“Yes, we are a bit soft”

Ilves head coach Antti Pennanen is not satisfied right now. Jaakko Stenroos / AOP

The home loss to KalPa on Tuesday with 1-2 goals derailed Ilves to sixth in the league table.

Ilves lost its previous two games to Pelicans and TPS, and the goal difference in its three consecutive defeats is 2–8 in total. In three matches, it has not been able to score a single goal on an even field.

It is not an easy starting point for the next games, where Ilves will face Tappara and HIFK, who are also ranked in the top places in the pre-season rankings.

The first Tampere derby of the season will be hosted by the reigning champion Tappara on Thursday, and right after that on Friday Ilves will have visitors from Helsinki.

In those matches, the team is weighed, and it is clear that it is necessary to improve.

– The second set was difficult for us, and of course also the beginning of the match, where the opponent scored a couple of goals, head coach of Ilves Antti Pennanen stated at the press conference.

He explained the legality of the second set in more detail. It typically sees long scrimmages with the substitution boxes close to the forwards, allowing for substitutions during scrimmages.

– In the second set, fighting play and skating power are emphasized the most, Pennanen opened.

– In your own area, you should be able to stop the opponent’s offensive game as quickly as possible and be able to turn your own attack from it. In the offensive zone, the attackers should be able to fight and hold the puck. We didn’t succeed in that today, and that’s why we were in trouble.

Pennanen mentioned Petr Kodytekin that the chain was the only one able to regularly take the game to the offensive zone and stay there on the puck. They play on the sidelines of the number one challenger led by the Czech Republic Eemeli Finland and Joona Ikonen.

– Others have had a little trouble with that recently. Yes, we are a bit soft near the sides, Pennanen confirmed.

In the same tone, Pennanen also criticized his crew after the previous loss on Saturday in Turku, when he said that there were “two levels of people” in the team.

Goals to start

All the goals in Tuesday night’s only league match were already scored in the opening set.

The defenders were responsible for KalPa’s lead goals Filip Westerlund and Aleksi Elorinneand Ilves narrowed down at the end of the set Simon Stransky by force. The hits were the first of the season for all of them and also the first in their current clubs.

– In the third set we had a good run and we thought we could get to the pole, but not further than that. And it was close that we would have gained the upper hand, but not this time, Pennanen summed up.

– Let’s work on these issues and try to help and support the players.

Ilves’ situation is also complicated by the fact that one of the key players is a striker Ville Meskanen and defender Dominik Masin were sidelined for the match.

Hard robbery

KalPa’s head coach Petri Karjalainen has had an excellent start to his league career. The people of Kuopio now passed Ilves and rose to fifth in the standings.

– Really good feelings, hard robbery for us, Karjalainen was happy.

– The situation of Ilves was known, that they are wounded. According to the game plan, we try to hit it, attack it for a long time and force them to defend and waste energy there so that pain will rise.

KalPa’s plan succeeded, and Ilves’ pain grew even more.

7012 spectators watched the match in the stands of the Nokia Arena.