The EHL showed its reality to fans in the Helsinki Rink tonight. You import a bunch of aging goons from Germany; in return you get a three hour massacre. Hockey is supposed to be a physical game, but this was gang war. My suggestion is that coach Manno and his men take the first available flight to some obscure neighbourhood in LA. Start a franchise in the West Coast Hockey League. Your "talent" is wasted in Europe.
The previous games this season have been boring and long (2:47 and 2:58)this one was long 3:00, but surely not uneventful. Yours truly got sentimental as six Lions on the penalty bench, at the same time, brought back golden memories of the Finnish National Team crowding the box in the seventies.
Not only the Lions roster was surplus, but also the Swedish referee, Ulf Rådbjer, made the most of the occasion. He´s a former player himself, but notorious of loosing his authority before the players due to the volatility in his officiating.
1st period- HIFK end up in the slow tempo and disorganized way of playing the North Americans master. This resulted in two goals conceded. 0-1: a solid icing waved off. 0-2: defensive error ends up in breakaway and goal.
2nd period- a full hour of horror as the Lions concentrated on punishing the men in red. The numerous, power play, opportunities led to a 5-0 period win for HIFK
The reason for this accelerating aggressivity exploding in the faces of the HIFK players remains a mystery for me. A team is 2-0 up and then you spoil it by every mean available ? The only thing I could sense in the stand was the obscene arrogance and undersetimation of the opponents, often a trade mark of North Americans playing European teams.
Eventually as HIFK got the tempo up and managed to score a couple the game was, obviously, decided. Especially Ruutu was the target of abuse all through the game, but by keeping his composure, with ease, his appearance was probably decisive for the outcome of the entire game. I´m positive that this episode (some would call it a hockey game) will help HIFK regain their fighting spirit and will bring them to a higher level in their coming games. The schedule is tough, but we´ll make the most of it. WELL DONE !
Of the individual players, in addition to Ruutu, Rafalski is THE man right now, hes simply the leader right now. Borsato and Caloun felt looser (and more efficient) than so far this year. Kalto, Sihvonen and Tuomainen were immensly important in throwing their bodies at the opponents; basically you can say there wasn´t a weak link in the team today. The lines were not working 100%, but they are getting better. Scorers for HIFK were: Rajala, Rafalski (1+3), Nieminen (1+1), Karalahti (2), Borsato (2), Ruutu and Caloun (1+2).
Curiosity: Caloun and Nikko (twice) got penalties for improper equipment as their stick blades were against the rules.
Stars:
#1 Jarkko Ruutu
#2 Brian Rafalski
#3 Luciano Borsato