Roope Taponen tells why he left Jokers and moved to HIFK

Roope Taponen casually steps into the cafeteria of HIFK’s home cave, where lunch is just being served. The man has a bun on his head the wrong way around when he comes to introduce himself.

The morning ice cream has just finished. The players’ working day is already over, even though it’s not even twelve o’clock.

– Fun and relaxation, Taponen says about his plans for the rest of the day.

He goes to dip himself in the ice-cold water at the Helsinki Rowing Center. They belong to the same dip gang Kasper Kotkansalo, Micke-Max Åsten, Teemu Tallberg and Julius Nättinen.

At Pleikkar, the name of the game is Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0.

– It will be beaten quite a lot, Taponen smiles.

It is the day before the match, which Taponen wants to take it easy. It is completely allowed, because the man made HIFK the hottest team in the league with his saves.

Not many believed in that before the start of the season.

The level remains

– The goalkeeper situation in particular is worrying.

This is what Iltalehti wrote about HIFK in its season preview on September 13. A similar assessment was made by almost all experts last fall, when the shield jerseys started the season with a goalie tandem in their twenties named Niilo Halonen-Roope Taponen.

Halones was first offered the position of first keeper, but when the rubber didn’t stick, Taponen stepped forward. Now Taponen shines in the top bracket of almost all goalkeeper statistics.

The youngster admits that there have been “more than budgeted” games under his belt, but he is not surprised by his own top level.

– I’m only surprised that the level has remained reasonably good from night to night, Taponen says confidently but not arrogantly.

He does not want to take credit for HIFK’s wild scoring streak, even though he is the single most important factor in it. In Taponen’s opinion, the whole team has raised its level.

– We already defended well in the early season, but there were problems in the attacking game. After the Spengler Cup, that lock started to open little by little, Taponen analyzes the reason for the flying weather.

The story continues after the picture.

Prize steak

Taponen sat down at the negotiation table with HIFK in the middle of the cannon season. When he got up from it some time later, he found a two-year extension card in the grapple.

Was your salary increased after zero?

– Well, at least not many zeros, Taponen answers with a laugh.

– You can’t build stone houses with this yet. You have to get that kind of money from Änäri.

Taponen doesn’t consider himself a slob, but he doesn’t consider himself a prodigal either. He transfers part of his salary to a sports fund, from which funds can be withdrawn after his playing career.

– Food costs the most money. I practice this sport so that I can have lunch after morning training – and so that I can get new (goalkeeper) gear in the summer, the man grins.

Taponen celebrated the extension at Stockmann’s Herku. From there, he grabbed a pre-marinated sirloin steak, which he finished at home.

– It turned out good! Or well, the second steak didn’t turn out as good as the first. Toka became a bit too mature, the man admits honestly.

In addition to the flipper, however, the soup ladle can also be kept in the hand. Taponen likes to cook with his girlfriend in the couple’s shared rental apartment in Töölö.

The man’s bravura is a chicken wok.

– There is absolutely no need for that. As long as you don’t leave the chickens raw and burn the water in the bottom, that’s it.

A phone call

In the 2017–18 season, Taponen was playing in the B-junnu of the Jokers, when he was called for a new number. Pussari did not respond to the first two calls.

– When the same number called for the third time, I was sitting on the toilet. I thought, who is this guy? What does it want from me?

Taponen decided to find out and answered the phone with a smile. At the other end of the line was Jan LundellHIFK’s goalkeeper coach.

– He asked if you would come to play for us.

Taponen considered the offer for a couple of weeks before deciding to change clubs. The league path offered by HIFK was attractive, and Jokeri’s actions were not even pleasing.

– The Jokerit fiasco was what it was, but there was a really good veskakoutis there Vitali Taskinen. Without him, I would have left immediately after the phone call to drive towards Nordenskiöldinkatu.

Taponen spins his words and thinks carefully about how to continue the topic correctly.

– I was annoyed by the environment and how part of the team practiced with the attitude of “I don’t care”. I thought this is not where I want to be.

The story continues after the picture.

Fine immediately

Although Tapose is only 21 years old, he behaves like a master in the interview. The flap flies, the story is peppered with stadium slang and eye contact is maintained.

Based on the gesture, the situation does not excite the rookie guard one bit.

In the summer of 2018, the situation was different, when Taponen first stepped into the summer training of Kollie, or HIFK’s U20 team, attracted by Lundell.

– I was so excited that I don’t really remember anything about it, Taponen laughs.

– I think I still went into the booth with my shoes on, even though you shouldn’t do that. The first fines immediately followed.

According to Taponen, the amount was around five euros, but even that had to be asked from the parents, who paid for the whole thing back then.

It is said that the Jokerit background didn’t turn out to be a surprise in the new booth.

– I tried to hide the fact that I came from the Jokers. I’m still trying to do it here, but somehow it has come up, Taponen says.

Originally, he was raised by Nummela’s Palloseura. In the fourth grade, Taponen ended up in the Jokers after a few friends, which could have been a tough place for the father.

– Father has always been an IFK man. He must have gritted his teeth and thought, damn it, this is the wrong company. But luckily, he still paid the ice fees.

Taponen also thanks his parents for driving him almost every day from Nummela to the former Helsinki, even though the journey took more than half an hour each way.

To the army, mars!

Taponen marinated at the league level in Mestis, where he played the previous three seasons. The first season went to Joensuu in Jokipoji, the next two in Kiekko-Espoo.

– I certainly grew more as a person in Joensuu when I first moved away from home. In Espoo, I progressed more game-wise, Taponen sums up.

Next summer, there will probably be more spiritual growth again.

– Then you have to – excuse me, so you can – go to war in Santahamina.

Taponen enters the Sports School of the Defense Forces. It can be seen from the expression that it is not currently causing great squeals of joy.

– The golf summer of all time is a bit over now, but the army is a duty that a grown man has to go through – and a grown man goes through it, Taponen says.

The youngster, who loves ball games, took up golf last summer. After 30 laps, the handicap is said to be around 23.

A foreign dream

Taposa is not reserved for the NHL, and the big league is not a real goal for him. At the moment, ice hockey is just a hobby for a man to put food on the table.

– The NHL is a dream division, but if you could ever play abroad, that would be sweet. It would be nice to see other cultures, he thinks.

Instead, the goal would be to finish high school “before the career ends”. Tapose still has 14 courses to go, but now is not the time for school.

At the moment, Rápyläkäus is fully focused on the end of HIFK’s season. The club operating with a huge budget is sure to hug the championship, but Taponen is not talking about it out loud yet.

– Don’t all ten teams that reach the playoffs have the same goal…