Most picked KalPa Kuopio as the underdogs in the Round of 32 against Djurgarden Stockholm, but thanks to the netminding of Eero Kilpelainen, they're moving on. He spoke after Tuesday's win.
by Jakob Meijer
STOCKHOLM – Everyone who knows hockey can tell you that a goalie on fire is one of the most important things if you want to go all they way in the playoffs. Maybe Eero Kilpelainen will become that goalie for KalPa Kupio in this season's CHL campaign.
31-year-old Kilpelainen has already proven himself in the Finnish Liiga, winning the bronze medal in 2012 and having the best goals-against average in 2015. In the Round of 32, he has now shown the rest of Europe his skills, saving 60 out of 62 shots in the two games against Djurgarden Stockholm.
But the goalie himself would rather talk about his team than his own game.
“I played okay,” he began humbly after Tuesday's 2-1 loss, which gave Kalpa a 3-2 win on aggregate. “But I think we played pretty well as a team too. Even though Djurgarden where kind of pressing hard, we played smart and stuck with our game plan.”
Kilpelainen, who leads the whole CHL with 358:58 played, has an impressive 94.44 save percentage, and in Finland right now he has the second-best save percentage in the league at 92.5.
When asked about the reasons behind his success, he answered, “It's pretty much the same as before. I've been working hard every day. That gives you good results in the long run.”
Kilpelainen, who made one appearance with the Finnish national team last season, and KalPa now Swiss team Fribourg-Gotteron in the Round of 16. This is KalPa's first-ever journey into the CHL playoffs, but Kilpelainen already has big expectations for the rest of the tournament.
“We can win the whole thing,” he said confidently. “Right now we're just doing our thing and are not thinking to much. There's no magic tricks.”
After this performance against Djurgarden, can we expect more of the same against Fribourg?
“I'm just gonna go out and play and then we'll see what happens,” he finished with a smile.