19. January 2025
Home » Sports » Sports Reports » EräViikingit – Classic 6-4 (2-0, 1-2, 3-2)

EräViikingit – Classic 6-4 (2-0, 1-2, 3-2)

Back in Finland: on 17th January 2025, I traveled to the Nordic country for two floorball matches. The Friday evening match-up showed a duel in the Men F-Liiga between the EräViikingit from Greater Helsinki area and Classic from Tampere. While the capital region hosts rather went for keeping distance to the relegation spots, Classic was about to chance the Espoon Oilers and Nokian KrP at the top of the table. An interesting Friday evening match at Mosahalli.

This posting comes with a section of 252 major size pictures in the sports galleries

 

EräViikingit – Classic – Match Report

In the packed Mosahalli, EräViikingit had a dream start of the match. After less than two minutes, the hosts took the lead after a right wing attack – the ball finally crossed the line as an own goal though. The home team, especially driven by a lot of young spectators, even raised the lead to 2-0, when Oliver Sillanpää completed another fast attack. Classic felt to try to increase pressure, but even a bench penalty against Simon Stransky could not give them a first score in this match. After that, the teams neutralized very well. Thereby, Classic went for more straight attacks, while the Viikingit had long and slow plays, keeping the ball in their defensive zone and trying to find the gap in the opponent’s defense. Classic had more shots on goal, but the Vikings seemed to control the match, which rather easy went into the first intermission.

 

Classic gets closer in the second period

After the 18 minute break (without court change), some spectators still might have enjoyed a snack, when Daniel Tenhonen made the home team cheer again. With just 26 seconds in the second period, he scored the third goal for the home team. However, the Classic attacks felt to be more successful now as well. After 25 minutes, Vilho Helin played a lovely pass to Viljami Virtanen, who was just a few meters away from the goal line and netted in. The momentum broke with a bench penalty against Eemeli Salin and the power break. The Helsinki team could get back to their strategy and kept the ball longer now. It felt like they will be able to save that two goal lead until the second intermission. In the very last minute of the second period, though, Ville Lastikka added the second goal for the guests. This felt promising towards an interesting third period.

 

A very different match in the third period

To be honest, the first 40 minutes of the match were not the most attractive floorball I have ever seen. The hosts’ strategy slowed down the match and lead to rare opportunities. This changed completely in the third period. Both teams had chances already at the beginning and the goalies were more in focus. Especially Lukas Kriz had a very good match for the hosts. It took almost ten minutes until there were scores, though. EräViikingit felt rather safe, when Matej Penicka scored twice, in the 50th and 53rd minute, leading to a 5-2 score.

After a time-out, Classic started to pull their goalie Otto Auvinen rather early. This was successful for the team quite quickly, as Jami Manninen closed up the score in the 54th minute. After a short period, Classic pulled their netminder again. This time, EräViikingit took profit from that, when Simon Stransky scored the empty netter with just some three minutes left to play. Classic pushed for another goal, but when Oskari Heikkilä was sent to the sin bin (58:07), it felt as the match was decided. Nonetheless, Classic tried to play without goalie. Indeed, it was Manninen again, who managed to close the score to 6-4. However, in the remaining 87 seconds. the hosts’ defense stood solidly and finally saved the victory.

 

EräViikingit – Classic – Lineups

EräViikingit: 45 Lukas Kriz, 1 Tuoko Ojala – 9 Eero Koistinen, 11 Leo Tiittala, 16 Jacob Kerola, 19 Tommi Wiander, 28 Simon Stransky, 41 Matej Penicka, 43 Ilmari Aarela, 44 Elias Pirhonen, 63 Veli-Pekka Turula, 70 Daniel Tenhonen, 72 Oliver Silanpää, 75 Jukkapekka Auroila, 86 Juuso Möttönen, 89 Benjamin Tenhonen, 91 Miko Vaarimo, 92 Otto Ukskoski

Classic: 70 Otso Auvinen, 35 Lassi Toriseva – 3 Otto Kilpi, 4 Konsta Tykkyläinen, 8 Teemu Karppanen, 9 Eemeli Salin, 10 Oskari Heikkilä, 12 Eetu Sikkinen, 15 Aaro Helin, 17 Janne Lamminen, 18 Jarni Manninen, 22 Peteris Trekse, 30 Vilho Helin, 36 Ville Lastikka, 48 Viljami Virtanen, 63 Ville Hietaranta, 68 Toni Salminen, 72 Titus Salokangas, 81 Tuuka Salo, 88 Alpo Laitila

 

EräViikingit – Classic – Gallery

In the sports gallery, there is a designated major size picture gallery with 252 pictures of this match at

 

EräViikingit – Classic- My View of the Match

The first 40 minutes made me think about potential rule changes. There are shot clock ideas in floorball, which would make the match faster and more attractive. While the match initially rather felt like a paradise for floorball strategy lovers, it skyrocketed in the third period. Even though Classic had significantly more shots on goal, they could not turn this advantage into a victory.

 

Floorball in Finland

Here are all my posting related to floorball and Finland:

 

Deutsche Bahn

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