Titaanit, D-Kiekko to the brink
In the Mestis qualification group, Wednesday’s fourth round of games left the table looking like this:
Team P F-A Pts
D-Kiekko 4 13- 7 9
Titaanit 4 15-13 9
Salamat 4 13-12 3
K-Laser 4 9-18 3
The top two meet in Kotka tomorrow, Good Friday, in a game that must see at least one of them, possibly both, secure a place in Mestis next season. For D-Kiekko, it would be the culmination of a strong, almost relentless, drive in the second half of the season. The same could not be said of Titaanit: more or less a basket case coming into this group, they finished runkosarja hopelessly adrift of the rest of the league. Turning a badly losing season around in the space of a few games is never easy, but they’re on the verge of achieving it. On Wednesday they won 4-6 in Kirkkonummi, thereby completing the double over Salamat. D-Kiekko’s victims in Jyväskylä were K-Laser who went down 4-3, making it four wins out of four against the northerners. The other game tomorrow is K-Laser v Salamat in the shed in Raksila.
Elsewhere in Mestis, the third round of semi-final games were played tonight. TuTo started off their series against KooKoo with what sounds almost like a one-sided defeat for the visitors. TuTo goalie Petri Koivisto earned his crust making 41 saves against his opposite number’s rather thin total of 19, but it’s only the goals that count and those went in 7-2. KooKoo hit back, however, with a 4-3 win in extra time last night in Kouvola to level the series at a game apiece, and put up stern resistance in tonight’s encounter in Turku before losing 2-1. The other match up between Hokki and Jukurit has been predictably unpredictable. Hokki sprinted into a two game lead by winning 4-1 in Kajaani on Monday and then 3-4 in last night’s return in Mikkeli. The combination of the prospect of Hokki sauntering into the final and Jukurit having their backs, once again, against the wall, duly resulted in a 3-7 win tonight in Kajaani for Jukurit. The next round of games are on Saturday in Kouvola and Mikkeli, both home teams having to win.
Away from the play offs, Sport’s Kim Nabb will be stepping up a notch next season, having signed with Lukko.
