KHL
Jokerit were not in action last week as the KHL schedule was reduced to just a handful of game.
SM liiga
* Pelicans - Secured a much needed win over JYP, after having a disappointing week going into the game. Juhani Tyrvainen and then Antti Tyrvainen scored for the Lahti-based side. Much of the credit should go to Vili Sopanen, who had a hand in both of the goals. Henri Heino made it three early into the second period, and although Juha-Pekka Hytonen pulled one back soon after, the Jyvaskyla side couldn’t find the net any more, meaning Pelicans were back to winning ways.
Pelicans then lost a ten goal shoot out with second placed KalPa in one of the games of the week. KalPa took a two goal lead by the eighth minute through Santeri Lukka and Jaakko Rissanen, but Pelicans who have been nothing but unpredictable this season hit back with three goals of their own in the space of six minutes to lead by the end of the first period. Juhani Tyrvainen netted the first, with Roope Elimaki tying the game and then Niko Kivela giving the team from Lahti the lead.
The goals kept coming in the second period. KalPa scored twice, to re-take the lead by the mid-point of the game. Joonas Lyytinen and Tommi Jokinen both converting. However, two minutes later Aleksi Rekonen tied the game for the Pelicans, in a game where anything could happen.
However, that was as good as things got for the Pelicans as, Jokinen got his second of the night, with eight seconds remaining in the period to restore SalPa’s lead, and then Rissanen completed his own brace 1:49 into the third period to secure the victory for the Kuopio-based side. That win keeps KalPa just a single point behind Tappara, although they have played a game more.
* Lukko had a very interesting week to say the least, losing an important game against their closest rivals at the foot of the table and then coming off on the wrong side of a 15 goal thriller, despite holding a 7-3 lead at one stage!
Lukko were well beaten by KooKoo in a bottom of the table clash at Kouvola. Kai Kantola grabbed two of the goal for KooKoo, while Anrei Hakulinen opened the scoring. Josh Green also scored for the home side.
HPK were the visitors two nights later as the two sides battled in an old-fashioned shoot-out. Aaron Gagnon opened the scoring for the Rauma-based side at 9:14, but three goals in less than four minutes gave HPK the lead by 16:58. Juho Keranen, Niclas Almari and Jere Innala all scoring.
Lukko then hit six unanswered goals, from six different scorers to lead 7-3 by 41:58. Sami Lahteenmaki, Aleksi Saarela, Toni Koivisto, Toni Suuronen, Janne Niskala and Ville Vahalahti gave what should have been an unsurmountable lead for the home side but amazingly HPK hit four goals in just over six minutes to force overtime.
Joonas Lehtivuori netted at 52:44 to start the comeback and by 58:51, Eero Somervuori, Jere Innala (his second of the night) and Teemu Turunen had also scored.
Not surprisingly Lukko found it difficult to find a response, with the momentum well and truly against them now. Mathias Porseland hit the dramatic overtime winner at 4:01 to snatch a much-needed win away from Lukko.
The team from Rauma find themselves well and truly rooted to the bottom of the standings now, following a difficult couple of weeks. It’s frustrating for the fans as before that the team had clawed their way off the bottom following some great results. They are currently four points behind SaiPa in 14th, but with a bunch of teams still within touching distance just above them, a couple of wins could see them climb the table once again.
* Tappara are still leading the standings after their latest derby victory over Ilves. Veli-Matti Savinainen was the hero for Tappara scoring twice, including the overtime winner. Juho Liuksiala had given Ilves the lead, but Teemu Nurmi hit back to level soon after. Juhani Jasu then gave Tappara the lead deep into the second period, before Savinainen netted at 54:14 to make it 3-1 and seemingly ensure the game was safe. However, Ilves had other ideas and Markus Jokinen quickly pulled on back within a minute to set up a tense finale. Michael Keranen tied it with less than two minutes to go to ensure the game would be settled in overtime. Savinainen hit the winner 2:57 into the extra session to give his team the win.
Tappara end the week just a single point clear of KalPa, but do have a game in hand over the team from Kuopio. Henrik Haapala leads the league in scoring with 32 points [9+23], while team mate Veli-Matti Savinainen is close behind him on 31 points [18+13] after his dramatic performance over their Tampere-rivals.
* KalPa were involved in a thriller in Hameenranta. Jaakko Turtuiainen scored early on for HPK but Matias Myttynen made sure the teams were level before the first intermission. Eero Somervuori then restored HPK’s lead just 49 seconds into the second period, and that the way the score stayed until the final eleven minutes.
Eetu Luostarinen netted for KalPa at 49:09 but HPK came back and took the lead for the third time, when Sakari Manninen scored four minutes later. KalPa then gave a final push and tied the game for the third and final time. Myttynen getting his second of the evening to take the game into overtime and then a shoot-out. Both teams missed their first two attempts, so it was left to Arttu Ilomaki to score the winning shot and give the team from Kuopio the points.
* TPS Were involved in one of the best games of the week after sharing ten goals with Assat, before the contest had to be settled by a shootout. Niko Peltola gave Assat the lead at 13:34, but Elmeri Eronen hit back for TPS within a minute to tie the game. Assat made sure they would take the lead into the first intermission though when Matti Kuparinen scored at 18:00.
Just over two minutes had gone in the second period when Otto Nieminen tied the game but once more Assat came back to take the lead. Peltol grabbing his second of the night at 25:58. The fans at the arena didn’t have to wait long for the next goal to arrive though, as Patrik Virta tied the game for TPS for the third time. Just 17 seconds later and the team from Turku had their first lead of the game. Ilkka Pikkarainen finding the net.
Assat were not going to give up though, and at 33:57 had tied the game themselves through Antti Jaatinen. The game would remain tied for less than three minutes however, as Jerry Ahtola made sure TPS would lead at the second break.
There was a shortage of goals in the final period. Matias Varttinen did tie the game up once more at 46:58, but with that the goals stopped coming. No further chances were converted in the remaining 15 minutes, or indeed in overtime so the teams had to settle the game with a shootout. Both teams missed their first three efforts, before Iikka Heikkinen finally found the net for TPS. Jarno Karki, had to score to keep his team alive, but failed to beat the goalie and that mean TPS claimed the spoils in this pre-christmas cracker.
TPS consolidated their third place in the standings after another impressive win two days later. Dave Spina and then a brace from Ilkka Heikkinen gave them a 3-1 win over Sport Vaasa. The visitor’s sole reply coming from Filip Riska inbetween the two Heikkinen goals.
* HIFK had to rely on a shootout victory over Sport after the game ended scoreless during regulation and overtime. Both teams then proceeded to miss their first two attempts before Joonas Rask finally found the net.
The Capital-city club then lost in overtime Saturday when they visited Ilves in Tampere. Matias Sointu gave the hosts the lead early in the second period, but goals from Lennart Petrell and Henri Tamminen gave HIFK the lead. Markku Flinck then levelled for Ilves at 52:28 to force overtime, where Jerry D’Amigo hit the winner at 4:21.
* SaiPa secured a much needed win in Mikkeli with a 3-1 success over Jukurit. Matti Jarvinen scored twice, either side of a solo strike by Teemu Tallberg for the home side. Tero Koskiranta scored with 14 seconds remaining to secure the win. Sadly, though they were unable to repeat that result against KooKoo who secured a 2-1 win with goals from Anrei Hakulinen and Josh Green to move above the side from Lapeenranta in the standings. SaiPa had taken the lead when Valtteri Virkkunen scored at 44:37, but that advantage lasted just 33 seconds before KooKoo drew back level. Green hit his side’s winner with less than two minutes left in the game.
* Elsewhere in the league, there were wins for Karpat over Jukurit, and Assat over JYP. Karpat had to come from a goal behind to win after Marko Kauppinen scored for the Mikkeli-side. Saku Maenalanen netted twice in eight third period minutes to steal the points off Jukurit. While, Mikael Saha, Niko Ojamaki and Matti Kuparinen all scored for the team from Pori in their success over JYP.
Wednesday, December 14
Assat v TPS 5-6
HPK v KalPa 3-4
HIFK v Sport 1-0
Jukurit v SaiPa 1-3
KooKoo v Lukko 4-0
Pelicans v JYP 3-1
Friday, December 16
Ilves v Tappara 3-4
JYP v Assat 0-3
KalPa v Pelicans 6-4
Karpat v Jukurit 2-1
Lukko v HPK 7-8
SaiPa v KooKoo 1-2
TPS v Sport 3-1
Saturday, December 17
Ilves v HIFK 3-2
Mestis
* SaPKo take a six point lead with them into the Christmas break after three high scoring wins last week. The Savenlinna team recorded a 5-2 road win over Espoo United last Wednesday, before dispatching KeuPa HT 4-3 and then returning home to beat RoKi 5-4 at home. Those wins were massively important to the club after closest rivals TUTO slipped up.
* TUTO visited K-Vantaa, while SaPKo were in Espoo but ended up losing 5-2 to the Helsinki-region club. The side from Turku did recover on Saturday though to record a 4-2 win over Jokipojat to keep SaPKo within touching distance.
* KeuPa HT – Despite losing to leaders SaPKo, KeuPa HT did well to bounce back and claim their second victory of the week. The began by beating IPK 5-2 on the road before that lost to SaPKo, but then won a seven goal thriller against Hokki, as they claimed a 4-3 win in Kajaani.
* K-Vantaa are now up to third after beating TUTO but they could also be thankful for a huge 6-1 win over IPK. Despite being just a single place below the Turku-based side they are ten points behind and will take some doing to close the gap. More concerning for them right now is the fact they have five teams directly below them within just four points.
* One of those sides is Hermes who sit in fourth just a single point back after they recorded wins over LeKi, 5-3 in Lempaala and then a pair of home wins over Jokipojat [2-1] and Espoo United [5-1].
* Elsewhere there were wins for Peliitat over JYP-Akatemia [0-3] and RoKi [4-2] to move up to Seventh, while Hokki and IPK claimed 3-2 road wins over RoKi and Espoo United respectively. JYP Akatemia also ended the week with a 5-2 success over LeKi.
Wednesday, December 14
K-Vantaa v TUTO 5-2
Leki v Hermes 3-5
Espoo United v SaPKo 2-5
JYP-Akatemia v Peliitat 0-3
IPK v KeuPa HT 2-5
Roki v Hokki 2-3
Friday, December 16
Peliitat v RoKi 4-2
KeuPa HT v SaPKo 3-4
LeKi v Jokipojat 2-1
Espoo United v IPK 2-3
Saturday, December 17
JYP Akatemia v LeKi 5-2
Hokki v KeuPa HT 3-4
Hermes v Espoo United 5-1
TUTO v Jokipojat 4-2
SaPKo v RoKi 5-4
K-Vantaa v IPK 6-1
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