HIFK’s young goalkeeper debutants had a solid game against the European champions – SaiPa broke the league record no one wants

HIFK’s goalie duo Eemil Vinni and Severi Soukka with a total of 32.54 minutes of FM league ice hockey were thrown into the hot air immediately. The recent CHL champions Tappara really spiced things up and eventually won 8–2

The Helsinki club was faced with a unique situation when the intended first goalkeeper Roope Taponen started injured from Tuesday’s match against Vasa Sport. 17-year-old Eemil Vinni had to jump in between the posts and at the same time make his league debut.

Due to the fact that the second goalkeeper Niilo Halonen was also out of action, it meant that Vinni would also make his debut as the first goalkeeper in the following match – against newly crowned European champions Tappara.

Tampere wouldn’t give young Vinni a soft start, pouring in four pucks in 13 minutes. HIFK’s head coach Ville Peltonen then decided to test his second goalkeeper option Severi Soukka, who would make his first league appearance.

22-year-old Soukka was not allowed a pleasant start to his league career either, but was forced to dig the puck out of the back of the net 13 seconds after the goalie change.

Tappara did not press the brake pedal, but poured in four more pucks before the final buzzer sounded.

However, the humiliating final numbers cannot be blamed on the inexperience of the HIFK goalkeepers, but rather on the team’s non-existent defensive play.

Top scorer for the evening was Tappara captain Valtteri Kemiläinen with his five assists. Niko Ojamäki and Jori Lehterä were both written for one goal and two assists.

SaiPa’s worst in league history

The FM league’s crisis team and jumbo SaiPa’s endless mishaps continue.

With a 3-4 loss against Ässät, the team has lost 16 straight games. It is the most consecutive losses in one season in FM league history. Previous record holders were the Pelicans in 2004–2005 and KalPa in 2005–2006, both with 15 straight losses.

SaiPa has not stopped losing since January 12th and there are still seven regular season games left to play. Next on the schedule is the league’s other crisis team, Vasa Sport.

HPK surprised Lukko

League leader Lukko got a surprise blow against playoff contenders HPK, who beat Raumalaget 4–1 after, among other things, two goals from Eetu Liukas. HPK thus passed Jukurit in the last playoff spot.

Kärpät won over Kookoo 6–5 after extra time. The hero of the match was Peter Tiivola, who scored the 5-5 equalizer with only two seconds left in regular time. Tiivola also scored the winning goal in extra time.