In the opening of the league season, Ilves, one of the biggest champion favorites, won 4–3 against Ässät, who put a lot of pressure on them in Pori.
Oula Palve returned to the League in an efficient manner. Mika Kylmäniemi / AOP
Five years ago, he played a 51-point season in TPS and returned to the SM league after his AHL and SHL seasons Oula Palve is one of Ilves’ top acquisitions.
Palve (powers 1+1) formed an effective second chain together with another new acquisition Juuso Könenen (0+1) and a young person Jani Nymanin with (1+1), when the people of Tampere claimed a 4–3 away win over Pori.
The power players of the match had scored all the goals for the Pori team Jan-Mikael Järvinen as well as Aces who hit twice Eemil Erholtz and Ilves’ new number one center Petr Kodytek.
Even before the opening of the domestic league, Ilves has played in the CHL, where last week it took home victories over Trinec and Vitkovice.
– Those Czech teams were slightly different opponents, Palve compared in an interview with C More after the Ässät victory.
– Maybe they weren’t that strong for skating, but then really hard to twist. I noticed myself today that I was able to be on the puck a little more. Äss didn’t have such strong players, Palve continued with a prickly attitude towards the people of Pori – or rather, honestly.
“Sleight of hand money”
Palve also commented on Satakunta’s second league team Rauman Lukkoa with C Morella without sordino. In Thursday’s only league game, Ilves hosted Lukko, who lost their home opener to HPK on Tuesday.
– The League has not been followed so much that I don’t know who all are playing there, Palve said of Luko.
– Surely they have a tough gang together again. They have a hell of a lot of money there, he stated.
Luko’s smartly organized financial base guarantees the club competitive resources.
Rauman Lukko Oy is owned by Contineo Oy, which also owns RTK-Palvelu Oy. It is one of Finland’s largest cleaning and property maintenance companies. RTK-Palvelu’s profits cover Luko’s operational losses. Contineon, on the other hand, is owned by Raumalaiskiekkilu Tuki ry.
With the new giant arena in Tampere, Ilves’ finances are also in top shape. It increased its player budget by 300,000 euros and raised it to 3.1 million euros. Lukko started the season with the same player budget of 2.9 million euros as a year ago.
The biggest sums are played by Kärpät and Tappara (3.25 million) and HIFK (3.2 million).