Jukurie’s 101-year-old quadruple chain was on fire in the series opener. Oskars Batna scored two goals and Jesper Piitulainen assisted both.
World Championship bronze medalist Oskars Batna was on fire in the opening round and scored 2+0 points for Jukurei. Mikkeli beat KooKoo 4-1. ELMERI ELO / AOP
- Jukurit ushered in the new season victoriously.
- Oskars Batna celebrated for a long time in the summer, but scored two goals.
Olli Jokinen coached by Mikkelin Jukurit beat their local opponent Kouvola KooKoo 4–1 and got the season off to a flying start.
The number one bull of Mikkeli was Oskars Batna. The 195-centimeter tall Latvian scored the first two goals of the match.
Jesper Piitulainen passed both.
– It was only necessary to give a couple of punches and the Latvian big-ass guy took care of the rest. Today we got free input surfaces, Piitulainen told Iltalehte.
Jarkko Immonen got one assist point in the statistics.
Batna shines
Last spring, 28-year-old Batna won a historic World Cup bronze medal for his country and seems to have been energized by it for the new season as well – despite the long party line. The player told CMore that he celebrated the bronze for “a couple of weeks”.
– Looks like he has a rowdy Latvian summer behind him. He continued where he left off with the national team in the spring. He received an award from the Jukurit community before the game, maybe that fueled it as well. Oskars used his strengths today, Piitulainen continued.
Playing in his third season in Mikkeli, Batna produced four goals and a total of 14 power points last season.
Red button
Olli Joki started his third season as Jukurie’s head coach. In the previous season, the NHL legend was chosen as the coach of the year in the League. MIKKO LIERI / AOP
Piitulainen, who was brought up by Savonlinna Pallokerho, already started his eighth season in Mikkeli. He is the longest-serving player in Jukurei’s League history, as he has played in the club since the first league season in 2016–2017.
The striker is the right man to analyze the pressure situation of the opening game.
– During the training season, we spent a week in Switzerland grouping together and played well there. Then came a kind of passing week, and we played a bad practice game against SaiPa. It must have stuck in the back of everyone’s mind that you can’t play like this.
– This week the group found a red button in the booth and today it was a real Jukurit puck. We fought and went to the finish line, Piitulainen said.
101 years
Jukurie club legend Jesper Piitulainen scored 0+2 points in the opening game of the season. And praised his chain friend Oskars Batna. JAAKKO STENROOS / AOP
The Jukurs may very well have the best four chain in the series. The 41-year-old world champion Immonen plays between Piitulainen and Batna.
The trio already played together last season and have a total age of 101 years.
– We have a pretty simple casting. Let’s start defending as well as possible. If you manage to do it well, then the hockey gods will take care of those goals.
– Jake has already played a different game. Oskars is guaranteed to be one of the best goal-scoring players in the series. I myself try to bring a happy mood to the group. No squatting, Piitulainen said.
KooKoo ice coal
Kouvola’s only goal was scored in the final set Arttu Ilomäki. After the goal, Jukurit froze and KooKoo desperately searched for additional hits.
However, the fight for victory fell into the cold. Ville Leskinen and Olli Korhonen took consecutive and completely unnecessary second places.
Jukurit was able to try for one minute and 22 seconds with the superiority of two men. The team couldn’t score a goal.
In time 53.59 Ari Grondahl pressed in front of the goal Pekka Jormakka and the door of the Kouvola people’s ice hockey box opened again.
The game was over.
The final numbers were 4–1, and Jukurien’s captain Jormakka hit an empty goal. Jukurit was clearly better in the game, and could have won with bigger numbers.
Nick Malik saved Kookoo with the goal 38 times and Markus Ruusu 19 times.