KHL
Jokerit had a very disappointing week, losing all four games they played. It started last Monday when they lost a penalty shoot out at home to Lada after a 3-3 tie, but from there on in things got much worse. The Helsinki-based side headed off on a tour of the far-east when they made a first ever visit to China to face Kunlun Red Star. They lost that one 6-3 before heading across the border into Russia to take on Admiral. This time Jokerit lost to an overtime goal after a 4-4 draw. From the Fetisov Arena in Vladivostok they headed North to Khabarosvk, where they lost 3-2, to complete a truly disastrous week. With 50 games now played Jokerit are hanging on to their play-off place by the skin of their teeth. They find themselves in the eighth and final spot, tied on points with Vityaz, just above them, but more concerning now is that Sochi are just a point behind them, with Slovan a further two back. There is then a gap to eleventh place, so as the teams head into the final stretch it looks increasingly likely that those four sides will be competing for the final two play-off spots.
SM liiga
Pelicans – Stay in fifth place in the standings after wins over Sport Vaasa and Lukko. Vili Sopanen got the breakthrough at 34:07 after finishing a move set up by Juhani Tyrvainen and Taavi Vartiainen. Arttu Heikkinen made sure the points were safe with three minutes to go.
Pelicans were amongst the goals on Saturday when they found the net Seven times against struggling Lukko. Morten Poulsen and Juhani Tyrvainen both gave the Lahti-side the lead only for Ville Vahalahti and Aaron Gagnin to counter on both occasions. Juha Leimu, Mikko Koussa and Hannes Bjorninen then hit three unanswered goals to give Pelicans a 5-2 lead. Lukko attempted a come-back at 47:50 when Vahalahti scored his second of the game, but further strikes from Aleksi Rekonen and Juha Leimu killed off any hopes of rescuing something from the game for the Rauma side.
Lukko - find themselves firmly rooted to the bottom of the standings after defeats to HPK, Assat and Pelicans. Sakari Manninen and Oula Palve scored either side of the first intermission to give HPK the win on Wednesday.
Lukko were left feeling frustrated after losing their local derby with Assat in Rauma. The visitors went home with the spoils after claiming a two-goal lead, on three occasions during the game. Teemu Vuorisalo and Matias Varttinen grabbed the first goals to give Assat a 2-0 lead, but when Toni Suuronen halved the deficit at 34:04, Lukko thought they were back in the contest. However, three minutes later Tommi Paakkolanvaara restored the Pori-based side’s two goal advantage, but then Lukko his back just over a minute later through Keaton Ellerby to make it 2-3. Charles Bertrand then hit what proved to be the winner at 44:19 to once again give his side a two goal cushion. That ultimately proved enough as even though Peter Tiivola pulled another one back for Lukko at 48:46, the home side were unable to ties the game.
Photograph with kind permission from Roosa Marjanen
SaiPa - Grabbed two important wins earlier in the week before getting hit for five by JYP on Saturday.
Tero Koskiranta scored the only goal of the game for SaiPa against Jukurit at 31:05.
Mikael Kuronen was the hero on Friday as his goal and penalty shot were enough to claim the points in Kouvala. Kuronen opened the scoring at 44:14 only for Mikko Virtanen to level just over a minute later. Kuronen then hit the only goal during the fourth round of a shoot-out to secure the victory.
JYP hit SaiPa with five goals to claim the win on Saturday. Henri Kanninen, Niklas Friman, Jani Tuppurainen and Antti Suomela with two grabbed the goals for the side from Jyvaskyla. Jarno Lippojoki hit the lone marker for SaiPa.
Tappara – maintained their place at the top of the standings this week with two wins from their three games.
They eased to a 4-2 success in Mikkeli on Monday after Martin Raymark, Jan-Mikael Jarvinen, Jani Lajunen and Jukka Peltola all scored. Jukurit did tie the game briefly when Miika Roine netted, but they were level for just over a minute before falling behind again. Zach Budish scored in the third period to bring Jukurit back to within one goal, but that is as close as it got for them to cause a shock result.
Tappara twice had to come from two goals down at home to KooKoo to tie the game but then four minutes of madness towards the end of the game saw them surprisingly lose to the side from Kouvola. Kai Kantola and Terry Broadhurst gave KooKoo a two goal lead by the game’s mid-point, but Sebastien Repo halved that deficit before the end of the second period. Eero Savilahti then briefly restored KooKoo’s two goal advantage, only for Charles Linglet and Jukka Peltola to tie the game by the 48th minute, in what looked like being one of Tappara’s famous comeback victories.
However, the game swung back in KooKoo’s favour after Jere Rouhiainen was given a penalty setting the visitors up on the powerplay. Tappara. Looked to have killed the penalty but just one sedond after returning to full strength, Robin Jacobsson netted what would be the game winning goal. With desperation setting in, Tappara gave up another penalty, when Alexander Bonsaksen was called to the box at 55:34. That would prove even more costly as Josh Green scored for KooKoo just 22 seconds later and any thoughts of a comeback were well and truly quashed when Kantola grabbed his second of the night at 58:01.
Tappara ended the week six points clear of second-placed KalPa with a game in hand after dispatching Sport 3-1. Veli-Matti Savinainen scored twice, either side of Otto Karvinen’s solo strike for the side from Vaasa. Teemu Nurmi then scored a third early in the final period to make the game safe.
KalPa – Slipped to two defeats to fall six points behind leaders Tappara.
With Tappara losing on Wednesday, KalPa failed to capitalise on their rivals misfortune and threw away their game against Ilves despite taking a lead in the first minute through Niko Mikkola. The visitors from Tampere tied the game up 36 seconds into the second period when Michael Keranen converted a feed from Juho Liuksiala. There were no further goals so the game moved into a shoot-out. Both sides missed their first attempts, but Jerry D’Amigo didn’t. Scoring in the third round of the contest to steal the points away from Kuopio.
Against TPS, it was second versus third once again, but this time it was the team from Turku, Finland’s third largest city, who came away with the win. Jerry Ahtola opened the scoring for the home side at 16:13 and when Jasper Lindsten scored early into the seconds period, it looked as if TPS were going to have a comfortable victory. Those thoughts were soon turned on their head when Arttu Ilomaki and Janne Keranen scored to level the game for the Kuopio-based side. That meant the game would have to be settled with a shoot-out and after both sides missed their first opportunities, Iikka Heikkinen got the breakthrough for TPS. Jaakko Rissanen had to score for KalPa to keep them in the game but he was unable to convert and it meant the Turku side have now narrowed the gap to their opponents in the standings.
KalPa completed their miserable week after losing a third game, this time to HIFK in overtime. Jesse Mankinen had levelled for the visitors after Jasse Ikonen had given the Helsinki side the lead. Teemu Eronen then hit the overtime winner at 4:09.
TPS remain in third, three points behind KalPa.
Henrik Tallinder scored the game’s only goal at the mid-way point to give TPS and important road win against Assat in Pori.
While they lost a thrilling game in Oulu against Karpat, where the lead changed hands on four occasions. Jasper Lindsten gave TPS the lead at 14:23 but Mika Pyorala and Shaun Heshka responded with goals 76 seconds apart early in the second period. The Turku-based side hit back with three goals before the period was over when Jani Forsstrom, Martin Berger and Jonne Virtanen all found the net. However, Karpat came roaring back in the third period when Ville Leskinen, Saku Maenalanen and Pyorala again all scored to give them a 5-4 lead. TPS tied it with 1:14 left when Ilkka Pikkarainen netted, which took the game into overtime. Pyorala completed his hat-trick at 1:23 of the extra session to win the game.
HIFK are in Seventh place in the standings and were involved in some interesting games this week.
IFK recovered from going a goal down after Ilkka Mikkola gave the side from Oulu the lead at 13:33. The Helsinki-based side hit four unanswered goals to claim the points. Saku Salmela tied the game at 26:44, before a double strike from Juhamatti Aaltonen either side of the second break but them into the driving seat. Corey Elkins hit a fourth with just over a minute to go.
HIFK threw away the game in Jyvaskyla despite leading on three separate occasions. Juhamatti Aaltonen scored a hat-trick but each time JYP answered. Jani Tuppurainen, Henri Kanninen and Ossi Louhivaara all finding the net. Jerry Turkulainen then hit the winner for the home side at 47:11.
Jukurit - were involved in a seven goal thriller in Eastern Finland on Thursday, with the Mikkeli-based side coming out on top after Miika Koivisto hit an overtime winner. Jukurit had taken the lead three times during regulation time, but on each occasion Sport would hit back to tie the game. Teemu Suhonen and Matti Lamberg traded goals 22 seconds apart, in the games third minute, to set the tone for the contest. Janne Ritamaki, restored Jukurit’s lead at the midpoint of the game but Tomi Korkko tied it again at 47:22. Jesper Piitulainen gave Jukurit the lead for a third time but with 53 seconds left on the clock ALeksi Laakso hit a third equalising goal for the visitors. That then sent the teams into overtime where Jukurit had to dig deep to find a fourth goal, which they did, to seal the win.
HPK - came away from Oulu with an important win after first taking an early but then having to come from behind to force overtime. Teemu Turunen, netted for the visitors just 41 seconds into the contest, but Saku Maenalanen had tied the game by 3:32, and Jesse Saarinen gave Karpat a lead to take with them into the first break. That looked to have been enough for the Northern Finnish side to win the game but at 58:37 Janne Lahti tied it to take the clash into overtime. Philippe Cornet then hit the winner for the team from Hammeenlina 2:46 into the extra session.
Otto Paajanen hit the goals to give HPK the points against Assat. Matti Kuparinen responded for the Pori based side.
KooKoo - won their home game against KooKoo thanks to Valtteri Ilomaki, who levelled the scores following Jarkko Immonen’s opener for KooKoo, and then Teemu Rautiainen who scored the only goal of the shoot-out in the fourth round.
Monday, January 09
Jukurit v Tappara 2-4
Wednesday, January 11
HIFK v Karpat 4-1
HPK v Lukko 2-0
KalPa v Ilves 1-2
Pelicans v Sport 2-0
SaiPa v Jukurit 1-0
Tappara v KooKoo 3-6
Assat v TPS 0-1
Thursday, January 12
Jukurit v Sport 4-3
Karpat v HPK 2-3
TPS v KalPa 3-2
Friday, January 13
JYP v HIFK 4-3
KooKoo v SaiPa 1-2
Lukko v Assat 3-4
Saturday, January 14
HIFK v KalPa 2-1
HPK v Assat 2-1
Ilves v KooKoo 2-1
Karpat v TPS 6-5
Pelicans v Lukko 7-3
SaiPa v JYP 1-5
Sport v Tappara 1-3
Mestis
SaPKo Still hold a nine point lead over second placed TUTO despite losing both games last week. The Savenlinna-based side lost heavily to RoKi 7-3 and then followed that up a 3-1 loss to Hermes in Kokkola. TUTO Were unable to capitilise however, after their game with Leki last Friday, was cancelled. They then got beat 5-2 whilst visiting KeuPa HT.
Espoo United who have been struggling to re-aclimitise after being demoted from the SM-liiga over the summer, have found some fomr of late and following their two victories away to JYP Akatemia (4-3) and IPK (3-2), now find themselves up to Tenth in the table on 48 points and just two points and two places off a play-off berth. They couldn’t make it three road wins though as they lost 3-2 in Joensuu to Jokipojat.
Hokki who now slip below Espoo in the table suffered two heavy defeats last week. They got smashed 5-1 by RoKi on home ice on Wednesday and then 6-3 away to LeKi on Saturday. They were able to grind out a 3-2 win away to Helsinki Region side, K-Vantaa between those two games however.
Peliitat, based in the Central Finnish town of Heinola are one of those sides chasing a play-off berth, and they gave their post season chances the world of good with two wins last week, beating IPK away 2-1, and Jokipojat at home 3-2. They now sit in ninth place one place and just a single point behind LeKi with a game in hand.
Elsewhere there were away wins for Jokipojat over KeuPa HT (4-2) and K-Vantaa over JYP Akatemia (3-2).
Wednesday, January 11
JYP Akatemia v Espoo United 3-4
Hokki v RoKi 1-5
KeuPa HT v Jokipojat 2-4
IPK v Peliitat 1-2
Friday, January 13
RoKi v SaPKo 7-3
Peliitat v Jokipojat 3-2
IPK v Espoo United 2-3
TUTO v LeKi
K-Vantaa v Hokki 2-3
Saturday, January 14
JYP Akatemia v K-Vantaa 2-3
Hermes v SaPKo 3-1
KeuPa HT v TUTO 5-2
Jokipojat v Espoo United 3-2
LeKi v Hokki 6-3
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