Vesa Parviainen
Doug Shedden put Tomi Lämsä in his hip pocket, but only for two rounds, writes Vesa Parviainen.
Doug Shedden revealed his card in Rauma. Tero Wester / AOP
In the years 2005-2008, Doug Shedden, who was the head coach of HIFK, the Jokers and the Lions, barely had time to influence the team’s game in his first match as Sport’s head coach, but after the visit to Turku, which produced a point, the people of Vaasa were blessed with a break of almost a week and a half.
Shedden took advantage of that by teaching the team, which previously played a lot of trap, to a more straightforward way of playing. This was expected given the background of the 64-year-old former NHL player.
Defender Samuli Piipponen said in an interview with MTV that Shedden also made the players struggle “really a lot” in training.
This was clearly visible at the beginning of the first period. Right in the opening change, Sport hit the puck at the end and greedily tried to press, knocked the puck away from their own side and played a quick opening upright.
Already the second minute brought the opening goal, when Sport played such an energetic attack rally that Luko’s five remained as if standing. Pack-pack-pass along the blue line, Piipponen’s shot – and Oskari Hult hit the rebound in the backpack.
Sport continued its terrible trot for almost ten minutes.
As the set progressed, his game began to show more familiar, passive elements – including Shedden’s “hated” trap – which told that the Canadian kept his promise that he was not going to blow up the whole system.
Lukko gained puck control 65–35 and won the set 1.1–0.3, but Sport was able to protect its lead.
In the second set, it was no longer content with that, but ran away with Sebastian Stålberg’s hit to take a 2–0 lead after once again getting Luko’s quarterback completely confused with his active interference.
The Driving Dogs sent by Shedden recognized the situations excellently. When the number of the Lukko pack that was looking for the main puck was visible, the people of Vaasa caught on like a pig to a stick. When the team from Rauma had the puck, the five retreated to a 1-4 trap.
At this point, the charismatic Canadian had tactically pushed Luko’s head coach Tomi Lämsä into his pocket, but in the third set it was no longer enough.
Lukko, who has more skating power, woke up, returned to his level, relied on his identity as a passing game and no longer got stuck under the pressure of Sport.
The guests resorted even more to the trap reversal, and the turning point of the match was seen in the third overtime game of the Romanians.
Luko’s number one star Mikael Ruohomaa took the team on his back by first shooting a 1-2-yv reduction, when Sport goalkeeper Joni Ortio was mysteriously injured and collapsed on the side of the locker room.
Ortio’s short-term contract with Sport ended at the end of the month, and the club has not announced his continuation. In his place, young Masi Härkönen skated between the posts, but Luko’s two additional hits passed by Ruohomaa can’t be blamed.
Leo Tuuva equalized from an open spot, and Alex Beaucage finally completed the well-deserved home win in overtime from a through drive.
Alex Beaucage hit Luko’s 3–2 winning goal behind Masi Härkönen’s back. Elmeri Elo / AOP
Of course, the change brought by Shedden was not yet complete in the second – or indeed the first – game.
Quick turns and pressurizing with two mirroring the third close worked in the early part of the game, when Lukko was still following the events in confusion.
The charismatic Canadian with the strong fighting attitude required by the aggressive way of playing had also impressed the players. They’ve clearly bought into Shedden’s thinking.
Also, the upper delay outputs, which the fives sometimes understood to use when the situation called for it, kept the flow of the game with the people of Vaasa.
On the other hand, there was clumsiness in those attacks, where one, even two attackers ran up only to stop next to the wing in the attacking blue. The idea was to direct Pak’s long opening to the end, but in practice the attack was simply thwarted.
Shedden also has enough to think about in the fact that the team’s energy waned towards the end: did the rush at the beginning eat too much of it?
This is a big question also on Saturday in Vaasa already starting at 3 p.m back to back – in terms of the encounter. It will be Shedden’s Sport debut in front of a home crowd.
If Shedde already brought a clear change to some of the sub-areas, nothing changed in terms of the result.
Sport, which continues in 15th place, had four defeats, of which it had, however, scratched a point. Now the losing streak stretched to five matches, and Rauma also lost one point.
Sport continues with the same average of one point, with which it played the first 15 games of the season under the leadership of Juuso Hahl, who was fired in mid-October.
Shedden should increase the point pace in the remaining 43 games to about 1.5 in order for the team to reach the targeted playoffs, i.e. at least 12th place – not impossible, but not likely either.