Kärpät on thin ice

The third SM-Liiga final was played today in Jyväskylä. JYP had already won the last two games and it was a very important game for Kärpät.

Kärpät didn´t manage to win this important game and will have a very hard time turning the standings around. JYP only need one more win to win the SM-Liiga 2008-2009.

The next game will be played on tuesday April 14 th in Oulu.

Sports dream has ended

Tonight the final game between Vasa Sport and Ässät was played in Pori.

Ässät was the far better team and Vasa Sport just couldn´t keep up with the standard of the home teams play witch resulted in a 3-0 win for Ässät.

Ässät remains in the SM-Liiga and Vasa Sport´s dream of getting to the SM-Liiga ended. They will be staying in Mestis liiga, witch is a lower ranked league in finish icehockey.

JYP wins second final

The second SM-Liiga final was played earlier tonight in Oulu. This was a very important game for the home team, Kärpät.

It was a very even game and most of the game Kärpät looked like the dominating team but JYP managed to score a goal in the beginning of the third period and won the game 0-1.

JYP now have a 2 game win advantage and it will be very tought for Kärpät to win the next game in Jyväskylä.

JYP won the first SM-Liiga final

Yesterday, JYP won the first SM-Liiga final against Kärpät. It was an even match but JYPhad all the better changes throu th whole game.

JYP opened up with the first goal in the first period. In the second period, Kärpäts Daniel Corso scored to even the game. The game went to overtime and after a few minutes JYP scored the winning goal.

The next game will be played tomorrow in Oulu on Kärpät home ice.

Ässät on home ice in fifth game against Vasa Sport

Tonight Ässät and Vasa Sport will play the fifth game against each other. The game is played on Ässäts home ice in Pori.

This is a very important game for both teams. A win today will give one of the teams a 3-2 game leading advantage and could make it hard for the losing team to recover and win the next game.
The game will start at 6:30 PM.

Nelonen brings you the SM-Liiga finals live

Nelonen will show all of the SM-Liiga finals 2008-2009. The first final will kick off on wednesday in JYväskylä. Nelonen starts sending at 6:00 pm and the game starts at 6:30 pm.

If you are interested in nelonens schedule for the finals you can go to www.nelonen.fi. For more information about the finals go to www.sm-liiga.fi

Kärpät will meet JYP in the finals

Yeasterday Kärpät won 4-3 on overtime. Blues was leading 3-2 into the last minute but Kärpäts Vesa Viitakoski put the puck in the net at 59:26 and made the game go to overtime. Just three minutes into overtime, Kärpäts Juha-matti Aaltonen shot the puck behind Blues goalkeeper, Mikko Koskinen, taking Kärpät to the finals. Kärpät won 4-2 in games.

Kärpät has been in the finals many times before and have won the SM-Liiga several times. JYP is a very strong team this season so the finals should be very interresting.

Vasa sport is still in the game

It is now 2-2 in game standings for Ässät and Vasa Sport after Vasa Sport won 2-1 on home ice today. Both teams are now 2 wins away from winning and continue being or becomming an SM-Liiga team.

If Ässät should lose, They will no longer be a part o the SM-Liiga and Vasa Sport will take their place, becomming an SM-Liiga team for the first time. If Ässät wins, nothing will change, Ässät will stay in the SM-Liiga and Vas sport will stay in the Mestis liiga.

Jyp goes to the finals

After a 4-1 win against Kalpa tonight, JYP is now throu to the finals. JYP won 4-1 in games and Kalpa didn´t have what it takes to go to the finals.

Since game 1, JYP was the stronger team and Kalpa had difficulties so it was no surprice that JYP now is in the finals in the SM-Liiga 2008-2009.

Both Kalpa and Kärpät lost on home ice

Tonight was a disappointing night for all home ice fans. Both Kärpät and Kalpa lost on home ice and the game standings are now 2-2 for Blues and Kärpät and 3-1 for Jyp-Kalpa.

The Kuopio game resulted in a 2-1 loss for Kalpa against JYP and in Oulu, Kärpät took a beating aswell. Blues ended up winning 4-1 on away ice. Kärpät and Kalpa fans are not happy with their teams preformance on home ice.

Ässät is still in the game

Earlier tonight Ässät played against Vasa Sport for a place in the SM-Liiga next season. Ässät lost on home ice a couple of days ago but took the away win in Vasa.

Both teams have won a game each and it is interesting to see who will fall and who will rise. If Ässät wins three more games, they will remain in the SM-Liiga but if Vasa Sport wins, Ässät will fall from the SM-Liiga and Vasa Sport will take their place in the league. Ässät will then end up in the Mestis liiga, the league under the SM-Liiga where Vasa Sport currently are.

Kalpa wins away game

Earlier tonight, Kalpa and JYP played the third game in the SM-Liiga semi finals. After two losses Kalpa finally managed to win the dominating team from Jyväskylä.

The game standings are now 2-1 in JYP´s favor but the next game is played on Kalpa home ice so hopefully for them it will result in another victory to tie the game standings.

In the other semi final, Blues are leading 2-1 in games against Kärpät who lost 2-1 earlier tonight. Kärpät are multi time SM-Liiga winners but Blues are fighting hard to avoid them from taking another SM-Liiga title.

JYP is two wins away from the 2008-2009 SM-Liiga final

On saturday JYP played their second semi final against Kalpa. The first game was in Jyväskylä were JYP won 3-0 on home ice. Kalpa didn´t show any approvement on home ice in Kuopio, which resulted in a 1-4 loss.

Now JYP are only two more wins away from playing in the 2008-2009 SM-Liiga final against Oulun Kärpät or Espon Blues.

Will Ässät fall down to Mestis Liiga?

Yesterday Ässät played against Vasa Sport. The first of these teams to win 4 games will either move from mestis to the SM-Liiga or fall from the SM-Liiga down to mestis whitch is the league under the SM-Liiga.

Ässät who technically still are in the SM-Liiga, lost their first game against Vasa Sport 3-2. Vasa Sport, the winner of Mestis Liiga 2009 are fighting for the opportunity to upgrade from mestis to the SM-Liiga and only need three more wins for this dream to come true.

Jokerit hooligans attacked Kärpät fan

The season for the Helsinki team.Jokerit, is now over but Jokerit hooligans are still not over the seasons sudden ending. A few days ago, Jokerit hooligans assaulted a women by the Central railway Station in Helsinki. The reason to the abuse was that the women was wearing a Kärpät shirt. They obviously didn´t apply for this and attacked the woman instantly.

The women the Jokerit hooligans assaulted ended up with minor cuts and bruises but nothing serious.

Jokerits season has ended

Earlier tonight, Jokerit played against Kärpät and lost 3-2 on overtime. Since this was Kärpäts fourth win against Jokerit, they are now through to the semi finals.

Jokerit will not play any more games this season and no team from Helsinki will win any medal this season. HIFK has allready been on vacation for about three weeks now and are training for a more successful season next season.

TPS and Kalpa won on overtime

Yesterday Kalpa won HPK on ovrtime and are now leading 3-1 in the playoffs games. JYP struggeled for a win yeasterday against TPS but TPS managed to make a goal on overtime and won the game. The standing for JYP-TPS are now 2-2 in games.

Canal+ brings HPK - Kalpa to your screen

On saturday Canal+ will be showing HPK-Kalpa, live. This is a very interesting game since Kalpa has the opportunity to go to the semi finals. They only need one more win and it is over for HPK.

HPK are having problems in the playoffs and are not playing as fans would expect from them. They are one of the favourites and many thought they would go to the finals but people are starting to lose hope for the Hämeenlinna team.

There is still hope for Jokerit

Earlier tonight Jokerit play against Kärpät in the third round of the SM-Liig playoffs 2009. Before this game, Kärpät had two wins and Jokerit none.

Jokerit won tonights game 4-1 showing Kärpät that they are still in the game and wont give up so easy. Kärpät only need two more wins to go to the semi-finals.

JYP won 3-2 against TPS and are now leading 2-1 in game wins and Pelicans won against Blues and are leading 2-1 in game wins aswell. Kalpa gave HPK a 4-0 beating and are also leading 2-1 in game wins.

The third round in the playoffs

On tuesday the third round in the playoffs will take place. All other teams have won one game each exept for Kärpät who have won over Jokerit two times. Jokerit have no wins so far but hopefully for them, they will win on tomorrow.

Jokerit are out on thin ice

Jokerit has had a great season in the SM-Liiga 2008-2009 but that season will end if they don´t win Kärpät on tuesday. Kärpät have won both playoff games against Jokerit and only need one more to go to the semi finals.

Kärpät is one of the best teams in the SM-Liiga but have had alot of problem this season. They now seem to be playing the kind of icehockey the fans expect of them and Jokerit will have to fight hard on tuesday if they want to stay in the playoffs.

JYP unexpected loss against TPS on home ice

JYP, the leading team in the league before the playoffs, lost 1-3 against a improved TPS on friday. Jyp scored the first goal but after that TPS scored 3 unanswered goals.

Sinuhe Wallinheimo, JYP´s goalie had a low number of 5 saves so TPS scored 3 out of 8 shots on goal. That is almost 50 % shots in the net. TPS goalie, Alexander Salak had about 30 shots against him but still managed to keep the puck out of the net.

JYP was taken by surprice and now have to make some changes in order to win TPS tomorrow at 5pm.

Good playoff start for Kalpa

Earlier tonight, HPK played against Kalpa on home ice. The match didn´t go as expected for the home team and they ended up losing 0-3. Kalpa played a great game but the biggest reason to their win was their goalie, Mika Oksa who didn´t let in a goal. Sami Kapanen was also a big impact on tonights win for Kalpa. He scored 2 gols and assisted 1.

HPK have had a very good season but they seem to have problems against Kalpa. In tonights game they had about 30 shots on goal and no goals.

Next HPK-Kalpa game is tomorrow at 5 pm.

Fans disapointed in HIFK season

Fans of HIFK, one of the favorite teams in the SM-Liiga, are still very disapointed with the outcome of the season. It just didn´t seem that they wanted it enough. When they played good, they could do anything but as soon as they let in a goal, their game play collapsed.

They also have had alot of problems with injuries but no one would have thought they would lose three games in a row against a less expirienced team, TPS.

TPS is not that good a team but they have a stunning goal keeper, Alexander Salak who I think is the reason to TPS success this season. His goalkeeper skills might make it hard for JYP to score goals in the playoffs.

the playoff matchups are set

The playoff games are now set. JYP will play against TPS, Pelicans, who won Ilves on tuesday, will play against Blues.

Kärpät and Jokerit plays against each other as well as HP and Kalpa but that was allready set a longer time ago.

Canal + brings the playoff kickoff to your home

On friday th 13th, when the SM-Liiga playoffs kicks off, canal + sends HPK-Kalpa live on tv. The broadcasting will begin at 6:10pm and the match starts at 6:30pm.

Another playoff game they are showing is TPS-JYP on saturday at 4:45pm. This will be brodacasted live from TPS home arena.

Playoff start

The playoffs in the SM-Liiga will start on friday, march 13th. It will be a very interesting playoff season with very good teams and players.

Goodbye HIFK

TPS will meet JYP after winning over HIFK on home ice. HIFK did not make it to the playoffs. Ilves and pelicans, have won 1 game each and will fight for a playoff place. The winner will meet Blues.

HIFK lost on home ice

Yesterday HIFK and TPS played the first game in hopes to make it to the playoffs. In the beginning of the game, HIFK played very well but after TPS made one goal, HIFK play was terrible. They had no control over the game and lost 4-1. If TPS wins the next game, they will go to the playoffs.

Kim Hirschovits overall point winner 2008-2009

Yesterday, Kim Hirschovits scored 1 goal and assisted 2 in the game against TPS. He now has an overall of 66 points, 2 points more than Jarkko Immonen from JYP.

He have won the overall point scorer in the SM-liiga runkosarja 2008-2009 and will hopefully continue getting points in the playoffs.

TPS and Ilves almost a place in the playoffs

Ilves and TPS still have a chance for playoffs. TPS won yeasterday against HIFK and Ilves won against Lukko. TPS will play against HIFK and Ilves against Pelicans in on saturday.

The winner of TPS and HIFKwill will then meet the current SM-Liiga leader, JYP and the winner of Ilves and Pelicans will meet Blues in the playoffs.

Ilves - JYP tonight on Canal +

Tonight Ilves will meet JYP in one of the last SM-Liiga games before the playoffs. Ilves are having major problems and have lost several games in the last weeks. JYP on the other hand, haven´t lost a game i a long time so it´s going to be hard for Ilves to win tonight.

The game will be brought to you live from Canal + at 6:30 pm.

Kim Hirschovits point leader

The HIFK forward, Kim Hirchovits is currently the overall point leader in the SM-Liiga. He has a stunning 62 points with 17 goals and 45 assists and is also the current assist leader.

Toni Koivisto from Kärpät, who has 61 points with 23 goals and 38 assists is only 1 point behind Hirschovits.

Jussi Makkonen from HPK is currently on a third place with 58 points and is the leading goal scorer with 27 goals. He has 31 assists.

Kim Hirschovits(img1), Toni Koivisto(img2), Jussi Makkonen(img3)

TPS - JYP on Nelonen this afternoon

This afternoon TPS will meet the leading team, JYP. TPS is 1 point from going to the playoffs but going up against the leading team in the league wont be easy.

This game will be brought to you live this afternoon at 5 a clock from Nelonen so don´t miss it.

Daniel Corso injury has a big impact on Kärpät

Kärpät, one of the leading teams in the SM-Liiga, are having problems because of the first line attacker, Daniel Corso´s injury.

Yesterday Kärpät played against Ässät, who are currently on a 12th place in the SM-Liiga standings. Normally this would be an easy match up for Kärpät since they have an outstanding team but Ässät was dominating and almost won the game. Kärpät won 2-1 on ovetime but are having some difficulties that has to be improved if they want to win the SM-Liiga title.

It is not for sure how long Daniel Corso will be gone but hopefully for Kärpät, he will be back soon. Without him, Kärpät will have a hard time with their incoming games.

Daniel Corso was announced week 9´s hot streak

Kärpäts player, Daniel Corso was announced last weeks #1 hot streak. Jussi Makkonen from HPK came on a second place and Kalle Koskinen came on a third place. Alexander Salak, TPS´s goalkeeper came on a 6th place and Kalpas goalkeeper, Mika Oksa, on a 10th place.

TPS, a rough road to the playoffs

Two games ago, TPS was still within the 10 teams heading for the playoffs. Now they have fallen down to 11th place , and have to win some of the best teams in the league to get back within the top ten.

The next opponent TPS will meet is Blues who is on a 5th place in the league at the moment. After that the will meet Jokerit who is on a 3rd place and JYP who are the current leaders of the SM-Liiga.

TPS will have to play their absolute best to win these teams and get past Pelicans who is the last team to enter the playoffs at the moment.

Teams are fighting for a place in the playoffs

In about 3-4 weeks it will be settled which teams will go to the playoffs in the SM-Liiga.
Ässät is only 6 points behind TPS with 68 points and are fighting for a place in the playoffs. Yeasterday Ässät won 2-0 against Ilves which was a very inportant win for them.

They still have a chance but Lukko is also fighting for the same place as Ässät and have one point more than Ässät so its going to be a battle between these teams.

Lukko is at the moment playing against JYP and leading 3-1 with only 10 minutes left of the game. If they take this win home, they will have 72 points,only 2 points less than TPS and a place in the playoffs.

Helsinki IFK wins away game while Jokerit loses at Hartwall Arena

Kalpa won 2-1 against Jokerit earlier tonight at the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki. All of the goals came in the 3 rd period and Kalle Sahlstedt was the one to lead the home team to a victory.

Helsinki IFK won against Oulun Kärpät in a tight game. They won 3-2 on regular time and keep on winning their away games.

Tomorrow, Friday the 20th of February Jyp will meet Lukko in Rauma.

Toivonen and Nickersson have caught the flu!

Ilves goalkeeper, Hannu Toivonen is sick and it is not clear wether he will play on Thursday or not. He was allready sick in yesterdays game against Saipa. Matt Nickerson is also sick and it is not clear wether he will play tomorrow either.

They both have caught the flu so they are not in a critical condition and they should feel better within a couple of days.

Follow JYP-Kärpät on Canal + tonight in Jyväskylä

Tonight, two of the best teams in the finnish icehockey league are playing against each other.
JYP is currently the leading team in the SM-liiga with 91 points against Kärpät who are on a 5 th place but only 8 points behind.

Both JYP and Kärpät have one of the league´s point leaders witch should make the game interresting. Jarkko Immonen from JYP is on 5th place on the leading board with 49 points and Toni Koivisto is currently the point leader in the league with 56 points.

The game will be showed on Canal + Sport 1 tonight at 6:30 pm finnish time.

I will post an update on tonights game aswell as other games that are played this evening in the finnish icehockey league.