Teemu Ramstedt, Mika Partanen and Micke Åsten were only placed together on a line the morning of Thursday's game, but the trio played a big offensive role in IFK Helsinki's 6-1 win over Krefeld Pinguine.

by Sami Iilmo

HELSINKI - After three games IFK Helsinki has gathered three wins and eight points. One of the team’s best scorers has been Teemu Ramstedt who has one goal and three assist in three games. His plus/minus is +6, which is best of the team.

On Thursday, IFK faced Krefeld Penguine and got a well-earned 6-1 victory over the German club. One of the key players in the game was Ramstedt with a goal and two assists.

“The game went fairly well. After all this was our first game in our home rink and the ice was a bit moist. We got to skate here only in the morning before the game and it affected our game. It's a good feeling to get the win and three points.”

As Ramstedt said, it was the first game at Helsinki Ice Hall for IFK this season. After last season’s disappointment the players were really anxious to get playing back in front of their fans.

“Yes, we've been waiting for our first home game and this one felt good. Our last game here was back in March and things came to an end too early back then. We wanted to get back here and put in a performance for our fans.”

Against Krefeld, Ramstedt played on a line with Mika Partanen, who scored two goals and one assist, and Micke Åsten. They played very well even though they hadn’t been playing together for long.

“We practiced together only the morning before the game. Sometimes things just click. Today it felt good and we kept going with a good flow.”

Ramstedt is very excited about the Champions Hockey League and playing against teams from other countries. He also likes the variation of playing against teams other than those in the Finnish SM-liiga.

“I really like these CHL games. This is really refreshing that you get to play against all sorts of teams from all over Europe.”

There have been some European competitions before but Ramstedt thinks there is a difference between them and this CHL.

“It feels like there is a lot more at stake in these games than there was in the European or Nordic Trophy. Those were more like exhibition tournaments, but now it feels like we are going at full speed from the very beginning.”