Friday, November 9, 2007

Regression and digression

As previously covered, SM-liiga's on the first of its weekish long breaks, about a third of the season has gone and the original intention was to give a quick overview of proceedings so far. So let's have a go and see if we can stumble on anything exceptional. KalPa, Ässät and SaiPa are all in all too familiar territory in the nether regions of the table, HIFK are dodging around the lower cut-off line, while TPS have struggled northwards in the last few weeks. Plus ça change, as Saku Koivu (see, educational as well) might not say. In less familiar surroundings are HPK, Jukka Jalonen unsurprisingly proving a hard act to follow even for someone as clued up as Matti Alatalo. Starting the season with half the squad as newcomers can't have been easy for the ex-JYP man, and maybe their last game, a 3-4 victory in Raksila, the sort of home defeat I can just about tolerate, is a sign of better results to come. JYP themselves are squabbling over the mid-table positions with most of the usual suspects plus the nuclear powered foxes from Rauma. Jokerit are currently taking Buggins' turn to be third, which brings us next to Kärpät.

On the results front we've beaten KalPa unconvincingly three times, and suffered rare home defeats to SaiPa and Hannu Aravirta's gang from Lahti, the last one a genuinely good stuffing of the weasel. Pity poor Tappara though, who must be wishing games against us were three seconds shorter. Twice we've played them and twice we've beaten them, each time a decisive goal coming in the last two seconds of the game. On the player front we've suffered the seemingly usual gaggle of defensive injuries, the other side of the coin being that the younger defenders get more ice time and are playing well to boot. Extra cover was provided again by the ever reliable Ivan Majesky. Oskari Korpikari celebrated his 200th league game with a victory over Ässät, and in his 201st got hit in the face by the puck, breaking his jaw in several places. Mikko Lehtonen and Ilkka Mikkola are also sidelined, the former losing his place for the Karjala tournament no thanks to a dodgy back. Jere Karalahti's been out for 2-3 weeks now with a dead leg. Karalahti, ah yes, I knew he'd be at the centre of something that doesn't happen every day.

I wasn't present, but presumably last Tuesday's training session in Raksila was running quite normally. Until two police officers turned up, arrested Karalahti in connection with a drugs investigation and carted him off to Espoo for questioning, that is. Kärpät management are reportedly "gobsmacked" (my translation) that such a thing could have happened, seemingly unfamiliar with the idea that people with a colourful past such as Karalahti might just be carrying some baggage around. Looking on the bright side, it speaks volumes for the wayward one's reputation here that the old bill turned up at a scheduled training session with the expectation of finding him there, and actually succeeding. Coming to think of it, it also speaks volumes of the local plods that they had the wit to look for him at a scheduled training session. Let's face it, their powers of deduction aren't always unquestioned in these parts. The low point must be the car harpoon from the mid-'90s, with no one apparently able to work out beforehand the likely dangers associated with having a sharpened piece of solid metal attached to the front of a speeding car. To be fair though some do use their brains more profitably, like the time I was present during a daring daylight raid on a supermarket in Kaijonharju. The already unsteady robber, laden with a crate (24 bottles) of beer, shuffled his way craftily between the two checkouts, taking care not to interrupt the ongoing deep discussion. He would have made a clean, albeit dishevelled, getaway had he not farted all too loudly as the automatic doors opened for his exit, thereby causing the alarm to be raised. Half an hour later two of Oulu's finest sauntered onto the scene and casually took said felon from slumped against the supermarket wall, together with remains of crate, into custody.

Getting back somehow to Karalahti, today he gets to know his fate. Police must either release him or charge him. Missing three weeks through injury is one thing, but he'll miss a lot more than that if he ends up doing bird. By which utterly contrived means I turn to the one team so far not covered by the round up, Pelicans. C'mon, let's be honest, we may not have been too surprised to see them head the league after half a dozen or so games, but who amongst us would have reckoned on their staying there to this point? Not me, for sure. Will they last or will they fade? The latter, for my money, after the long season takes its usual injury toll. Now, about those bloody shirts of theirs...

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey There. I found your blog using msn. This is an extremely well written article.
I will be sure to bookmark it and come back to read more of your useful information.

Thanks for the post. I will certainly return.


Take a look at my site ... marketing & seo
my page > Seo affordable

Anonymous said...

That is really fascinating, You're a very professional blogger. I've joined
your feed and look forward to in the hunt for more of
your wonderful post. Also, I have shared your web site in my social networks

Also visit my web page :: search engine marketing firm

Anonymous said...

Having read this I believed it was really informative.

I appreciate you spending some time and effort to put this information together.
I once again find myself spending a lot of time both reading and
posting comments. But so what, it was still worthwhile!


Also visit my web page: student loan consolidation options

Anonymous said...

You need to take part in a contest for one of the highest quality blogs online.
I will highly recommend this site!

Also visit my web-site - kredit ratgeber

Anonymous said...

wonderful put up, very informative. I wonder why the opposite experts of this sector do
not realize this. You must proceed your writing.
I am sure, you've a huge readers' base already!


Visit my blog post - tarife private krankenkasse

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing such a fastidious idea, paragraph is
pleasant, thats why i have read it fully

Also visit my web-site ... gesetzliche und private krankenversicherung
my web site > krankenversicherungen gesetzlich

Anonymous said...

Very nice post. I absolutely appreciate this website. Keep it up!


my site Employment home

Anonymous said...

Hi everyone, it's my first pay a visit at this site, and piece of writing is really fruitful for me, keep up posting such content.

Feel free to visit my blog; private krankenversicherung selbstständige
my web site: private studentische krankenversicherung

Anonymous said...

Today, I went to the beach with my kids.
I found a sea shell and gave it to my 4 year old daughter and said "You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear." She put the shell to her ear and
screamed. There was a hermit crab inside and it pinched her ear.
She never wants to go back! LoL I know this is completely off topic but
I had to tell someone!

Also visit my webpage ideas for entrepreneurs

Anonymous said...

Does your site have a contact page? I'm having a tough time locating it but, I'd like to shoot
you an email. I've got some ideas for your blog you might be interested in hearing. Either way, great website and I look forward to seeing it develop over time.

Review my web site - hosting reviews

Anonymous said...

Having read this I thought it was extremely
informative. I appreciate you spending some time and energy to put this article together.
I once again find myself spending a lot of time both reading and
commenting. But so what, it was still worthwhile!

My homepage; www.myupdater.co.uk/?q=node/61762/

Anonymous said...

Useful information. Fortunate me I found your website by chance,
and I'm surprised why this coincidence didn't happened in advance!
I bookmarked it.

My blog affiliate clickbank make money program

Anonymous said...

This is very fascinating, You're a very skilled blogger. I've joined your feed and
stay up for in search of extra of your excellent post.

Additionally, I have shared your web site in my social networks

Here is my web page: cheap cpanel web hosting

Anonymous said...

This is very fascinating, You're a very skilled blogger. I've
joined your feed and stay up for in search of extra
of your excellent post. Additionally, I have shared your
web site in my social networks

My web site; cheap cpanel web hosting
Also see my web page > best reseller hosting plan

Anonymous said...

It's awesome to go to see this website and reading the views of all mates concerning this piece of writing, while I am also zealous of getting experience.

my page compare home equity loan rates
my page: Taking The Challenge Out Of One's Bankruptcy |

Anonymous said...

Superb website you have here but I was curious about if you knew of
any forums that cover the same topics talked about in this article?
I'd really like to be a part of group where I can get feed-back from other knowledgeable people that share the same interest. If you have any recommendations, please let me know. Appreciate it!

my webpage http://diycitizenship.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:KristiChr

Anonymous said...

This is very interesting, You are a very skilled blogger.
I've joined your feed and look forward to seeking more of your wonderful post. Also, I have shared your website in my social networks!

My page; Best converting Clickbank products

Anonymous said...

Hey, I think your site might be having browser compatibility issues.
When I look at your blog site in Chrome, it looks fine
but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping.

I just wanted to give you a quick heads up!
Other then that, very good blog!

Feel free to visit my web blog - similar internet page - 50jahre.evang-aadorf.ch

Anonymous said...

Are you able to supply a lot more entropy on
this?

My webpage first time home buyer loans bad credit - www.al-dalel.com