Sami Ikonen
At what point are the best joker players invited to the SM league? ponders Iltalehti’s Sami Ikonen.
The Mestis sky of the Jokers started triumphantly. Matti Matikainen
The opening week of the Helsinki Jokers in Mestis is over. On Thursday, it got a fairy-tale start to its new era, when the reigning champion Kiekko-Espoo fell in front of a record crowd of almost 7,000, and to top it all off in overtime.
At that time, the first court of the Helsinki team was strong and Alexander Forslund, who was marked as the top center, collected 1+2 performances.
On Friday, the party at the joker fans’ end continued, even though the team unexpectedly suffered a loss to Koovee at the Kerava ice hall. Ilves’ cooperation club tried to silence the atmospheric hall by leading 3–0 in the final set, but cheers rang out gloriously throughout the evening.
The group of Jokers will probably experience changes during the season. Matti Matikainen
Before the halfway point of the last period, Matias Hänninen had the honor of scoring the Joker’s first Mestis goal born in Kerava. Emil Oksanen, who was successful in Espoo, scored an underpowered goal at the end of the game.
Jokerit, who rose to the top on Thursday, suffered a 2-3 loss in the end, but it could have been otherwise. The players of the first basket of the Jokers showed that with small tweaks, a touch of luck and perhaps better bat taping, they can wreak havoc in Mestis.
Forslund, Thursday’s overtime hero Leevi Lemberg, captain Saku Forsblom and Jere Vertanen, who scored 57 points in Ketterä last season, got their chance to score the equalizer. It was amazing how none of them managed to score power points in Kerava, but passing games happen to even the best.
Credit must go to persistent Koovee and debutant Patrik Hamrla.
The wild card players will get their next chance to stretch the net on Tuesday at Nordis. But what does it mean if the best Jokers and the players with experience in the League manage to show that they belong to better circles from match to match?
As a Mestis team, Jokerit cannot get rid of the fact that its players aim for a higher league in their careers. That’s why, for example, the contract of Otto Karvinen, who is still on the sidelines, contains a clause about SM league offers, which is not unusual in Mestis.
At this point in the season, there is no reason to worry in Eteläpäädy. Then it can be when SM league clubs suffering from injuries think about replacements from the Mestis side or look for stimulant injections outside the farm teams.
For this season, Jokerit has not promised to be a dance couple of any SM league team to drag players between series, so it can basically borrow its players with anyone. Although HIFK, which, on the other hand, due to its resources, is not the first to look in the direction of Mestis during problems.
It will be interesting to see how willing the Jokerit is to loan their players to the main league or give them up completely in the middle of the Mestis championship hunt. The team aims for at least fourth place in the regular season, but with the current team we can expect even better.
