Roope Taponen, who is going into the League season as HIFK’s number one goalkeeper, is trying to refine the parts of his game that he hasn’t “caught” yet. The army has taught patience and positive thinking.
Different summer and training season. That can be summed up as HIFK’s first goalie going into the hockey league season Roope Taponen the time from the bronze game that ended the last season to the beginning of the next season.
Taponen, 22, was one of the athletes who were part of last spring’s incoming batch of Sports School in Santahamina. To the same one who got plenty of media attention basketball star Lauri Markkanen because of.
Taponen went to register in Santahamina on April 17, but left to finish the league season in the ranks of HIFK and was on the national team’s trip for a week. Then a different kind of everyday life began.
“It was a new environment, and at first I thought I’d miss my mother a bit. I wonder if this is the place for me. I wasn’t quite prepared for that. But it started to roll from there,” says Taponen.
“I may not be the best soldier of all, but I’m certainly good enough. When I put the target close enough, I might just hit it.”
I kill began his service in a forest camp. At the beginning, there was a situation at the HIFK veskar where the nights spent in the forest were more than those spent in the barracks.
Finnish summer also showed its most unstable sides. During the first forest night, snow fell from the sky.
Sleeping brought its own challenge to forest camps. The nights were short at times.
“Some people know how to sleep, and you get used to it. If you got four hours of sleep in the forest, that was already good for you. It was quite difficult to sleep on the moss at first.”
Roope Taponen aired his quarter-final victory over Luko last spring.
Season as the beginning approaches, Taponen tells his aforementioned memories with a smile on his face. Staying in tents and being monitored didn’t leave any bigger traumas. Spirit was also good in the group of twenty puck players.
In the first games, Taponen is still enrolled in the army. The return of the equipment and the return home are at the end of September.
At the barracks when he was there, Taponen was able to train mostly once a day at the gym. As the beginning of the season approached, he was with HIFK on a sports assignment.
In the summer, the sports school’s hockey team held an ice camp for a few weeks. There were players from most of the league teams, so the training group was of a good standard.
“In the framework of what you can do, it has been handled quite well. I think everyone who is physically and mentally capable should join the army.”
Assistant Ombudsman Maija Sakslin almost a decade ago, the fact that the conscript service of athletes was too light was addressed.
Taponen confirms based on his own experiences that even athletes are expected to be present at the barracks.
“It’s not like one picture and then it’s gone. Yes, we are expected to be there. Now you can’t say normally, but quite a lot.”
Among the lessons learned from the army, Taponen also lists an increase in patience.
“It’s a hurry to wait. And you have to find a certain kind of positivity in everything. You’ll have a long life anyway if you start thinking about things through negativity.”
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“It’s not like one picture and then it’s gone.”
I kill received a lot of praise for his moves last season, but his hunger is still higher. According to his own assessment, Veskari was not among the top three goalkeepers in the league last season.
This season, that’s the goal. For his own team, Taponen wants to be a supporting force.
Taponen says first that he won’t reveal who he thinks were the best goalkeepers last season. However, the analysis soon turns to the level of names.
“Pretty good Lehtinen Lassi and Marek Langhamer pulled, of course Christian Heljanko without forgetting. Although maybe not Heljanko in light of the statistics [sitä ollut], but the results speak for themselves: a win in the regular season and a win in the entire League. Well, now I’m going to reveal.”
Last in the spring, Tappara beat HIFK in the semi-finals. Tappara’s goal stick Waltteri Merelä told after the series, that Tapose was scouted, that he was well received. Tappara wanted a masked player at the border of the goalkeeper’s area, so that it would be more difficult to come against him.
Taponen admits that the importance of counterattacks in his own play is one thing he has wanted to hone for the future, the goalkeeper coach by Jan Lundell with. The hope is to be a little closer to the finish line.
“In some situations, going too far could have backfired. You have to think about the benefit you get from being a little more in front compared to the disadvantages it brings,” he reflects.
“A small pass to the side, then there is a much longer distance under the puck. That’s one thing that has been tried to be done.”
In addition, there have been small nuances in the work, which, according to Taponen, are related to, for example, the upper back and the position of the legs.
“The style of play as such has not been reinvented, but a few things that were not caught so badly last season.”
Goalkeeper Roope Taponen posed in a group photo with 6-year-old Kasper Penttinen at the fan event of HIFK’s league team in the ice hall in Helsinki.
Analysis is everyday for the goalkeeper, for example through videos. Taponen says that he has sometimes noticed that he analyzes what he has done in his mind even in the middle of the game.
Part of the analysis is also related to feelings. A good, confident feeling in one’s own performance is ultimately the thing that affects the goalkeeper’s game, as well as the finely honed technical details.
“In the end, it doesn’t matter how the puck sticks. When it feels good and the puck sticks, that’s a good thing.”
When The league starts, in the very first game, Taponen meets his army friend. Tapparan Petteri Puhakka like the HIFK veskar, belonged to the spring arrival batch of the Sports School.
“When you come up against army buddies from other gangs, there’s always a little extra boost, of course. It’s nice to play against”, says Taponen.
Appropriate banter with friends is included after winnings. Ilvesen was also in the army with Taponen Matias Mantykivi. Both Puhakka and Mäntykivi were already good friends with Taponen.
Mäntykivi scored a goal behind HIFK’s veskar in last spring’s bronze game.
“Yes, that goal came from there all summer. They don’t forget about him, at least. The same record remains playing.”
But what is Taponen’s secret memory that you can share with your friends in the years to come?
The answer comes quickly and is related to the first time at the shooting range.
“Would he have been shot lying down from 150 meters. I took the position as taught, and I realized at that point that I don’t know how to close only my left eye,” Taponen begins.
When shooting, it meant that Taponen was difficult to see through the scope.
“Then I thought at that point that I would close both eyes and press the trigger three times. They all hit the target: stop, stop, and cut.”
Taponen doesn’t know exactly what causes it, but says it’s related to the motor skills of the eyes.
He shows how closing the left eye leads to the right eye also starting to close.
“The following weekend, I trained with the desire that I have to succeed in this. I can see right through the scope.”
They say the right one is easy.
“No problem. When you have to put it on the left, it just doesn’t bend. There’s something about it.”
Goalkeeper Roope Taponen posed in a joint photo with Maria Tallberg at the HIFK league team’s fan event at the Helsinki Ice Hall.
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