Tappara’s superiority was deafening in the SM league season 2022–23. Tappara showed his greatness in the finals, writes hockey journalist Sami Hoffrén.
Tampere
Scumbags were frozen. The championship caps were ready to be distributed. The Canada Cup had been polished to parade condition. Everything was ready for Tappara’s championship party.
The dream start brought final certainty to the Tappara camp: today you will get naat, naat, naat!
Tappara hit the scoreboard with 3-0 when the fifth final had only been played for a good seven minutes. The Nokia arena was boiling, raging and dancing.
The Pelicans were completely plastered. Fully on racks. Totally smitten. The star keeper was pulled from the goal Patrik Bartosak smashed his bat in the booth corridor and Tommi Niemelä gave a fireside speech in overtime.
Everything seemed clear. No team from this hole will rise against Tappara. Not at all.
The Pelicans are an exceptional hockey team that should not be doubted even when everything seems to be over. Thursday night showed that once again.
The Pelicans were seconds away from the most shocking stunt of the playoffs. The turquoise shirts rose behind three goals first to the side and in the third period passed. The final series was returning to Lahti.
Well, Tappara is an even more extraordinary hockey team.
Playoff MVP Brother Matti Savinainen rose once again to be a hero when heroism was available. Savinainen’s 4-4 equalizer a second before the buzzer put the championship celebration back on schedule.
In the extension, the man from the depth chain became the decider, when Marcus Davidson scored the golden 5–4 winning goal in 68.57 and started the golden day of the Tappara people.
In the end, the series of finals, which contained special twists and turns, had an incendiary end, when the fifth final turned into the spring Huim’s thriller. The 2022–23 league season culminated in the most dramatic way possible.
Lest the truth would be forgotten: Tampere’s Tappara is Finland’s best ice hockey club for the second year in a row.
The 4–0, 4–1 and 4–1 victory chart of Tappara’s playoffs tells everything about the superiority of the team from Tampere this spring. This season’s Tappara will go down in history as one of the toughest in SM league history in the 21st century.
Tappara’s logo can be printed directly in the dictionary next to the word dynasty. Tappara fulfills all the hallmarks of a modern-day power dynasty.
Since spring 2013, Tappara has played in the medal games every year and advanced to the finals eight times.
The famous club from Tampere has achieved four Finnish championships, four silvers and one bronze in the past 11 seasons. Oh, and it’s the reigning European champion.
A deafening superiority from the flagship of Finnish club hockey.
From the point of view of other league clubs, it can be a relief to know that one reign in Tappara ended this spring, when Jussi Tapola leaves the club as a four-time champion coach.
Tapola and Jukka Rautakorpi have alternately led Tapparaa for 11 seasons in a row, sometimes as head coaches, sometimes as sports directors. Tappara’s streak of success has been built a lot on the J&J power duo, but starting next season, the power will change.
Violation of the golden formula and Rikard Grönborgin hiring completely from outside is a very interesting bet from Tappara, but at the same time also a huge risk.
Dynasty Hats off to the final resistance as well. The Pelicans’ season as a whole was sensationally tough.
At the same time, Pelicans showed a model to other league organizations, how a club with a middle class budget can credibly play for the Finnish championship.
Just three years ago, the Pelicans were one of the most confused clubs in the SM League, when Tommi Niemelä started as head coach in Lahti. The club’s office was in a chaotic state and behind it was a season of sporting fiasco.
The main architect of the upswing is Niemelä, 39, who has rapidly increased his shares in the ranks of Finland’s top coaches.
Niemelä and sports director Janne Laukkanen have built a three-year project together, the fruits of which are now being harvested in the company.
Pelicans’ success story from small to big challenger is built on three cornerstones: continuity, skilled sportsmanship and player policy. Nothing new when it comes to successful teams, but in Lahti there is a modern, downright revolutionary approach to development work.
During the three years under Niemelä’s leadership, Pelicans has fostered a new kind of work culture, where players are given every opportunity to develop in an inspiring, demanding and healthy environment.
On the sports side, the Pelicans are on the right track and don’t need to start changing anything. The sports side is proven to be in the hands of experts, but the compass is badly lost when it comes to the office.
It must be remembered that the club’s marketing and sales side underwent major changes a couple of years ago. Also the main owner Pasi Nurminen has been active behind the scenes of the club.
On the ice, the Pelicans have a fresh and modern approach, but off the rink, the club is confused between clumsiness and defiance.
Despite the silver medal, it’s time for the Pelicans to thoroughly clean up their laundry. This question needs to be answered: how can there be such a blatant contradiction between the sports side and the management ladder in the organization?
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