HIFK wants to return to its home hall. The semi-final series was psyching but at the same time very interesting, writes Heikki Miettinen.
Tapparan winning four times in any playoff series requires extreme success. On Friday, IFK was nothing but a champion destabilizer. Saturday was different.
HIFK won 4–2, even though Tappara’s head coach Jussi Tapola tried to communicate that IFK was 7–1 better.
It was difficult to single out a better team from Saturday’s encounter. Valtteri Merelä lamented that they lost every duel.
Tappara wasn’t that bad, not even close. These talks belong in the playoff spring. This is called psyching.
Pressure and all possible other attention is pushed away from oneself. Tactics outside the rink must also be mastered.
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Saturday a loss to HIFK would very likely have meant that the lights could be turned off at Nordis. It’s different now. You should make sure that the plugs are firmly in the wall, because HIFK wants to return to its home hall.
Tappara will play the next three matches at the Nokia Arena in front of their home crowd.
IFK gets along with the public, but there is little else in the rink. Tappara is nasty because it doesn’t bend or break, even if you are defeated. An example came on Friday.
Fortunately for IFK, a different example followed in the second match. The home team held on, the visitors succumbed.
In the opening game, HIFK only had a minute to last, but the pressure and rush on the field grew too great. The team did not fall into the same mistake again.
Semi-final series got interesting. Tappara is still the favorite, but IFK is a good conundrum.
The pattern goes so that IFK would have to win one of the three consecutive matches against Tampere in order for the fight to continue at the Stad.
Even though Tappara is heading towards Easter as a favorite, IFK is by no means a silent partner. In the first two semifinals, HIFK was able to fully challenge Tappara, even being better for long periods.
What matters now is whether IFK’s tendon can last, and how much Tappara can rock his game.
Difficult questions like guessing the election winner.
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