FINLAND: SM-Liiga has come back after the Christmas break with a bang. The first few games after Boxing Day were undoubtedly a bit sluggish as the teams were skating of the Christmas turkey and ham. Here is the round-up of the latest news and the updated league table. After two month’s on injured reserve HIFK’s star forward Mikael Granlund made his return to the roster just before the new year in a game against Oulun Karpat. Granlund had been sidelined for two months after hitting his head on the Plexi. HIFK lost the game but Granlund still recorded an assist. Jokerit has strengthened its goaltending department by signing Slovakian goaltender Jan Lasak, his contract will cover the remainder of the season. The 2002 World Champion has played with Jokerit on a try-out contract for 13 games, whilst recording seven games with a save percentage of 92.76% and goals against average of 1.97. Oulun Karpat were relieved to see their star forward Kamil Kreps back on the ice sooner than expected. Kreps was hit in the head by Ilves forward Masi Marjamaki, who was not penalised by the league for the hit ( See the hit here ). At first it was feared that Kreps’ career was over as he was suspected to have bleeding in his brain but CT scans returned negative giving Kreps the all clear to return to action after his concussion symptoms subsided. In the aftermath of the incident and the league’s decision not to suspend Marjamaki, the head video referee resigned from his duties. Ilves found itself in a goaltending dilemma after number one keeper Miika Wiikman, who was released by Rauman Lukko, was injured and back-up net minder Sami Aittokallio was with the Finnish U-20 team in Buffalo. Ilves ended up borrowing a net minder from local rivals HPK. HPK announced that it has extended the contracts of its coaching staff with one year. The trio consisting of head coach Harri Rindell and assistant coaches Petteri Hirvonen and Pasi Arvonen will be seen behind the bench for the 2011-2012 season. HPK is still in negotiations with goaltender coach, Hannu Nykvist, who has been responsible for the stellar play of HPK goalie Teemu Lassila. As mentioned, Lukko released Miika Wiikman after it had signed a former Buffalo Sabres net minder Mika Noronen for the remainder of the season.
2010 Finnish Champions TPS are no longer the last team in the league. After losing to Lukko, Saipa has now fallen to last place in the league with TPS moving up a place after winning against Karpat. The SM-Liiga player of the month for December has been named. This time JYP forward Eric Perrin takes home the honours. In December, Perrin gathered 11 point (4+7) in six games. During December, Perrin was effective in the defensive zone as well. JYP opponents did not score an even strenght goal while Perrin was on the ice, leaving the Canadian with a +/- statistic of +9. In non SM-Liiga related news, the Finnish hockey icon and five time Stanley Cup winner, Esa Tikkanen, was named as the head coach of Mestis team Jokipojat. Last years’ Mestis champions Jokipojat had fallen to the last place in the league and it is hoped that Tikkanen will help the team into a play-off berth. The job is the first head coach role for Tikkanen who has previous coaching experience from the Norwegian and the Asian leagues. So far, under Tikkanen’s command, Jokipojat have won both games. Tikkanen is best known as an agitator with great scoring prowess in his NHL days and won four Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers and one with New York Rangers. Mestis is the second highest league in Finland. Finnis Division two team Kellokosken Alku is going to be donating all proceeds from ticket and raffle sales from its up and coming match to the Henri Ihlander fund. Ihlander, a 15-year old junior player for Jarvenpaan Haukat was paralysed following an accident on the ice in September. Ihlander lost his balance and crashed head first into the boards. There was no contact involved in the incident. A statement read: “Henri has started his rehabilitation. This rehabilitation is tougher than any training session for hockey and we want to support Henri in his rehabilitation. The SM-Liiga league tables First number denotes games played, followed by points.
1. JYP 35 79
2. Ässät 36 72
3. HIFK 35 69
4. HPK 36 62
5. Lukko 36 60
6. Jokerit 35 60
7. Blues 36 55
8. KalPa 36 52
9. Tappara 36 50
10. Kärpät 35 46
11. Ilves 36 43
12. Pelicans 35 34
13. TPS 35 34
14. SaiPa 36 31 Contact the author at: janne.virtanen@prohockeynews.com
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