HIFK has reversed the trend after a difficult start to the season. The team’s goalkeepers managed to end up in the shooting window – criticism that goalkeeper Roope Taponen proved to be unwarranted.
For HIFK, the season has offered everything between heaven and earth. The team, which was last in the table after five rounds played, has finally found its form and managed to break away from the negative trend. The points streak was at its best up to 16 games and the chances of a direct playoff spot look increasingly realistic after the positive spurt.
A player who has grown by taking on a lot of responsibility is the young goalkeeper Roope Taponen.
He entered the season as the team’s reserve goalkeeper, but during the season has been able to exceed everyone’s expectations and squeeze the role of the team’s first goalkeeper.
Taponen, who is from Espoo, is above all happy to have been able to realize his dream of calling himself a league goalkeeper.
– I enjoy every match that I get to stand at “Nordis” as HIFK’s goalkeeper because it is something that I have always wanted to do, a proud Taponen tells Yle Sporten.
He has truly earned the position he is in
― Jan Lundell, goalkeeper coach
Taponen’s development has been a blessing for HIFK, who had a tough time on the goalkeeping front at the beginning of the season. The team’s goalkeeper coach Jan Lundell is really pleased with the somewhat inexperienced goalkeeper’s progress and sees that he has improved steadily every game.
– He has really earned the position he is in, says Lundell to Yle Sporten.
Taponen and Lundell’s collaboration has spanned several years.
Picture: Jaani Lampinen / Yle
HIFK Hockey, ice hockey, men’s ice hockey, Finnish ice hockey, goalkeepers
For three years, Taponen was allowed to grow in peace and quiet in the second league Mestis. Although the young and hungry goalkeeper would have liked to have made it to the league earlier, he agrees that it was the right decision to make the leap from Mestis to the league only before this season, a step that often causes difficulties for players.
The team forgot the most important thing at the beginning of the season
HIFK has the league’s largest player budget. Thus, it was already possible to acquire players of high quality last year. Expectations ahead of the season were high. Why did the season start so poorly?
According to Taponen, there were several reasons why things went the way they did.
The team ended up on the wrong track, which then escalated. Just like the media and the supporters, the players also had high expectations of themselves and the team. When things didn’t go as planned, the pressure increased and panic took over. Many players forgot the most important thing about playing ice hockey – the joy.
– We had many meetings when it was most critical. There we then started to think more about ice hockey being something fun. You shouldn’t take it so seriously.
The team has finally found their joy back and with it come the results.
Image: Matti Raivio / All Over Press
Julius Nättinen, Roope Taponen, HIFK Hockey, FM-liga in ice hockey, ice hockey
When asked how much of a role Taponen himself had in the fact that they did better for HIFK, he is sparing in lifting himself up. He does not believe that the role has been as significant as one might think, but that the team has performed better defensively, which in turn has contributed to fewer goals.
Taponen finally admits with a grin that he “made a number of important saves at important moments for the team to be able to squeeze out a victory”, but humbly continues that “it’s just part of his job as a goalkeeper”.
Changed the effects of roles on friendship
Supporters and media were hard on HIFK’s goalkeepers before the start of the season. Both Roope Taponen and Niilo Halonen were considered too inexperienced to perform at the level required.
The press was harsh, especially on social media. For Taponen, the negative press only provided fuel.
– I wanted to show that we (together with Halonen) can play well!
Something that the goalkeeper appreciates is that HIFK’s coach ignored the criticism and trusted the inexperienced goalkeeper duo. And as it stands now, the criticism was unwarranted and the coaches made the right choice in trusting their young cage keepers.
Niilo Halonen has not received too much playing time during the spring.
Image: Matti Raivio/All Over Press
Niilo Halonen, HIFK Hockey
Having two young goalkeepers brings advantages. They learn quickly and encourage each other to develop. In addition, Taponen and Halonen happen to be good friends outside the ice rink.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to get away with the fact that the roles between the goalkeepers have changed and that the rivalry is currently in favor of the Finnish Swede. However, it has not affected the duo’s friendship.
When you play well, the pressure also increases
Taponen is aware of the changed situation overall. At the beginning of the season, no one had expectations of the inexperienced goalkeeper, but as he has now shown that he is at that level, the pressure has also grown.
He admits that he probably feels the pressure to a certain extent both from outsiders but also from himself. When the pressure feels overwhelming, he looks back at the attitude he had at the start of the season.
– I just try to take it one game at a time. I went into the season with the attitude of enjoying every game and I still do. It kind of doesn’t matter if it goes well or badly. That’s my way of doing things.
“Must work more on the psyche”
The season is taking strong steps towards the most important matches. The goal for HIFK is clear – to place among the top six in the table in order to secure a direct playoff spot. At the moment, the Helsinki team is in eighth place, six points to sixth place Kärpät.
Taponen is concerned that the seriousness begins now. He tries not to think about the pressure, but reflects on what needs to be developed in order to continue performing at the level now expected of him and to be able to take a further step.
– More work is required on the psychological side. It’s something that I have to take a step up in. If the team plays well, I have to keep my psyche in good condition and be concentrated.
A lot of goalkeeping is mental. Taponen admits that the weeks when the team plays three games are very stressful. It is not enough for the team to play well if the goalkeeper concedes three or four goals because the concentration fails.
The mental part needs work before the spring playoffs.
Image: All Over Press
Roope Taponen
Jan Lundell is convinced that the young goalkeeper has been given the necessary conditions to cope with the tough spring. According to him, the fact that the team got out of a huge slump has been good training for when it starts to tighten up.
– Every game during two months has more or less been a playoff for us, so it has also been a process that prepares for the spring.
The seasoned goalkeeper coach nevertheless highlights that the most important preparation for a player is what you do daily – you eat and train well. It is what sets the foundation for self-esteem.
Both Taponen and Lundell agree that, apart from a calm way of playing and the ability to see the game, the Finnish-Swedish goalkeeper’s absolute greatest strength is precisely the daily job – he is always well prepared.
