FINLAND, It has been a busy week for the SM-Liiga teams. With play-offs looming in the horizon teams are putting everything on the line to solidify their direct play-off claim or trying to get into the ‘pity’ play-offs to reach the actual season climax. As reported earlier this week, some of the teams have been bitten by the injury bug, and no least was the Hameenlinna based HPK who lost three players to various injuries. HPK has bolstered its line up by signing Barney, no not the purple dinosaur from the children’s TV show, but Scot Barney. The Canadian centre is no stranger to the SM-Liiga having played for Saipa in 2009-2010 season with statistics 16+14. Barney was also a member of Saipa for the beginning of the season, playing 21 games while scoring nine goals and assisting nine others. Barney’s tenure in Saipa was cut short after he was caught for a DUI, after which Saipa released the player. “Scott will bring more depth to our goal scoring department,” said HPK General Manager, Risto Korpela. “His experience playing in a young team will help us in the critical games in the spring.” Barney joins HPK from Czech Extra Liga team Mlada Boleslav. Barney made his HPK debut in a 3-2 win over local rivals Tappara. “What a great welcome from the HPK fans. I’m happy that I got another chance to play in SM-Liiga and I will look to help our younger players along and add leadership to the roster,” Barney said on the HPK website after the game. “Of course the DUI was unfortunate and something I regret, but everyone makes mistakes and you just have to learn from them. I want to stress that I have nothing against Saipa or the town of Lappeenranta.” Meanwhile Espoon Blues have become somewhat of a troll to Erkka Westerlund era Jokerit. During Westerlund’s tenure at the helm, Jokerit have been unable to get full points out of the Blues’ side. Even with the former head coach Hannu Jortikka, Jokerit managed one win out of the Blues. The latest meeting between the two teams ended in Blues skating away with the points with a 3-2 score line. JYP, who seemed unstoppable, suffered a bitter 4-1 loss at the hands of Ilves. Ilves, who are one of the positive surprises of the season, with its young, rough and ready roster took control of the game early, leaving JYP head coach Risto Dufva speechless.
“It feels like we missed the game,” Dufva said at the post game press conference. “This is the first time this season that something like this has happened to us. We didn’t deserve anything from here today.” Earlier this week JYP beat Karpat by 7-3, with Antti Philstrom (formerly from Nashville Predators) scoring a natural hat trick in the first period. Karpat however managed to get full points from Lukko after a gritty performance from its third line. Karpat were down 3-1 but managed to claw back to 4-3 win. The effort was not helped by Karpat star defence man Vladimir Sicak who took a major penalty for delay of game after he threw the puck to the stands. Assat super rookie, Joel Armia, drew level to the teams’ rookie scoring record. Armia, who added a goal to bring his goal total for the season to 16 and has now scored in four consecutive games. Many in Finland are starting to wonder whether Armia will reach the all time rookie goal scoring record, set by one Teemu Selanne. In the last ten games, Armia has scored five goals and added three assists.
Contact Janne.Virtanen@prohockeynews.com The SM-Liiga league table is below: (first number denotes games played, followed by points.) 1. JYP 42 95
2. Ässät 43 88
3. HIFK 42 82
4. HPK 43 75
5. Jokerit 42 67
6. Lukko 43 66
7. Blues 42 64
8. KalPa 43 63
9. Tappara 43 60
10. Ilves 42 56
11. Kärpät 42 55
12. Pelicans 42 42
13. SaiPa 43 42
14. TPS 42 36
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