Tappara Tampere defenceman Pekka Saravo analysed his team's 2-0 loss at home in the first game of the Round of 32 to SaiPa Lappeenranta, and knows what they have to do better in the return game if they want to remain in the competition.

by Lassi Seppa

TAMPERE – One of the match-ups in the Champions Hockey League Round of 32 is Tappara Tampere against SaiPa Lappeenranta. The teams know each other well from the Finnish Liiga, so there were few tactical surprises about the first game, which SaiPa won 2-0 on a shutout by ex-Tappara junior goalie Jussi Olkinuora.

Tappara appeared to be having a lot of trouble against SaiPa, as they managed only 11 shots on goal. Experienced defenceman Pekka Saravo felt that something was off about the way his team performed on the ice.

“I feel irritated because of our game tonight,” he said after the first game was over. “We were not as ready to play in the first period as we should've been.” 

After the first period, Tappara seemed to play a bit better, but SaiPa managed to keep the home team away from the danger zone.

“It is difficult to change pace in the middle of a hockey game,” Saravo thought.

In this two-game series, where the team that scores the most total goals advances, Tappara is now down two goals. That means they need to win in Lappeenranta by a three-goal margin on Tuesday.

“The situation is now 2-0 in their favour, but we will be ready to fight for qualification in a week in Lappeenranta. There are still three periods to go,” Saravo said determinedly.

At least the fact that they won 5-3 in Lappeenranta on 20 September should give Tappara confidence heading into the return game. The fact that the teams have already met twice now means that they are familiar with each other. 

“There were hardly any surprises. SaiPa is a very good team and we were not at our best tonight,” Saravo said.

When asked about more specific reasons for the negative result, he explained, “We lost way too many one-on-one battles in this first game, so we really need to improve on that for the next game. Also, we were too slow and we couldn't get the puck into the offensive zone.” 

Hockey is a game based on scoring goals and defending your own goal. Both of these things become more difficult when playing shorthanded, and Saravo was resentful about the amount of penalties Tappara took.

“All the basic mistakes you can possibly make in a hockey game, we made them all. Those just usually break the game one way or another.” 

The return game in Lappeenranta is on Tuesday starting at 19:00 local time, 18:00 CET, with the winner of the aggregate score advancing to the Round of 16.