Tappara Tampere came up with a big 2–1 win over Lulea Hockey in the home half of their home-and-away series. After assisting on the winning goal, Tappara forward Henrik Haapala spoke. 

by Lassi Seppa

TAMPERE – Tappara drew a tough opponent this round in Lulea Hockey, the defending European champions. Their first game in Tampere was a tough defensive battle, but Tappara came out with a one-goal win. 

“Good vibes about the game. A tough win over a good Swedish team. Have to be happy about this,” confirmed forward Henrik Haapala, who assisted on Jani Lajunen's game-winning goal with 12:29 remaining in the third period. It came just 1:29 after Lulea had tied the score.

It's always difficult to play against a team you've never faced, but Haapala and the rest of the Tappara team knew their opponent would not be easy.

“As a team I wasn’t so sure about their playing style, but of course players can read each other in the middle of the game. They really knew how to play hockey.”

Haapala went on to talk about Lulea's impressive roster, which is filled with some big names, including Finnish ones.  

“Of course it was fun to play against Lennart Petrell, Toni Rajala and Ilari Melart. Every one of them is a very good hockey player,” he said, noting the three Finns playing for Lulea.  

Along with Lajunen and Kristian Kuusela, Haapala's line has been very powerful in the Finnish Liiga and their names often get mentioned in national media. They came through again this game. 

“In my opinion we played quite well,” he figured. “We tried to stay in the path we’ve followed this season. The main thing is to enjoy and have fun every night on the ice. Of course winning is always top-notch.” 

On the game-winning goal, Lajunen the centre got the puck in front of the goal and managed to shoot a heavy wrist-shot toward the net.

“Lajunen got the puck in the corner and he managed to pass it to me. I just kept the puck moving, and was able to play it to Kuusela, who played it back to Lajunen.” 

Watch the highlights of the game below, including the game-winning goal beginning at 3:20, which displays the great chemistry and talent on the Larjunen-Haapala-Kuusela line. 

As cliche as it sounds, Haapala's main goal this season to stay healthy and play a good season. For Haapala, there’s a good reason to answer that way.

“Every season I’ve got to play in the major league, I have had problems with the same injury. It got cured off well last season. I would be happy to play healthy, and with great mates. That’s my only goal for this season.” 

Looking ahead to the second game, which will be played next Tuesday in Lulea, Haapala calmly said, “I have never been to Lulea. It might be a beautiful place and a great arena. I hope good crowd too. It’ll be very nice to get there.”