Roope Taponen plans to put on work gloves.
Six own goals, a save percentage of 76.92 and after one setback into an empty goal, a 3-7 defeat in the locker room.
Keeper Roope Taponen, 22, the first game of his career with the men’s national team was a nightmare. 11,159 spectators witnessed the crushing victory of the Czech Republic over Finland in the Nokia Arena.
– I learned that there is still a lot of work ahead. I’m not a ready goalkeeper yet, Taponen said after the match.
Roope Taponen analyzed the match on Saturday calmly and calmly. Petri Saarelainen / AOP
In many goals, the Czech players were able to hang around in the best scoring sector, which can’t be blamed on Tapo, but the goalkeeper felt that he could have taken more shots.
– At least the first goal. You can’t go along the ice from it. I started to sniff the back corner a bit, but the Czech put it in the middle of the goal. Just stay covered. On a good day, you have to catch a few of those to win a game like this, Taponen said.
In the opening goal of the Czech Republic, Finland played underpowered. Tomas Filippi passed from the corner of the rink in front of the goal To Daniel Vozenilekwho scored.
The Czech Republic scored three goals in less than 13 minutes.
– Unfortunately, I have had a few similar starts during the season. I go through the same things in that situation. After the opening set, a new game starts, which lasts 40 minutes. You can’t worry about that.
Judging from the comments after the game, Tapose has enough work motivation when he returns to his day job at HIFK, where the goalkeeper coach is Jan Lundell.
– At home, we will watch the match with “Lunka” and see what can be done better in the future.
According to Taponen, the difference between the Euro Hockey Tour and the SM league is considerable. Taponen described that the game is faster at EHT and there are “four top teams in the League”.
The goalkeeper did not feel that he was lacking in mental condition at least on Saturday.
– The feelings before the game were excitement and excitement at the same time. However, it’s been a while since I’ve played in the national team, and I’ve never played in the men’s national team before. It was a little rough, but it was nice to play. After all, excitement is a good feeling. That’s when you know you care.