Oulu Kärpät deny Espoo Blues yet again to set up final with JYP Jyväskylä

KalPa of Kuopio and Espoo Blues to contest bronze medals

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The Finnish ice hockey championship has come down to the sharp end, with the finalists being decided at the end of last week.
      Reigning champions and holders of the Canada Trophy Oulu Kärpät will meet the regular-season winners JYP of Jyväskylä in a best-of-seven final round of matches.
     
The Oulu team proved too much for Espoo Blues, the only team from the south of Finland left in the competition.
      It was the fourth year in a row that Kärpät knocked out Espoo Blues.
      Last year the defeat took place agonisingly in the finals, and in the two previous seasons the Oulu side were too good at the quarter-finals stage.
      Oulu Kärpät eventually beat Espoo Blues by four games to two on Saturday night, winning the sixth match 4-3 after an overtime goal from Juhamatti Aaltonen.
     
It was very close indeed that Espoo Blues would have taken things to a seventh game (at home), as they led 3-2 with just 34 seconds left on the clock.
      The Blues had won the opening encounter, but then lost home advantage in game three, when they went down 3-2 in overtime.
      After handing the initiative to their opponents, Espoo then went to Oulu and trounced Kärpät 4-1, but Friday saw them lose 5-7 at home, and Oulu gratefully wrapped matters up in front of their own fans on Saturday.
     
JYP of Jyväskylä had a relatively easier time of it in their semi-final against KalPa of Kuopio.
      They won 4-1 in games, and took their place in the final with a comprehensive 4-1 home victory on Friday evening.
      As regular-season winners, JYP will have home advantage in the best-of-seven series, and the first game will be played in Jyväskylä on Wednesday.
      Espoo Blues and KalPa meet for a match that nobody really very much wants to play in. The one-off encounter will be played in Espoo on Thursday evening.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  SM-Liiga play-offs: And then there were four...(25.3.2009)

Links:
  SM-Liiga (Wikipedia)
  SM-Liiga official site (mostly in Finnish)

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