HELSINKI, FINLAND – The news has literally just broken on Twitter with the IIHF announcing that all of the games from the 2012 Ice Hockey World Championships will be streamed live via YouTube.
 
In a move that resembles the KHL’s strategy of showing games free of charge on YouTube, is bound to attract more fans to look at the games and watch the videos. However, it is still expected that the IIHF will offer paid for packages for the games where you can buy rights to watch the games of your chosen team.
 
However, the offer is not available to all as some countries have been geo-blocked. The list of Geo-Blocked countries includes: Belarus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine and the USA.
 
The YouTube channel can be found at: www.youtube.com/icehockey .
 
The schedule for the games is available by clicking here .
 
Please note that the game times are in Swedish and Finnish times respectively.
 
Contact the author: janne.virtanen@prohockeynews.com

LAHTI, FINLAND – It was a mere season ago when Lahden Pelicans were fighting for survival in the SM-Liiga. The team’s dismal season in 2010-2011 had left the team bottom of the standings. Many thought that the 2011-2012 season would be as bleak and that there would not be any playoff hockey in Lahti.
 
It wasn’t until the spring when it was announced that Pelicans had secured the services of head coach Kai Suikkanen that Pelicans started to raise eyebrows. Suikkanen had in season and a half turned TPS from a bottom rung team into Finnish champions and was en-route to leading Yaroslav Lokomotiv to the KHL playoffs, before he was abruptly fired from his job.
The Pelicans’ story is similar to that of this season’s league winners, KalPa, a team that came from the lower divisions into the SM-Liiga and has undergone several troubles and adversities on its way to the Finnish elite league finals. The team rose into the SM-Liiga in 1999 even though it lost the league relegation games in 2000, it maintained its place in the top flight due to SM-Liiga being expanded into a 13 team closed league.
 
The next two years saw Pelicans improve drastically. In 2001 the team finished eighth in the league and improved its position in 2002 when it finished fifth overall. However, it was soon after this that Pelicans were facing difficulties.
 
During the 2004-2005 NHL lockout, Pelicans had acquired three NHL players to its roster, among them one Sean Avery. The case Avery was a peculiar one, as he only played two games for Pelicans, scoring three goals and sitting 26 minutes in penalties. It was after his second game that Sean Avery vanished without telling the team he was leaving. Later on Avery publicly slated the entire Pelicans organisation and the Finnish SM-Liiga.
 
During the lockout, Pelicans also acquired the services of Pasi Nurminen, who at the time was the number one net minder for Atlanta Thrashers. Nurminen, now a part owner and assistant coach, was one of the Pelicans’ best players during the lockout, but had to leave after 16 games due to taxation rules in Finland. Nurminen recently said to Finnish Iltalehti that, “When I came to Lahti, I played without any salary due to the financial difficulties in the team. The only thing the team had to pay was my insurance.”
 
In light of the results, the 2004-2005 season was a disaster. Only 16 players played the full 45 games of the regular season. Pelicans only won seven games that year and found itself dead last after the regular season.
 
It wasn’t helped that Pelicans were in financial trouble. Nurminen said in the Iltalehti interview that “during the tough financial times of 2004, we cut back on everything. Our equipment managers even changed our coffee to EuroShopper brand to save money.” In the spring of 2004 Pelicans went into administration, which caused a lot of debate in the Finnish hockey circles after the SM-Liiga granted a €400,000 capital loan to Pelicans. The reason why many condemned the leagues action was because it did not reciprocate a similar loan to other teams in a difficult financial situation.
 
In 2005, Pasi Nurminen became the owner of the club which turned the corner for the club. Through appointing former Finnish national team coach Hannu Aravirta as its bench boss midway through the 2005-2006 season, there was suddenly a new found interest in the Lahti based team. After Aravirta assumed control of the team, Pelicans was one of the best teams in the league that season, playing at a point-per-game pace. Financially the 2005-2006 season was sound and the team saw its turnover increase by 40% and make a profit of €103,651.
 
Pelicans fly into the playoffs for the first time
The 2006-2007 season saw Pelicans invest in its players and made smart acquisitions by adding Leo Komarov to its roster and acquiring Anssi Salmela midway through the season from Tappara. Salmela’s stellar play for Pelicans saw him play himself onto the New Jersey Devils organisation for 2008-2009 season.
 
The team finished 10^th overall and made it to the first round of the playoffs, facing a difficult opponent in TPS. However, Pelicans defeated TPS in the series and moved to face Karpat, but were swept in four games.
 
The following year Pelicans finished 6^th in the standings and faced against Jokerit in the playoffs. Where Jokerit were more seasoned than the Pelicans, the team fought hard in the series and eventually lost it 4-2. The league position was the best that the team had achieved since 2001-2002. One of the standout players of the 2007-2008 season was one Antti Niemi, who had come from relative anonymity and played himself into the number one job within Pelicans.
 
For 2008-2009 season, Pelicans lost the services of Antti Niemi to Chicago Blackhawks and replaced him with current starter, Niko Hovinen. The first half of the season saw Pelicans struggle and by the Christmas break, Pelicans were 12^th. However, there was still hope for the team as positions six and 13 were only separated by eight points.
 
By the end of the season Pelicans found its way into the playoffs through the ‘wild card’ round, or commonly known as pity playoffs. By defeating Ilves in the two game series, Pelicans moved to face Espoo Blues, who the media tipped would sweep Pelicans. However, Pelicans hung on and forced the series to go the full stretch to seven games. Pelicans had the chance to win the series in the 6^th meeting but had a spectacular melt down and lost the game six by 7-2 and game seven 8-2.
 
2010-2011: Fight for survival
On the player front Pelicans invested in big signings by bringing in Dwight Helminen and an NHL veteran in Mike York. However, the signings proved to be somewhat disappointing. Helminen scored 28 points during the season and Mike York scored 27 points in 52 games. It took York a long while to get used to the SM-Liiga, but played admirably in the relegation battle by scoring seven points in four games.
 
The struggling team sacked its head coach Mika Toivola on the 24^th of November and promoted assistant coach Pasi Rasanen as its head coach for the reminder of the season. At the time of Toivola’s sacking, Pelicans had lost six games straight and was stuck at the bottom of the table. However, by the end of the season Pelicans had picked up its game slightly. Even though the team found itself last, it had only lost out by one point to second to last team TPS during the season.
 
The relegation series against Vaasan Sport was somewhat easy for Pelicans, after it comfortably swept the series.
 
During the season one of the only bright sparks for Pelicans was Niko Hovinen who gave Pelicans a chance to compete night in night out. At the end of the season Hovinen’s save percentage was 92,40% and had a 2.59 GAA rating.
 
New Rise:
The preparation for the 2011-2012 season got off to a big start after Pelicans had made a ‘verbal agreement’ with head coach Kari Jalonen, however, Jalonen signed a contract with KHL team Torpedo Nizni Novgorod, leaving Pelicans without a head coach.
 
The team reacted by hiring Kai Suikkanen as its head coach and soon news of player signings started to flow in. Players like Ryan Lasch and Justin Hodgman were relatively unknown but Pelicans were confident that Lasch and Hodgman would be impact players from the start. Also retaining the services of Niko Hovinen who was with team Finland to win gold at the 2011 World Championships the team looked strong on paper.
 
The preseason gave an early warning to the teams when the Pelicans lost only one of its preparatory games.
 
Pelicans have also become internationally known for its quirky TV advertisements that were mentioned on respected hockey site, Puck Daddy. The adverts have raised the team’s brand and effectively describe the team’s work ethic and mentality of the team, by portraying coaches’ quirky sense of humour and training methods. Some of the adverts can be found by clicking here and clicking here .
 
Pelicans will be playing against JYP in the finals starting on 16^th of April.
 
Contact the Author: janne.virtanen@prohockeynews.com
 

FINLAND – The SM-Liiga finalists are set after the last round of the semi final games. With Pelicans having a 3-1 strangle hold lead over the Blues and Jokerit playing their backs against the wall against JYP, also at 3-1 series to JYP, the Blues and Jokerit could only hope for a miracle to happen so that they would stretch the series.
 
With Jokerit and JYP, the series has been incredibly tight, with one goal separating the two teams at the end of each game. More often than not the scoreline had been 3-2 to either of the teams and it was the case as well in game five of the series. Where Jokerit went into a one goal lead early, it was JYP who started controlling the game slightly after going 2-1 up in the first period. There were times when Jokerit were in control and looked like the team on the move, but in JYP goal Riku Helenius was on top form once again. Helenius, a 2006 first round draft pick by the Tampa Bay Lightning, has put up a wall in his net in the playoffs and has been in great form. It wouldn’t be the least bit surprising if he has played himself back into the NHL picture or has a number of KHL teams after his signature in the off season.
 
The game itself went to overtime. Jokerit had fought hard to extend the series and keep it alive. Until at 63.17, Ilari Filppula lost a face off in the Jokerit end, leaving it to JYP’s Mikko Viitanen to hammer the puck home after Juha-Pekka Hytonen had won the face off, thus sending JYP to the SM-Liiga finals.
 
Many would not have picked JYP to proceed this far in the season. At the start of the season, head coach Risto Dufva resigned from the team and it was said that JYP would not be a championship contender this season. However, the steady work from the team and the good results have lead JYP this far and the team can be proud of their achievement thus far, though there is still one more best of seven series left to play.
 
In the other semi final match, Pelicans were close to clinching the series. After dropping one game against the Blues, Pelicans had been the stronger team through out the series, despite Blues miracle run from the first round where it eliminated regular season winners KalPa. However, the magic would not carry Blues to the final as it did last year when Pelicans flew to a 2-1 win over the Blues.
 
All credit to Blues though, Pelicans were the stronger team from the outset and after the adversity the team faced against Karpat in the opening rounds of the playoffs, Pelicans seem to have grown mentally. Blues has carved itself a reputation of a team that never gives up and will play all the way until the fat lady sings. This time it wasn’t quite enough though.
 
An amusing anecdote from Pelicans making the finals is that two ice hockey journalists working for the Finnish broadcaster YLE placed a bet with Pelicans’ bench boss Kai Suikkanen during the leagues’ traditional opening cruise. The two journalists, Kaj Kunnas and Ilkka Palomaki, did not believe the Pelicans had what it takes to make it to the finals and said if the team would make it to the Finals, the two would join the Pelicans’ cheerleading squad. And so, for game three of the finals Kunnas and Palomaki will be cheerleaders for Pelicans.
 
The SM-Liiga finals series will start on the 16^th of April.
 
Contact the author: janne.virtanen@prohockeynews.com  

FINLAND – The SM-Liiga semi finals kicked off with Pelicans hosting Blues and JYP hosting Jokerit. Both of the games saw a quick start as Pelicans’ pocket rocket Ryan Lasch scored after 00:35 into the first and JYP’s Jani Tuppurainen scoring after two minutes of play. However, one of the biggest topics of discussion is around the status of Pelicans’ starting goalie Niko Hovinen.
 
Hovinen started the game, but looked slow in warm-ups and had to abandon the game after 20 minutes of play. Hovinen, a Philadephia Flyers prospect, has been battling a hip injury for the duration of the playoffs and it was rumoured that he would not ice for the rest of the playoffs after the injury forced him out of two games in the series against Karpat. However, Hovinen returned to the crease in the latter part of the Karpat series, but was again forced out.
 
The extent of the injury is unknown and Pelicans’ head coach Kai Suikkanen was quoted saying “I don’t know, I’m not a doctor,” when asked about the status of his starting goalie. After the injury forced Hovinen out of the game he did not return to the players’ bench and will not be starting game two against Blues.
 
The game itself saw an exchange of goals. After Lasch’s early goal, Blues had tied the game within two minutes of it. Pelicans pulled ahead to a two goal lead with goals from Teemu Rinkinen and Ryan Lasch scoring his second of the night. This saw the end of the game for Blues’ goalie Antti Ore, who had registered only two saves.
 
Lasch was the star of the night as he added further two assists to his tally on Pelicans’ route to 5-3 victory over Blues. The game again saw questionable calls from the officials after Ville Varakas received a two minute minor for boarding. The hit itself was clean but hard and saw Varakas sent to the penalty box. At the time of the penalty being handed out the game was 3-2 for Pelicans, who then went on to score the game winner on the resulting power play.
 
In the other match up of the night, JYP hosted Jokerit. With JYP scoring the first goal 02:34 into the game and on short handed, it could’ve been a game with plenty of goals, but the game was incredibly even. With Jani Tuppurainen’s goal standing as the lone marker in the first period and the second period being goalless, it was up to Jokerit forward Janne Lahti to tie the game with three minutes to go in the third period to force overtime.
 
Jokerit was the more dominant team throughout regulation, and poured 31 shots on JYP’s Riku Helenius. The overtime saw JYP emerge as victors as a defensive lapse let Harri Pesonen score the game winner.
 
Both series continue tonight with JYP travelling to Helsinki and Pelicans travelling to Espoo for game two of the semifinal series.
 
Contact the author: janne.virtanen@prohockeynews.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/Amateur_hockey

FINLAND – The SM-Liiga quarter finals have come to an end. A series that offered plenty of entertainment and thrilling moments culminated in two game seven match ups, one of which had already made SM-Liiga history. Espoo Blues, last season’s finalist, had fought against KalPa to come from a 3-0 deficit in the series to face game seven. Also early favourites Pelicans were in the ropes against Karpat after falling 3-1 down but also forced game seven.
 
The game sevens were met with some controversy when in game five of Pelicans – Karpat series, Karpat player Miikka Salomaki delivered a high hit on Pelicans’ Justin Hodgman in the dying seconds of the third period. As a result of the hit Hodgman was laying motionless on the ice for a long time and was diagnosed with a whiplash injury of the neck. The SM-Liiga disciplinary board handed Salomaki a 3 game suspension, which many journalists in the Finnish hockey circles said was just and that it was an equivalent of six game regular season suspension.
 
However, on the eve of the game seven, the SM-liiga disciplinary board made a mockery of itself and the leagues’ disciplinary process when it overturned Salomaki’s suspension, much on the claim based on the fact that Hodgman played in game six of the series. The decision, effectively means that the disciplinary action is only depended on the level of injury to the player instead of the act of the hit. The SM-Liiga disciplinary board is in a tricky situation in the future as it has now set the precedent to overturn suspensions on the basis of the injury.
 
However, Monday’s game seven was going to be a decider with or without Salomaki and both teams came out fighting for the win, with the momentum on the Pelicans’ side from the outset. Pelicans played a solid game scoring once in each of the periods to make the game 3-0 and was set to see Karpat into the summer holidays. With ten minutes remaining, Karpat tried to make a game out of it by scoring twice to bring the game to 3-2 score. However, despite Karpat best efforts, Pelicans held on to the lead and claimed its place in the semi finals.
 
In the second game seven, the surprise team Blues were putting pressure on to league winners KalPa after going from 3-0 deficit in the series to a 3-3 tie. Blues were set on making further history to become the first team in the SM-Liiga history to come from behind and take the series in game seven. Blues took early control of the game and scored three times in the first period. With the second period scoreless, Blues’ miracle was only 20 minutes away. KalPa managed to score once in the third period, but at 59:18 Toni Kahkonen sealed the game for Blues, and completing the miracle.
 
KalPa had a spectacular meltdown in the series. It took the first three games of the series with 9 goals scored and 1 goal allowed. It wasn’t until after number one goalie Mikko Koskinen was run over and he served a one game suspension that he started to show signs of crumbling. KalPa had no answer to the Blues resurgence. In Blues’ net goalie Antti Ore turned away 100 shots in his last four games with a save percentage of 93.46%.
The semi-final pairings will be as follows: Pelicans vs Blues and JYP vs Jokerit.
 
Contact Janne.Virtanen@prohockeynews.com

FINLAND – Porin Assat received some devastating news as it found out that it will be without the services of Buffalo Sabres prospect, Joel Armia. Assat, already without its top goal scorer Tomas Zaborsky (shoulder), have had to battle the injury bug as well as a stomach virus. The stomach virus sidelined Aki Uusikartano and Tapio Sammalkangas from Monday’s matchup against JYP.
 
Joel Armia was Assat’s second highest goal scorer during the regular season. Armia was injured during Saturday’s game against JYP when he banged his knee whilst hitting JYP defenceman Sami Vatanen. After the hit, Armia was in the treatment room but returned to finish the game. Armia also played in Monday’s match.
 
He underwent further medical examinations on Tuesday that found further injury to the knee preventing him from playing. Armia will not require surgery to fix the damage, but will be sidelined for six weeks.
 
Assat are now without the services of its two top goal scorers who between them scored 53 goals in the regular season. Before the IIHF transfer deadline, Assat lost the services of Radek Smolenak to Pelicans, thus meaning that Assat are missing three players that combined for 67 goals.
 
Assat are down 3-0 in the best of seven series.
 
Further player losses were reported for KalPa who will be without the services of its number one net-minder, Mikko Koskinen. Koskinen will be suspended for one game for using his blocker to hit another player. The situation unfolded when Blues’ Tommi Huhtala drove to the net and crashed into Koskinen, without seemingly making any effort to stop. Huhtala will also miss the next clash between KalPa and Blues due to his antics. KalPa is currently up 3-0 in the series and will be looking to complete the sweep on the 28^th of March.
 
Contact the author: janne.virtanen@prohockeynews.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/Amateur_hockey