Cauldron in the chest. Will not give up. Again the opponent is knocked down. That’s basically what the success of the Ässie’s early season 2023–24 is all about.
In the chest of the staircase. Not given up. Again, the opponent is poured.
So says Young Angry Men and Olli Lindholm’s in a song recorded in 2003 Boiled heart.
Säkeistö is very valid this fall, because that is basically what the Pori team’s surprisingly strong early season of 2023–24 is all about.
– Aces play hockey, which the players know how to implement and the coaches coach, sums up Iltalehti’s expert Pekka Virta.
Behind everything is a feeling: not giving up.
– The team’s basic defense has a big heart. Let’s rush forward and block shots.
Ässät is the second best home team in the series. 15 series points in seven matches. Only in the opening round of the regular season against Ilves has it remained without points.
– I know how it feels to be in Pori, when the whole community is blowing a tailwind at your back. The feeling is really strong around the Aces.
Although talking about feelings may sound like a cliché, hockey’s SM league is a business of passion, especially during the mammoth regular season.
– Although the mentality of Pori and Rauma are completely different. Porilainen is as direct as can be. At the R-kiosk, I was wide awake when a well-intentioned salesperson asked “what do you want”, Virta recalls.
– When the people of Pori like it, others are taken care of. The Pori mentality has a really positive echo in Ässi, the man who has played and coached in all the teams on the west coast adds.
Maakari in goal
Jesse Joensuu (left), Rami Määttä and Niklas Rubin don’t give up, because especially Joensuu’s heart is beating in his chest. Elmeri Elo / All Over Press
Tear, grate and carcass.
Ässät showed that kind of swagger in last spring’s playoffs, for example.
The new head coach Jere Härkälän era, the game is a bit more modern.
– In my opinion, Aces plays the so-called Suomi-lätä. If a quick attack fails, let’s go with a delay. The team plays well in rhythm and moderately chooses the situations when to withdraw. Aces naturally pressurize with their own attacks.
The expert emphasizes the captain To Jesse Joensuu significance.
– When Pori has internal trust, it is not questioned. Joensuu’s help has been invaluable to Härkälä. Joensuu puts all in and makes sure that there is no power vacuum in the team, Virta estimates.
– The meaning of Joensuu is similar to Lasse Kukkonen was once for Kärpi. Lauri Marjamäki can tell in detail what it’s like to coach without Kukko or with Kukkonen.
Aces’ equipment is more technical than in recent years. Martin Lefebvre, Aleksi Heimosalmi and Aleksi Matinmikko enable, for example, a more puck-like way of playing last season.
– On the attack Lenny Hämeenaho is very dangerous and nasty. Jan-Mikael Järvinen pulls a new spring.
Of course, the a and o of everything is one of the best goalkeepers in the series Niklas Rubin.
– The course of the game is so strongly guided by goals: easy goals should not be given and the goalkeeper should take away a “sure goal” from the opponent. Aces have a competitive advantage here.
A golden dream
The grandstand at Isomäki Ice Hall is a huge asset for the home team at its best. In bad moments, it turns against spade shirts. Elmeri Elo / All Over Press
Virta experienced the charm of Pori as a player in the 1990s, but as a coach in the 2013–14 season, the other extreme. He came to a crowded place Karri Kiven after the team’s surprise championship. Pesti stayed for a year.
– When things go badly, you know it. When you are anxious and there are no people in the hall, a negative atmosphere takes you with you.
The big question is, in which direction is the feeling of the Pori community swinging this season?
From the beginning of the 2023–24 season, Ässi has had no bad episodes. The longest “losing streak” is the first two games of the regular season.
Can the gold miracle of spring 2013 repeat itself in 2024? Or will the estimates presented before the start of the season come true, that the team will end up in places 7–10?
– Ässät is of course not a pre-favourite. It would be a tough achievement to be among the six. The more you play, the more likely you are to have bad periods and injuries. Can hit big narrow material if a molar or first center goes into the yard, Virta responds and adds.
– The seam of success and a small chance for a dream is because the team has a lot of potential for growth.
Knockout
Olli Lindholm, who passed away in February 2019, was a passionate Ässie man. MIKA KANERVA
On Wednesday, Ässät knocked out Tappara in Tampere with 6–2 (4–1, 2–0, 0–1). The people from Pori were murderously effective, because in the middle of the game, in a 6-1 situation, the goalkeepers from Tampere had a total of four saves.
– We have played well as a team. It’s a waste of cooperation, because we don’t have superstars, summed up Ässie’s power pack Martin Lefebvre.
Aces is third in the series: 15 matches and 29 series points.