid defensive effort from SaiPa from start to finish, allowing the Finnish champs just 11 shots on Jussi Olkinuora all game.
“It's quite a nice feeling,” said Olkinuora, who earned the shutout despite the light workload. “It was fun to play and hopefully this was an entertaining game. Our team played well today. We got started well and everybody did their jobs.”
After a scoreless first period, SaiPa got on the board early in the second when Tomi Leivo punched home a loose puck from a scramble just three seconds after their power play had ended. From there, Tappara tried to get back into it, but just couldn't get any sustained offence going. SaiPa's discipline showed in the fact that they only gave Tappara two power plays all game, while they had five chances themselves.
It looked like 1-0 might be the way the game ended, but SaiPa doubled their lead in the last five minutes when Eetu got to his own rebound and tucked it in. Overall, Teemu Lassila had a fine night in the Tappara net with 25 saves, allowing the two rebound goals.
"I feel irritated because of our game tonight," veteran Tappara defenceman Pekka Saravo said after the game. "We were not as ready to play in the first period as we should´ve been."
Tappara now have their work cut out for themselves, heading into Lappeenranta next Tuesday with a two-goal deficit on aggregate.
Tomi Leivo celebrates the first goal for SaiPa.
SaiPa Lappeenranta goalkeeper Jussi Olkinuora was a satisfied man after his team’s 2-0 victory against Tappara Tampere. Olkinuora made only 11 saves for the shutout, but nonetheless was a key factor in the win.
“It's quite a nice feeling,” the goalie said after the game. “It was fun to play and hopefully this was an entertaining game. Our team played well today. We got started well and everybody did their jobs.”
The Tappara game was Olkinuora’s first-ever in the CHL, and the 25-year-old Finn likes what he saw. “This seems to be a fun tournament. The jerseys are nice and everything is well-organized.”
Playing against Tappara was a special moment for Olkinuora, as Tappara is his junior team and he played at that club until he was 16 years old.
“It was fun to play against Tappara. I actually trained with them last summer for a few weeks. They have an excellent team and they play really well.”
It's been a while since Olkinuora’s last visit to Hakametsa – seven years, in fact. “I played in this arena in Junior A when IFK Helsinki visited here. Actually, I even had a shutout that time too.”
Since that time he has played in North America, first attending the University of Denver, then splitting time between the AHL and ECHL. This is his first professional season in Europe, but his contract with SaiPa only runs until 3 December. The goalkeeper doesn’t stress about the future, though.
“It is true that it ends then. I can just wait until then, and take a look at what I should do after that. It's still some time away.”
SaiPa goalie Jussi Olkinuora is congratulated by Ville Vainikainen after shutting out Tappara.
One of the match-ups in the Champions Hockey League Round of 32 is Tappara Tampere against SaiPa Lappeenranta. The teams know each other well from the Finnish Liiga, so there were few tactical surprises about the first game, which SaiPa won 2-0 on a shutout by ex-Tappara junior goalie Jussi Olkinuora.
Tappara appeared to be having a lot of trouble against SaiPa, as they managed only 11 shots on goal. Experienced defenceman Pekka Saravo felt that something was off about the way his team performed on the ice.
“I feel irritated because of our game tonight,” he said after the first game was over. “We were not as ready to play in the first period as we should've been.”
After the first period, Tappara seemed to play a bit better, but SaiPa managed to keep the home team away from the danger zone.
“It is difficult to change pace in the middle of a hockey game,” Saravo thought.
In this two-game series, where the team that scores the most total goals advances, Tappara is now down two goals. That means they need to win in Lappeenranta by a three-goal margin on Tuesday.
“The situation is now 2-0 in their favour, but we will be ready to fight for qualification in a week in Lappeenranta. There are still three periods to go,” Saravo said determinedly.
At least the fact that they won 5-3 in Lappeenranta on 20 September should give Tappara confidence heading into the return game. The fact that the teams have already met twice now means that they are familiar with each other.
“There were hardly any surprises. SaiPa is a very good team and we were not at our best tonight,” Saravo said.
When asked about more specific reasons for the negative result, he explained, “We lost way too many one-on-one battles in this first game, so we really need to improve on that for the next game. Also, we were too slow and we couldn't get the puck into the offensive zone.”
Hockey is a game based on scoring goals and defending your own goal. Both of these things become more difficult when playing shorthanded, and Saravo was resentful about the amount of penalties Tappara took.
“All the basic mistakes you can possibly make in a hockey game, we made them all. Those just usually break the game one way or another.”
The return game in Lappeenranta is on Tuesday starting at 19:00 local time, 18:00 CET, with the winner of the aggregate score advancing to the Round of 16.
SaiPa Lappeenranta took the second win, 4-2 in the game and 6-2 on aggregate, from Tappara Tampere. The game wasn’t as decisive as the numbers indicate, however. After the first game the score was 2-0 for SaiPa. Tappara needed to score three goals and not let SaiPa have any.SaiPa scored their first goal of the game after seven minutes. Good defence game and blocking the puck led to the situation where Tero Koskiranta got an opportunity to score the game's opening goal.
Manu Honkanen's goal in the 10th minute brought Tappara even the game, when his hard shot from the blue line beat goalie Jussi Markkanen.
The next goals came in the second period. First SaiPa’s Mikael Kuronen with a toe-drag goal and then a minute later Tappara’s Honkanen was left alone and he scored his second. The next goal was scored by SaiPa's Eetu Koski. Toni Leivo’s excellent pass found Koski, who scored SaiPa’s third goal from an excellent shooting spot.
Leivo, Koski and Kuronen were SaiPa's best line in the game. Koski and Kuronen both scored once and assisted once, while Leivo assisted on two goals. Kuronen was satisfied as well as himself and his team.
“Our goal was to make our way to the next round. Now we've done it and of course we are happy,” he said after game.
The trio has played several games together but recently many injuries have mixed up the lines. SaiPa head coach Ari Santanen is happy that the injured players are getting healthy and the coaches now have the opportunity to make the lineup as they want.
“The Leivo-Koski-Kuronen line was re-united this game and the boys played a good game. I hope we can continue this way with our players staying healthy,” Santanen said in the press conference.
Kuronen was happy to play again with his old linemates. “It is nice to play in same line with Leivo and Koski. We have a clear assignment how to play the game. The game went well with this line and I hope that we can continue together,” he summarized.
Brock Trotter played his first game in SaiPa in tonight Champions Hockey League game and immediately scored his first goal on the power play with an effective shot to the top right corner.
“Trotter showed that he can play on the power play and brings extra firepower to it. Great first game, maybe he didn’t get so much time on the ice, but when he played he really caused some dangerous moments,” Santanen said.
Tappara head coach Jussi Tapola admitted that SaiPa earned their place in the next round. “We couldn't win today. The result was as honest as it can be. SaiPa was better in both games and earned the right to continue in the Champions Hockey League.”
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