The Ilves coach left Oulu quickly.
Antti Pennase was busy elsewhere. Henri Kärkkäinen
At the press conference after the match between Oulu Kärppie and Tampere Ilves, only the head coaches were seen Lauri Marjamäki. Lynx commander Antti Pennanen was missing.
The future national team coach was an assistant coach Lauri Merikiven hurried away from Oulu. The match, which was decided within the actual playing time, fell behind the schedule, as time was used in the game for, among other things, video checks.
The exact reason for the quick departure was not given.
– He was in a hurry to get to the plane for personal reasons. The game dragged on a bit and I had to go there quickly, Merikivi said and began to explain the game to the journalists.
Not even Lauri Marjamäki would necessarily have wanted to be talking in the players’ corridor of Raksila’s ice hall. His star side lost for the fourth time this season. This time with a count of 3–6. Kärpät is in tenth place in the league table, and the talk about Marjamäki’s possible dismissals intensified even more.
The head coach saw a lot of positives in Kärppie’s game. The team managed to score three goals on an even field against a quality opponent.
– Whenever it’s almost a week since the previous game, we bet at the beginning. At the beginning we were quite good, but the second half of the first period turned to Ilves, the coach said.
Marjamäki highlighted the efficiency of Ilves. Kärpät won the shots 33–22, but it did not bring series points to the people from Oulu.
– The goals on the most equal field went 3–3. Ilves then scored one under the power. All that was left was missing goals, says Marjamäki and feels that the team needs more games to get things going.
– Maybe one of the best games of the season, but there were no points. If you continue with this, you will get points.