A capacity crowd turned up to see the,´97-98 Championships Banner, unveiled in a pre-match ceremony. Pertti Lehtonen got a standing ovation as he took care of the opening face-off. Lehtonen retired after last season and his number #23 will in a near future be hoisted to the rafters.
The game was very much a season opener with inaccurate passing and players not quite having the timing yet. Brief glimpses of the puck moving swiftly from man to man made a promising impression on me, however.
Uneventful could be the word best describing yesterday´s contest. Noteworthy was that the 3rd (Kortelainen-Sihvonen-Tuomainen) and 4th (Laaksonen-Ahonen-Kalto) lines outshined the top lines. Clearly it was visible that players that had had to fight for their spots on the roster were more focused and therefore effective.
Stars:
#1 Tom Laaksonen
#2 Toni Sihvonen
#3 Marko Tuomainen