A round of six matches is underway in the SM league.
SaiPa’s sad season is about to continue. MATTI RAIVIO / AOP
Ilves started off strong as a guest of SaiPa in Lappeenranta and from the opening set, they crushed the home team into the ice in the ice hockey SM league.
The tassel ears took a 1–0 lead after just over a minute of play, when Leo Loöf succeeded in scoring.
Henrik Haapala gave Ilves a two-goal lead eight minutes later. Eemeli Suomi finished Ilves’ 3-0 lead a moment later with a pass from Haapala.
Ilves got to the break in these readings.
TPS was raised by a club legend Jukka Vilander’s game number on the ceiling of the ice hall before the start of the Ässät match in Turku.
At the ceremony, Vilander was remembered by his former teammates. Vilander himself kept his speech very short.
The TPS players wore jerseys honoring Vilander in the warm-up. JAAKKO STENROOS / AOP
Helsinki HIFK, on the other hand, played a strong opening match against Jukurei in Mikkeli.
Otto Paajanen and Juha Jääskä quickly took the away team to a 2–0 lead until Markus Oden brought Jukurit to the end of the goal.
However, HIFK went into the break with a two-goal lead, when Iiro Pakarinen scored a 3–1 lead. Jääskä scored an assist, so the forward who also played in Leijon last week scored 1+1 during the first period.