Tuomas Salmela sacrificed himself for his team.
Tuomas Salmela got the puck in his face. Jaakko Stenroos/AOP
The SC league match between HIFK and Ilves saw a scary situation on Friday, when the team from Tampere Tuomas Salmela blocked the puck with his face.
The game was in the opening set in the defensive end of Ilves, and the people from Helsinki Julius Nättinen shot towards the goal. Salmela threw herself in front of the puck as a sacrifice.
The referee suddenly blew the whistle to stop the game so that the players could check Salmela’s condition. The audience fell silent.
TV pictures showed how Salmela was crying on her knees on the surface of the ice. Fortunately, the defender was able to get up himself and go to the bench to be patched up. The audience gave thunderous applause.
Blood was visible on Salmela’s jersey and mouthpiece when he skated to the bench. He immediately left for the locker room.
– Tuomas Salmela blocks the puck with his head. The game equipment remains intact, Ilves said on his Twitter account.
The people of Tampere are leading the match 3-2 at the time of writing.
Both teams scored in the opening set. Roni Hirvonen first took HIFK into the lead, but Petri Kontiola leveled the punts.
The visitors already took a two-goal lead at the beginning of the second period Tommi Tikan and by Les Lancaster with successes. He was responsible for HIFK’s second hit Johan Motin.
A round of five matches is underway in the league. A lot of goals have been seen in Lappeenranta, because SaiPa, which has changed its coach, is already leading Äss 3–0.