The Finnish trio of Valtteri Filppula, Sami Vatanen and Teemu Hartikainen were big rollers when Geneva-Servette secured the Swiss ice hockey championship. För Filppula kan maesterskapet vara slupunkten för en unique Finnish icehockey career.
In the last final match, Geneve-Servette beat Biel-Bienne 4–1, securing the championship with 4–3 victories. Sami Vatanen scored two and Teemu Hartikainen one of Geneva’s goals. Filppula was flagged for a goal-scoring pass.
For Geneva, the victory was historic. The club founded in 1905 won the championship for the first time ever.
The Finns also had a dominant role in the silver team Biel, where Antti Törmänen worked as coach, and Harri Säteri, Jere Sallinen and Toni Rajala were among the players.
In the final games points, Rajala etta med 10+5, Medan Vatanen (7+6) var trea, Filppula (1+12) female and Hartikainen (8+4) sexa.
Filppula enda Finnish i “Triple Gold Club”
39-year-old Filppula has experienced fantastic success over the past year or so. He is the only Finnish ice hockey player to have won the three major golds in ice hockey: WC gold, Olympic gold and the Stanley Cup. In total, only 30 players worldwide have merit for a place in the Triple Gold Club.
He played 1,056 NHL games in the regular season and won the Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings in the spring of 2008. Last season, he led Finland to Olympic and World Cup gold as captain of the Lions. This season, Filppula has not played a single international match.
Ahead of the decisive final match in the Swiss league, Filppula hinted that the unique career could end on Thursday.
– I need time to decide what I want to do. If I still feel motivated, I will continue for another year. But I don’t think about it yet. I try to focus as much as possible on the playoffs and after that it’s time for decisions, he told the Tribune de Genève newspaper.
Filppula hinted that he will decide in the spring.
– It is either about days or weeks. When I get a vacation, I have time to think about things.
