League jumbo SaiPa suffered its sixth loss in a row in the league after losing in Lahti with 1-4 goals.
Pekka Virta coached Luko to the championship in 2021, but another season at SaiPa has not taken off. Tomi Natri / AOP
- SaiPa’s head coach Pekka Virta spoke directly about the team’s plight.
- Pelicans, the surprise of the fall, already came third in the series.
Overtime reported on Monday that SaiPa set a dubious record in the early season: no league team has ever scored as few goals in its first 10 matches of the season as SaiPa now.
SaiPa scored 12 goals in its first ten matches, and the eleventh did not improve the pace.
Greg Moron The hit in the last second of the second set was the only one for Lappeenranta in Lahti. When the Pelicans had scored four times before that and no goals were seen in the final set, SaiPa’s sixth consecutive loss was a fact.
SaiPa has won only one of its eleven matches, when HIFK fell in Lappeenranta on September 23.
In the standings, the difference between Sputnik and Sport and Jukurei is five points, and Tappara, who occupies the last playoff spot, is already nine points.
“Deserved nothing”
SaiPa’s head coach Pekka Virta was at the press conference despite the plight of the team, quite calm, but he did not spare his words.
– Three weeks ago, we played a really good game here, and maybe we would have deserved more than one point, Virta recounted the 1-2 loss that came after the game-winning goal.
– Nothing was earned today. This is what losing produces, he continued.
– The game is now for good, or even the little self-confidence and courage to play… The opponent always had control of the puck, and that’s the thing that allowed us to play.
In the first ten laps, according to the data received by Virra, SaiPa had created good scoring opportunities, but the finishing was badly messed up.
– We had created the top three goalscoring opportunities in this series. Although everything else had happened, it’s no coincidence that there are no wins.
– Attacking gave a chance to win in its own time. Today there was no attacking and not much defending. There was no way to win, but now there are also other slightly bigger things, Virta hinted.
WhatsApp message
Virta went from the press conference to talk to the team. He did not specify the content of the conversation.
– Team matters are not meant for the outside like no other message threads or others are.
Ilta-Sanom according to the news published on Tuesday, Virta had mistakenly sent a message intended for the coaches to the players’ WhatsApp group.
– It’s part of professionalism and some kind of masculinity that I’ve gotten used to these things in hockey circles during these 35 years, when I’ve been at the men’s level, going inside the booth. And if there are closed circles, then in closed circles.
– It is quite shocking that it has come to this, Virta stated, referring to the leaking of the message to the media.
The Pelicans are roaring
Pelicans is the most positive surprise of the early season, and it already rose to third in the table. The head coach Tommi Niemelä naturally rejoiced at the victory, but he also gave credit to SaiPa.
– Did the guy have no less than ten lots for that second lot, Niemelä calculated.
– It was their goodness and our weakness. The last batch was clearly better. I am really pleased that the team was able to handle it well.