Game report BI Knockouts - HEL ry

BIKO - HEL ry 4 - 4 (0-1, 3-1, 1-2)

1-2 Tuomas (Douwe)
2-2 Miika (Tuomas)
3-2 Miika
4-4 Kalle (Miika)


It is really nice to play, when you can see everyone in the team concentrating on the game. The spirits were very high yesterday, perhaps, in part, a bit too high. We got two quite unnecessary team-penalties for continuous wrong playing style. This means mostly slashing, and hitting the stick. HEL did it too, they just did not get penalties from it. It was close though, the referee gave them a warning. Keep it cool, and play by the rules, even in tight situations.

We have now had two games in a row, where we've actually been in the chasing position, and managed to pull even, and even go past. This requires some backbone, and I've had the feeling that we've been lacking it previously. It looks like we're gradually growing some :)

HEL is a really skilled team, and their passing game is better than ours. Even more, they have one or two players, who are really confident with the ball, and can run laps around anyone else in the rink. Our tight box defense worked quite nicely, although in the first period it was almost non-existent. It got too tight, and everyone was just standing in the front of our goal. The second and third went a lot better. This killed their goal-spree efficiently. We forgot the defense a few times in the third period and they managed to shoot a fairly simple one. Their other goal in that period was quite good, and we would have had hard time preventing it anyway.

One thing to note, especially in the last period: When HEL had the ball, there were three of us up there after it. This is a no-no. Only one tries to tackle the ball. The winger on the side of the attack has the responsibility to tackle, and tackle hard. The rest of the attack chain has to drop down at that point, because if the guy gets a pass past the chasing winger, the ball is immediately in our end, with just two defense men.

The wingers also have the responsibility to drop down, if our defense runs up. This we forget too often. Take notice! Also, making a mask in front of the opponents goal is very very important, so there are lots of things that fall on the wingers :)

Next game in about three weeks. See you there!

Anni