TuTo to the final

Not exactly unpredictably, TuTo reached this year’s Mestis final after breezing past KooKoo tonight. Two goals in each period brought them a 1-6 victory in Kouvola. Who (or should that be whom?) they will face remains undecided following an altogether different match in Mikkeli. Hokki started the match brightly, and a Jussi Tapio goal after 11 minutes gave the visitors a 0-1 lead at the first break. Jukurit picked their game up in the second period, equalising in under 4 minutes through Jussi-Mikko Makkonen and forcing their guests to work hard to keep things level. In a game of only 9 two minute penalties, the early part of the third period saw a rash of them, and with both teams a man short Antti Laakso scored what proved to be the winner after 46:51. A 2-1 win for Jukurit, tying the series at 2-2. The decider is in Kajaani on Tuesday.

I’ve not mentioned much about the SM-liiga quarter-finals, preferring to concentrate on Mestis instead. However, last night the remaining three semi-final berths were decided, so some sort of round up is in order. Blues were first into the semis: they lost the opener at home to HIFK but then trotted out four straight wins to take the series 4-1. The first five matches in the Kärpät v Ilves and Tappara v JYP pairings all went to the home side, so both home teams last night, Ilves and JYP, had to win to stay alive. Both lost, Ilves died with their boots on, as the Finns say, 1-2 in extra time, but JYP crashed and burned 2-6 having lost the plot in the last 10 minutes. Can’t think of any more cliches. The pyjama men and Pelicans arrived at the same position after five games via a slightly different route. The first three games went with home advantage, but then Jokerit won in Lahti only for Pelicans to return the compliment in the fifth. The end position was still the same though with Pelicans needing a win last night in Lahti. They didn’t get it; after leading, trailing, levelling, trailing by two goals and equalising again, they finally went out 4-5 in extra time.

So, the top four runkosarja teams are through to the semis. I should’ve stuck with the logic. The line up is

Kärpät v Tappara
Blues v Jokerit

Sorry to disappoint you all (alright then, both) but no predictions this time, the match ups are too close. I want a Kärpät - Jokerit final, but let’s see…

A final mention for Raimo ‘Raipe’ Helminen, whose long and illustrious career ended last night in Hakametsä, still playing professional ice hockey at the top flight at the age of 43.