The former champion favorite has quickly slipped towards unpredictable pity players, writes Mikko Pajala.
Helsinki It was not for nothing that IFK was placed among the biggest champion favorites during the hockey league season.
New acquisitions were the number one focus Jori Lehterän led by exceptionally famous people. For a long time, the team also looked balanced: for once the defense had been properly invested, and with the young first defender Roope Tapose had a brilliant breakthrough season below.
The five-game losing streak was broken with a 5-2 home win against JYP, but lifting the Canada cup still feels like a utopia for HIFK.
The head coach who got an extension in the middle of the season Ville Peltonen the crew has frozen badly with the wider shooting, even though Wednesday's performance was already excellent.
HIFK is still one of the weakest teams in the series when measured by fitness scores of 5–10 matches.
The playoffs there is still time to start. Nobody still wants to face a team with physicality, grit and experience like HIFK. Hunting for four wins would be a painful experience for opponents to say the least.
In addition, it is worth remembering last spring, when HIFK, who reached the top six in the spirit of this season, beat Luko in style and advanced to the semi-finals.
Anyone however, this time they may not have HIFK against them in the quarterfinals.
The fall cycle may still take the team to the so-called pity players. It's a very unpredictable world. When superiority is defined by a best-of-three match series, the role of chance becomes greater than in a regular best-of-seven series.
A couple of single mistakes and unlucky bounces can decide the fate of the season.
Current the format has been in use since spring 2004. Out of 38 match pairs, the team ranked higher has advanced 22 times, i.e. with a certainty of about 57.9 percent.
This time, the teams that finish 7–10 in the really even League are all of relatively high standard. For example, this season's second underperformer TPS or persistently defensive and physical Ässät would definitely give HIFK a hard time, especially if Peltonen doesn't get his team to cheer up.
It would be completely ironic if a team that was built to be suitable for the playoffs with big money was eliminated from the game even before the actual playoffs.
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