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
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