Happee makes it to the final — 04.10.2014

Happee Jyväskyla wins against SV Wiler-Ersigen 7:4 in the semi-finals of the Champions Cup. The game was decided in the last period.

SV Wiler-Ersingen and Happee Jyväskylä fought for the first ticket for the final of the Champions Cup 2014 in Zurich. Whereas Happee lost its first game against GC Zurich, Wiler-Ersigen had not been beaten in the tournament. Understandably, the Swiss team exuded a lot of self-confidence in the first minutes of this semi-final. Moreover, they had the enthusiastic and loud crowd behind them.

In the third minute, Wiler already had the chance to open the score in powerplay due to a penalty against Happee’s Janne Hoikkanen for incorrect pushing.  Tatu Väänänen exploited this opportunity and scored the first goal for the Swiss team. A couple of minutes and some promising scoring chances of both teams later, Happee tied the game with their own powerplay goal. As a result, the first period ended in a draw.

Happee takes the lead in the second period

After the break, it was Wiler-Ersigen who largely controlled the game and had the better chances to score. Nevertheless, it took them several minutes to take the lead again. The scoreboard showed already 29 minutes and ten seconds, when Daniel Sebek scored the second goal for the Swiss team. However, thanks to a goal of Veli-Matti Hynynen Happee reached the re-balancing only one minute later. Moreover, Happee took the lead for the first time when Juuso Heikkinen finished a dribbling of his teammate Jonne Junkkarinen successfully. With solid defensive work and some good saves of their goalkeeper Eero Kosonen the Finnish team managed to take the wafer-thin lead with them into the second break.

Wiler’s offensive too harmless

Wiler-Ersigen tried hard to find its way back into the game during the first minutes of the last period. Especially the third line (including Berlinger, M. Hofbauer, Fankhauser, Olofssonand Gerber),who played a brilliant game against Lekrings on Friday, let some good scoring chances pass without success. After Happee’s Panu Kotilainen extended the lead to 4:2 in the 49th minute, Patrick Mendelin tightened the score only 58 seconds later to 4:3. It was again Wiler-Ersigen who scored next, but this time – unfortunately – into their own goal which made the score 5:3. This goal broke the back of the Swiss champions and Happee scored their goals number six and seven.

A tight game with a clear result

Although Wiler-Ersigen tried everything to come back into the game, Happee Jyväskylä let nothing get in its way and made it to the final. In the end, the 1,430 spectators in the Saalsporthalle in Zurich saw a hard-fought 7:4 Victory of the Finnish team. After the game, Christoph Hofbauer who assisted the second goal of Wiler said: “I think it was a tight game and small things made the difference today.” He tried to find the reason for today’s loss in the game against the Swedish champion. “The game against Falun was an intense one and took a lot of power and energy”, Hofbauer said. His overall conclusion: “We were just too harmless.”

On the other side, Jami Manninen named the difference between the two teams: “We wanted this win at any price.”Furthermore, he added: “It doesn’t matter who else qualifies for the final, we are going to be ready!”

Best Players:
SV Wiler-Ersigen: Nr. 18, Adrian Zimmermann
Happee Jyväskylä: Nr. 26, Otto Tikka

 

(Photos:MichaelPeter/André Burri)

More photos from the match by MichaelPeter and André Burri can be found on IFFFlickr.