Happee buried Koovee

Happee and Koovee went head to head at Monitoimitalo on Friday. The moose kept improvong their game and Koovee fell off the wagon in the second period.

Happee started slowly again. Koovee dominated the first ten minutes but neither team had any dangerous scoring chances. The moose woke up in the second half of the opening period. Kaapo Savinainen scored the first goal for the home team as he scooped in a bouncy rebound. Samuli Salomaa equalized just a minute later due to a bad change from Happee.

Happee picked up the pace in the second period. Happee regained the lead with a second goal from Savinainen. Tommi Taimisto, who transferred from Loviisa Tor preseason, assisted and gained his first point in the league. Toni Kuosmanen extended the lead to two goals and Peter Kotilainen, who has been struggling to score, made it 4-1 from a beautiful pass from Pauno Kajoksinen. Kajoksinen also assisted Juuso Heikkinen, who scored the last goal of the period, extending the lead even further.

Koovee started the third period aggressively and tried to reduce the game by lifting the defense line. Happee kept its cool and denied Koovee of coming back in the game. Happee was still busy in the other end of the court. Peter Kotilainen scored his second of the evening after a nice pattern. Niko Ilmonen and Vili Liponen also scored with astonishing performances. Koovee had a few chances in the end but Markus Laakso (16/17 saves) kept his net clean.

Happee took its second victory in a row and gained fourth place in the league. Koovee continues as 11. in the standings.

Peter Kotilainen was relieved after the match. He explained his poor start of the season in the press conference.

- I played previous ten periods without any points and my statistics were poor. A lot of different thoughts have crossed thru my mind but the more experienced players helped me back to the right direction. You have to play for the team and work hard. There are no shortcuts. Success tastes really good at the moment, concluded Kotilainen.

Head coach Mikko Lehto was happy with the performance.

- Entering the match, I told every player to take responsibility of their actions and the response was great. Both teams were a bit careful in the opening period, but we got the scoring going in the second and we gained some more confidence with the ball. We worked hard defensively and kept the opponent off dangerous scoring chances, analyzed Lehto.

Lehto said that Happee will take advance of its wide material in the two games of the weekend.

- We have one roster for this game and on sunday we have slightly different lineups. We have a lot of competition inside the team and this is an opportunity to show your skills, Lehto said.

Happee gets to rest for a day but on sunday it’s time for Esport Oilers to come and test the home team.

Highlights