SavojarSports.sj - the Savojar Sports News Site (v2.0)

by **Savojarna** » Thu Jun 14, 2018 1:33 pm

OOC: This is a reboot of the old SavojarSports.sj thread. The old one was so cluttered that I really got demotivated to roleplay on it, so I decided I'll relaunch SavojarSports.sj with a bit of a less ambitious outlook on it. The old results can be found hereand remain canon. ICly, nothing changed, so also all foreign players remain at their current teams.

FOOTBALL

Football is the most popular sport in Savojarna in terms of pure viewership and player numbers. The Savojar football league, called the Savojar Futbol Serien, belongs to the medium-to-lower tiers of the Multiverse though. It is composed of twenty teams, most either sponsored by state entities or by private cooperatives. Historically, these were indeed worker teams, but since the 1970s, the league got increasingly professionalised and is now fully professional. Savojar football is generally known for physical strength and a focus on young players. The second tier is called the SFS 2, and consists of sixteen teams. Every year, two to three teams get promoted to the SFS. The SFS 2 is closed downwards, even though new interested teams can apply with the SFFB to join the SFS 2. Below it, the Savojar Amateur Football Championship is contested. Internationally, the Savojar teams participate in the Rushmori CdC, the Champion's Cup, the Globe Cup and the Cygnus Cup. The national team is ranked 28th of the world and made the World Cup once, in the 80th iteration. The team did not qualify for the KO stage. As a speciality, the national team alternates between World Cup Cycles: Every cycle, there is either the men's or the women's team contesting the Cup. WC81, and the preceding Copa Rushmori, will be contested by the Men's National Team.

ICE HOCKEY

In terms of attendance percentage, ice hockey is the biggest sport in Savojarna. However, due to the smaller stadia and the higher obstacles to young players, it still is number 2 behind football in terms of sheer numbers. The highest - and the only professional - league of Savojar ice hockey is the SHS, the Savojar Hockey Serien. It has 24 teams and is a completely closed league, with many teams having their own youth development as well and collaborating amateur teams. Following a 46-game-season, the SHS enters a 16 team playoff to determine its champion. Like in football, the championship is dominated by state supported teams, even though some union teams could break the phalanx. Savojarna's national team is also highly regarded in world ice hockey and made the KO phase of the WCoH in its two previous attempts. Their biggest rivals are Vilita and Turori, a team that they lost to multiple times, most notably in the World Cup of Hockey 34 finals, on home ice. The Savojar hockey scene is dominated by tactical, not overly physical play.

HANDBALL

The third of the Big Three team sports in Savojarna. Handball is the favourite sport of Ejana, whose two top teams ESK Storevik and BHK Kjefla usually dominate the league. The highest Savojar handball league, the SHL, has twelve teams, with the SHL B consisting of fourteen more. The SHL A culminates in a playoff final game in Sjoedrhavn every year, which has been dominated by ESK recently. ESK has reached four consecutive finals and won three of them, only dropping the title to BHK once. Internationally, the Savojars belong to the world's elite. The HWC 20 in Abanhfleft, contested without previous dominators Red Blackiland, was the first international team sports title that Savojarna had ever won.

RUGBY

Rugby, despite being not extremely popular, has quite a following in Savojarna because of its long tradition as a preparation for war. Rugby-ish games were played since more than 300 years on the islands, and they have gradually formed into international rugby. Savojarna only plays Union and Sevens, in a rather archaic mode. The Savojar rugby championship is a special tournament of fifteen semiprofessional teams representing the old provinces of Savojarna. The teams are technically allowed to trade players or get foreign players, but this is extremely frowned upon. The eight teams that end the season highest up get invited to the summer Sevens Series, which is a series of four sevens tournaments with twelve teams (the four extra teams get invited by the hosting province). The eight teams that do best across these four tournaments qualify for the Savojar Sevens Championship, contested in Sjoedrhavn, which crowns the inofficial kings of Savojar rugby. Internationally, the team competes in the Rugby Union World Cup and in the Sevens Series.

MOTORSPORTS

Motor sports, for a long time, meant rallye in Savojarna. There are four major rallye events in Savojarna - the Rallye Sumanen, the Rallye Ejana, the Russica Challenge and the Jarnstad Rallye - which are considered the most important domestic events in the sport. Famous rallye drivers are revered and highly popular. However, recently the dominance of rallye got somewhat broken due to a massive development program with the goal of getting established in the WGPC, the multiverse's main open-wheel racing series. Sigur Bjarnason started his career for Mattijana's MRT in the WGPC 16 and won the constructor's title along with his teammate Rustom Ibuna of Filindostan. The next steps for Savojarna's WGPC program are the establishment of a WGP2 team and attempts to get a Savojar Grand Prix in the next WGPC season, with the establishment of a Savojar team in the top flight of GP racing being a long-term goal for the program.

SKIING

In winter, skiing is the most popular individual sport. Savojarna had an important part in the creation of the Alpine Skiing World Tour and hosted two races as well as the season finale in the ASWT's inaugural season. The Savojars fought a tough rivalry with Dunnes, which they ultimately lost but could somewhat strike back in the Winter Olympics in Prescott, Electrum. Cross-country skiing and biathlon are also quite popular and received a huge boost thanks to the Savojar successes at the Winter Olympics, where the Savojars won multiple medals, including golden ones, in both disciplines. Domestic competitions in skiing have mostly been replaced by the ASWT, which now fills the nation-statal skiing calendar.

by **Savojarna** » Thu Jun 21, 2018 5:33 am

SavojarSports.sj - inside reports from all Savojarna
SFS V: The Great Preview

With the fifth iteration of the highest Savojar football league just around the corner, we are here to tell you who we should look out for a week before the first round kicks off. The main question, as always, is of course whether defending champions CASK Thorsborg - the record champions of the SFS era - can defend their title or not. But there are also other fights to be fought in the Savojar league. With the promotion of FK Sjoedrhavn, there are now three teams from the capital in the top flight - can they keep this up, or does the popular FKS team return to the second tier at the end of the season? Our team predicted the results of the Championship, and this is what came out:

1. ASK Landsmark (SFS IV: 2.)
Coach: Viktor Nejman
Stars: Dominik Ryberg, Simon Omark, Jussi Arpanen

The army keeps the title in their ranks, but the CASK squad will not be able to repeat their run of last year. The second army team is more hungry and has more young talent than the Savojar Champion, and thanks to their team remaining almost unchanged, they are greatly equipped for the Championship. With 29, Dominik Ryberg is at the best age for a great season as ASKL's main striker. Omark has grown into a starter for the national team during WC79 and directs the ASK defence with his typical solid and calm play. The weakness of ASK is their goalkeeping. With the retirement of their legend Terje Mortensson, there is a big hole in the Landsmark goal that the 22-year-old Johan Jacobsson should fill. Thankfully for him, Savojarna's former U21 goalkeeper gets all the support he could want from Omark's tight defence.

2. CASK Thorsborg (SFS IV: 1.)
Coach: Rune Zackrisson
Stars: Petteri Hytönen, Marcus Nyborg, Thomas Larsen

The defending champions have barely changed either, and thus they will remain favourites for the title. Like ASK, they have a young goalkeeper in 24 year old Thomas Larsen, but one with a year of SFS experience and a championship under his belt. The strength of CASK will lay in its midfield, led by Marcus Nyborg. The problem for CASK will be that the stars of the team are aging. Nyborg and Hytönen are both over 30 by now, and with no replacement for 34 year old Igor Mitrovic and 32 year old Johan Kjäll in sight, the defence is losing in speed rapidly. The youth of CASK gets blocked by Zackrisson's focus on his old stars, and it is already showing in the losses of Victor Loeseth to Dynamo Sjoedrhavn and the key striker of the U21 team, Thorbjörn Vukkila, to Savojars Vinge Virkaja.

3. Partisan Sjoedrhavn (SFS IV: 4.)
Coach: Petter Härkström
Stars: Perttu Karjanen, Bjarne Thorvaldsson, Henning Roesk

Härkström's tough 4-4-1-1 that was almost a template for the national team in the first few months of it's existence is notoriously tough to break down, and thanks to the speed of NT captain Perttu Karjanen that is well known throughout the Multiverse, they are also constantly dangerous on the offence. One of the more interesting questions is how often Bjarne Thorvaldsson, the 23 year old LB, will be joining the attacks, as his ambitious runs previously cost Partisan multiple times. Finally, the centre of the midfield will be important. This had often been a bit of an issue for Partisan, but we think that they could improve in that regard by the re-acquisition of Henning Roesk from Industrie Landsmark. The former Partisan Academy player had been leaving because of a fallout with the youth coaching staff, but now returned at age 24 as an accomplished central midfielder. Behind him, the routined duo of Helman and Jernayev will try to lock down Partisan's own half like they regularly did last season.

4. Libertas Bergheim (SFS IV: 5.)
Coach: Helgi Laurison
Stars: Alexey Nurkanen, Pyotr Nemanyev, Mikael Berg

With young coach Helgi Laurison and his rather bold tactics, Libertas has become one of the up-and-coming teams in the league. Laurison frequently mixes up his tactics, making his team somewhat unpredictable. His preferred system is a 3-5-2 with Nurkanen on right behind the fast Berg ahead of him. Nemanyev, a national player, is the anchor of the Bergheimer defence, together with the routined Gustaf Ulman in goal. The defence got further strengthened with the acquisition of NT starter Alexey Nurkanen from Metsuri Virkaja. In the offence, the team relies on the young duo of Tuomas Lajunen and Mika Hakeson, both of which are rather small and technical players. As long as the defence holds and allows Laurison to push his typically offensive midfield, Libertas remains an up and coming team.

5. Admiral Storevik (SFS IV: 8.)
Coach: Gylfi Haukason
Stars: Joonas Andersson, Krister Voynov, Arvid Jotansson

Admiral's defensive stance has angered plenty of the fans in Storevik, and together with the simply disappointing results of last year this led to the sacking of long-time coach Fredrik Jukkanen. He was replaced by a young local coach in Gylfi Haukason, and this seems to symbolise the approach that Haukason took by building his team around Admiral's 22 year old star player Krister Voynov. After too much had depended on Voynov in the past, he is now coupled with a striker in the middle in the newly acquired Arvid Jotansson from Odin Kjaershavn. The problem for Haukason will be to reconcile the still defensive character of the team with the almost imperative 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 that follows from having Voynov and Jotansson in your team. His solution so far seems to be a "lopsided 4-3-3" which almost transforms into a 4-4-2 when Admiral doesn't have the ball. Defensively, this team should be as strong as ever, but the question is whether or not Haukason's tactics work out and who can organise play in the offensive midfield.

This is the top 5 that we envision for the next season, with Lokomotive Jarnstad in the mix as well before we expect a little bit of a break behind the top 6. However, there are plenty of questions remaining, including whether FK Sjoedrhavn can keep themselves in the league in their first SFS season and who makes it to the SFS in this year. Last but not least, there is also a thrilling season in the Savojar Cup coming up. All that I can say is: Let the spectacle begin, because we are all ready for the fifth season of the SFS!

by **Savojarna** » Mon Jun 25, 2018 8:56 am

SavojarSports.sj - inside reports from all Savojarna
Partisan win spectacular fight for the top

Sjoedrhavn, SJ -- After a thrilling match on the top of the Savojar Football Serien, the championship is as open as never before. With a victory, Lokomotive Jarnstad could have laid an impressive seven points between themselves and Partisan Sjoedrhavn, possibly already achieving a pre-decisive lead in the first quarter of the season. The Jarnstaders were not seen as favourites despite their third place last season after very little transfer activity, while their opponents were improving their teams left and right. However, the consistency of Rjurik Smolderhøve and his men seems to have paid off as Jarnstad took an early lead. Smolderhøve's highly defensive setup did not often lead to spectacular games, but it proved highly effective as the centre around Denis Metanov, who, at 31 years old, seems to make himself unavoidable for the national team again, and the upcoming 22 year old Trent Ullqvist held off most attacks so far. With only three goals conceded in nine games, Lok were coming to Sjoedrhavn in perfect shape thanks to this duo and veteran goalkeeper Hauri Martov.

The main challenge that Partisan could pose to this incredibly tough system was their own, equally tenacious central defence around Rasmus Helman and Aleksandr Jernayev. Their offensive capacities against highly defensive teams were often a bit limited as Karjanen got stuck into a tight defensive system and the follow-up by Henning Roesk was not always there. In order to alleviate this issue, Härkström surprised everyone in the stadium with a different, much more offensive lineup than usual. With Karjanen being supported by the 20 year old Morten Poulsen and Roesk playing further back, and the fullbacks unusually offensive, they attempted to overrun the defensive setup of Lok Jarnstad by a highspeed attack. This was something hardly tried before, but sure to leave the audience in Sjoedrhavn's Stadion Perl Kruger happily awaiting the clash of the two leading teams after nine rounds. With nine goals conceded so far, the statistics in defence clearly spoke against Partisan, but the team from the capital had also been the best scorers with 22 goals scored in nine games, much to the surprise of many fans.

They immediately managed to stun even more of their fans as they attacked aggressively right off the start. With a high pressing, Roesk and his partner Zhuranov forced mistakes from the Jarnstaders and could create a good chance early on as Zhuranov stopped an attempted counter-attack. His long pass down the side to Palvarainen exposed a gaping hole in the centre of the defence which Karjanen attempted to take advantage of, but the national team captain could not hit the ball as desired and missed to the left by about half a metre. Lokomotive Jarnstad struggled with the aggression of their opponents and the heated atmosphere that supported Partisan relentlessly in this light late summer evening. This led to multiple chances for Partisan, who increasingly controlled the game. But it would be Lok who got the next major chance as a long-distance shot by Surminen got barely deflected over the crossbar. The first half was more entertaining than many had expected right off the beginning, but it took a moment until the goals would come.

The honour of opening the score fell to a defender, maybe somewhat fitting for this matchup. A bit less than half an hour into the game, it was Poulsen who could get a shot off following a one-two with Karjanen and got a corner kick for his team. Palvarainen brought it to the middle, where Thorvaldsson headed it into the top left corner past a desperate but chanceless Martov. This opened up a bit more space for Partisan, and they were very willing to use this space with clever passes into the gaps which Karjanen could more often reach than not. Following the goal, the gaps opening between the players of Lok Jarnstad grew, and so did the danger of Partisan's counters. Right before the break, they managed to get one more in front of an ecstatic home crowd when Perttu Karjanen beat his national team colleague Metanov in a one-on-one and left Martov chanceless again as he beat the goalkeeper with a low shot to the left corner. In the break, there was a change for Jarnstad who were now in an unfamiliar situation. Attempting to return from a 0-2 for the first time in the season, Smolderhøve had to go all out as he broke up his 4-4-2 by bringing in an offensive midfielder for Metanov, who had not looked great at both goals.

The bold move was rewarded at first when it was the joker, Henrik Ljurbyn, managed a wonderful diagonal pass onto the foot of Lok's winger Ericsson. Ericsson crossed the ball to the long post, where a waiting Jonas Hellström headed it in easily and brought the leaders back into the match. But the hope of Lokomotive Jarnstad lasted no more than seven minutes, as Poulsen scored off a free kick by Thorvaldsson, again with a header. The match then started to devolve into a desperate fight as Henning Roesk was substituted for another defensive actor and Partisan moved further and further back into their half. They proved to be an incredibly tough opponent who wouldn't give up any ground until the end, and even managed to strike another time when a counter was ended successfully by Lukayev in the final minutes of the match. A visibly disappointed Lok Jarnstad team thus lost an entertaining and engaged match with 4-1, thus losing almost all of its lead to Partisan and Admiral Storevik, who also sit there with 21 points.

Behind the trio, things remain extremely tight as Libertas Bergheim and Dynamo Novaya Russica also lurk with twenty points. Behind those five, a small gap to the very tight midfield opens up before the sixth-placed Akademiker and the 15th-placed ASK Landsmark - the disappointment of the season, who are rumoured to look for a new manager - are separated by a mere five points. In the lower end of the table, newly promoted FK Sjoedrhavn is heacily struggling as the third team from the capital still awaits their first victory in the top flight. Despite FKS showing potential by drawing local rivals Partisan in a spectacular 3-3 to win their first point ever, the only follow-up was a 1-1 against a highly uninspired ASK Landsmark.

Partisan Sjoedrhavn 4-1 Lokomotive Jarnstad (2-0)
Stadion Perl Kruger, Sjoedrhavn; audience: 42'300 (sold out)

Goals: 27' Thorvaldsson 1-0 (Palvarainen); 43' Karjanen 2-0 (Poulsen); 64' Hellström 2-1 (Ericsson); 71' Poulsen 3-1 (Thorvaldsson); 87' Lukayev 4-1 (Zhuranov).
Yellow Cards: 19' Ullqvist, 38' Helman, 51' Palvarainen, 78' Löfqvist (all foul).
Red cards: ---
Remarks: Partisan without Zyukov, Jäggman (injured) and Juota (suspended). Lokomotive without Gavleson (injured).

Partisan Sjoedrhavn: Johansson - Thorvaldsson, Helman, Jernayev, Karlsson (58' Löfqvist) - Aarsoy, Zhuranov, Roesk (75' Isarin), Palvarainen - Poulsen - Karjanen (79' Lukayev).
Lokomotive Jarnstad: Martov - Hallsen (64' Pettersson), Ullqvist, Metanov (46' Ljurbyn), Ilkanen - Ericsson, Oystein, Erlandsen (58' Vuotala), Grivoshenko - Surminen, Hellström.

SavojarSports.sj Result Center
Savojar Football Serien V - 1/4 (MD 1-10)

RESULTS

STANDINGS

SFS 1
                           Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts
 1 Lokomotive Jarnstad      10    7   1   2    13    7   +6    22
 2 Partisan Sjoedrhavn      10    6   3   1    26   10  +16    21
 3 Admiral Storevik         10    7   0   3    15   11   +4    21
 4 Libertas Bergheim        10    5   5   0    19   12   +7    20
 5 Dynamo Novaya Russica    10    6   2   2    12    5   +7    20
 6 Akademiker Savojagrad    10    5   2   3    15   13   +2    17
 7 ESK Storevik             10    5   1   4    14   12   +2    16
 8 Metall Jarnstad          10    5   1   4    12   10   +2    16
 9 CASK Thorsborg           10    4   3   3    19   14   +5    15
10 Energie Thorsborg        10    4   3   3    15   13   +2    15
11 Traktor St. Andrei       10    4   2   4    21   21    0    14
12 Dynamo Sjoedrhavn        10    4   2   4    16   20   −4    14
13 FK Torpedo Pawlograd     10    3   4   3    18   19   −1    13
14 Savojars Vinge Virkaja   10    3   3   4    15   15    0    12
15 ASK Landsmark            10    2   6   2     6    6    0    12
16 Landsmarks Industrie     10    3   1   6    16   23   −7    10
17 RLSK Pawlograd           10    2   2   6    12   20   −8     8
18 FK Odin Kjaershavn       10    1   2   7     7   17  −10     5
19 Transport Hovikkära      10    1   1   8     6   14   −8     4
20 FK Sjoedrhavn            10    0   2   8    13   28  −15     2

Colour codes:
1: Champion + UICA Champion's Cup
2-4: UICA Globe Cup
18: Relegation game vs. 3rd of SFS 2
19-20: Direct relegation to SFS 2

by **Savojarna** » Fri Jun 29, 2018 6:54 am

SavojarSports.sj - inside reports from all Savojarna
SHS V begins - the first quarter of the season

Matchday 1

In a much-awaited top game of the first round, Dynamo Sjoedrhavn did not hesitate a second and was the better team right out of the locker room to take a 3-0 lead over SK Torpedo Pawlograd into the first break, dominated by Banijan Auguste Chausson who scored twice. Following that, Dynamo took the foot off the pedal but held the zero, ending the match with a 5-0 away victory and a hattrick by Chausson. Champions Thorsborgs Technik won 5-0 as well in a home match against ASK Landsmark, facilitated by an injury of ASK's top defenders Dahlerud and Sigmunsson. Finally, CASK took its traditional slow start with a 1-1 in Savojagrad. Andrei Alenichev managed to take the lead in the second period with a mighty slapshot, but in the final period a powerplay goal by Gränlund averted the complete horror start. Nevertheless, a shootout loss was not the start that CASK had expected.

Matchday 2

The first Sjoedrhavn Derby of the season led to the first major surprise of the season as Akademisk HK achieved a late victory over Dynamo in the Stadsstadion. The leaders in this dramatic victory were Mercedinian center Elliot Caprevi, who deflected the puck into the goal in the final period, and the scorer of the decisive goal three minutes before the end, the local veteran Kristian Olsen. After having been down 2-0, "Aka" clawed their way back into the game and Olsen's one-timer in the final minutes of the game sealed the deal and put them to the top of the league table. Along with them came International Pawlograd thanks to a spectacular 4-6 away victory over Traktor St. Andrei, in which Elegin and Mellberg scored twice each. These two were the only teams left with a clean record. The round produced another major upset as Ontorisan Andrej Yaroskov, the only non-Savojar starting goalie in the league, managed to shut PT Hovikkära out for 60 minutes and Lokomotive Markka won thanks to a massive slapshot by Petter Malin that went over the blocker of PT goalkeeper Alex Persson.

Matchday 3

As International Pawlograd beat a harmless Kjefla Vulkan 3-0 in an uneventful home game and Akademisk loses to ASK Landsmark in the shootout, the Pawlograder are now the only flawless team of the league. Behind them, however, it was a rather spectacular round. PT devolved into a minor crisis as the top favourite for the title lost 1-3 at home to CASK and Tuomas Jaskinen remains without a single point so far. Thorsborgs Technik lost their first game as champions in regulation, in a surprisingly clear match against ESK Storevik thanks to one goal and two assists by Anders Hejman. The man of the round, however, was a Novozemlyan who keeps tearing up the league as Partizan winger Igor Strelnikov scored four goals in his team's 8-1 trashing of SK Chemie Frisks. Nevertheless, "Parti" remains at the back of the table as their defence remains a perpetual issue and Aku Ivarsson gave up yet another unnecessary goal.

Matchday 4

PT still can't solve its problems as the favourites lose again, this time in Jarnstad against HKM. While the team continues to slide down the ladder, at least star player Jaskinen seems to catch himself as PT's most important man scores his first goal of the season. Another man's lucky streak continues: Strelnikov scores "only" one goal in Partizan's 4-5 overtime victory over Energie Thorsborg, but tops it off with two assists and leading the scoring table clearly now. Akademisk's good start begins to crumble as the Sjoedrhavn team loses 4-5 in overtime against Savojars Vinge and its goalkeeper Fredrik Virth, who had to leave the ice injured in the second period. Finally, Spartakus manages a surprising and spectacular upset as the Jarnstaders beat CASK at home in an engaging 5-6. Stars of the game are two wingers: Herrir Saevarsson and Valeri Taranin score two goals each, with the latter also getting an assist on CASK's winning goal.

Matchday 5

After a series of more or less disappointing losses, PT Hovikkära strikes back massively by beating last year's finalist Torpedo with a 5-1 home victory. However, it is still not Jaskinen's season as the winger picks up just one point with an assist to Otala. The man of the match with one goal and one assist is the young Andrey Dragunov. Nevertheless, as Hovikkära is pretty much never happy, the calls for more young players to join the squad go on. Despite having a similarly old squad, nobody complains about that in Pawlograd, where International continue their streak with a 7-1 blowout over Energie. It is the night of Denis Elegin, who scores a hattrick and an assist on top, while Vladimir Nushkin in his first starting match of the season manages 24 saves and only one goal conceded in an offensive festival. Finally, CASK has definitely shun the problems of its early season and now stormed to second place after the Thorsborger manage a victory in a hard-fought away game against Admiral Storevik.

Matchday 6

Of all teams, it is the remarkably unremarkable Lokomotive Markka that manages to hand International its first loss and already scores its second major upset of the league. In a tough match played in the notoriously cold and loud Markka stadium - second only to Frisks in its inhospitableness - Lok took an early lead by the hands of Bjarne Hammarby and had Yaroskov shutting down play almost completely. Only in the third period could Vetrayev punch through Markka's defence thanks to a gigantic slapshot on the powerplay, but seven minutes before the end, Erkko Autarainen deflected a pass by Toivonen into the goal to make the upset reality. Meanwhile, PT's agony continues as they also lose an incredibly dire Hovikkära derby against the Skipsmän - a team that never even made the playoffs - in the shootout. In a game with few highlights and no goals for 65 minutes, PT's nerves are getting worn down by a brilliant Alex Persson showing why he is the U20 national goalie. The greatest sign of the pressure on PT is Linus Klingberg's reaction after a missed shot in the second period: After being lightly checked during the shot by defender Antti Pekara, Klingberg double-handedly slashes his opponent and gets first jumped by two Skipsmän, then also suspended for three games.

Matchday 7

In a thrilling match, CASK hold off International's angry attacks to celebrate a 3-1 away victory and take the lead in the table. Following the game, the fans ruthlessly whistle at Mikael Ingerman, who ended the game early for Kostja Erelyev after the winger had unluckily fallen into the boards following a fair check by Ingerman. But the hero of the match is Niklas Hoyman with 36 saves to hold onto the lead until the end. Thanks to RHK Savojagrad also winning in Hovikkära against the still-in-crisis PT, they also move ahead of International, who is now only third. Meanwhile in Sjoedrhavn, Dynamo loses its second derby of the season as Roessler, Pedersen and Klepakhov score once each and Hallvar Jensen manages a shutout for SHK. The man of the round, however, is SK Torpedo's Lev Morozov as the young winger snatches three points against an otherwise superior Admiral side and takes the Navy Derby to Pawlograd despite a gala by Storevik's first line. As a consequence, Dynamo is moving down at an alarming pace and now almost out of the playoffs.

Matchday 7

The situation in Hovikkära gets almost comical as PT take their fifth loss in the seventh game and fall out of the playoffs into a humiliating 20th place. Their 4-3 away loss to SHK Sjoedrhavn adds injury to insult, so to say, as both goalkeeper Alexander Persson and center Pyry Otala have to leave the ice during the game and will be out for multiple weeks. Following the game, coach Palkko Jestarainen is sacked immediately and replaced ad interim by U20 coach Rauka Sandberg. CASK falls from the top of the table following a spectacular 3-5 home defeat against Dynamo St. Andrei after having blown a 2-0 lead and a show by Yuri Elyagin, who notes two goals and an assist. An unspectacular home victory of RHK Savojagrad against Spartakus brings the Russians to the top, but nevertheless the audience whistles loudly as the players leave the field due to the game being a complete snoozefest. Finally, a second Sumani team gets engulfed in trouble as Savojars Vinge, who never missed the playoffs so far, gets demolished 4-0 by Traktor St. Andrei and drops to 21st, even a place below PT. However, as SVV had just changed their coach at the end of last season, Jaroslav Petrenko holds on to his job for a bit longer.

Matchday 9

Hovikkära shows something resembling life as replacement goalie Ivar Jansson actually manages to hold Dynamo Sjoedrhavn to a 0-0 for 60 minutes. In overtime, Anders Falun's golden goal makes the stadium explode as if they had just won the championship, even if they remain in a disappointing 20th place. Dynamo, on the other hand, continue their free fall and crash down to 16th already, proving once more that no team in the SHS can afford a bad stretch. Savojars Vinge follows their neighbours in trying to resurrect themselves with a 3-0 home victory over an uninspired Kjefla. The match of the round is probably the Thorsborger derby, where CASK fight with tooth and nail and still remain scoreless against an otherworldly Stefan Loersen, who carries Technik to a 3-0 victory. On the top, RHK and HK Metall win again and manage to lay some distance between themselves and their opponents, but in typical SHS fashion the table remains widely open.

Matchday 10

The process of regeneration continues in Sumanen as both PT and SVV win again, but Savojars Vinge still manages to get forced into the shootout by dead last SK Chemie Frisks. Replacing them as the crisis club #1 is now definitely Dynamo Sjoedrhavn as the team so far known as the Master Chokers (SHS 1 anyone?) unnecessarily gives away a 3-2 lead in the final seven minutes and drops out of the playoffs. "Pure rage" is the best description for what CASK displays in the first period against Atom HK Linder. The army club shoots the pucks almost through the net as they score three goals in the first twelve minutes, only to completely stop playing hockey from then onwards and coast to a never truly challenged 3-0 victory. Finally the top of the table provides spectacle. RHK defend their lead with a 4-1 victory over PNR and two goals by De Villiers, but the great fireworks follow behind them: In the duel of 2nd and 3rd, HKM and Technik share twelve goals between themselves. As the match ends 7-5 for Jarnstad, they manage to get a three point gap to third place thanks to a gala by Anders Hjalmarsson and Pavel Nikitin (4 points each).

Matchday 11

As Dynamo Sjoedrhavn wrestle down a tenacious Spartakus with 2-3 in Jarnstad and move back into the playoff spots, the SHS table is almost starting to resemble something one may expect before the season again. Following PT's uninspiring but solidarity-driven away victory over Admiral, the team presents former PT defender Lasse Bengtsson as their new coach. Bengtsson is taking over his first professional headcoach position, but was filling the role for Lok Markka's U20 for a while now. On the top of the table, Metall blunder away their game in Linder, allowing RHK to cement their position on the top with a solid 0-2 away victory against International brought about by the team's top star Mikko Simonen and the specialist for hard working games, Dave Laersson. The match of the round, however, is clearly SHK's spectacular overtime victory against Partizan. The Novorussians were brought ahead by a flashy Strelnikov twice, but saw his countryman Klepakhov equalise twice. After the first period, they decided to also let non-Novozemlyans score for once and a double by Teramäki seemed to decide the match for Partizan, but SHK clawed their way back into the match and a breakaway by Denis Pedersen in overtime settled the score at 5-6 for the visitors from the capital.

Matchday 12

The first quarter of the season ends with RHK's second loss of the year as they let youngster Andrei Larkina start against Dynamo St. Andrei. He proves talented but not quite up to the task, and following the 0-3 early in the second period he gets replaced by Periskin again. Laersson and Teravainen manage to bring RHK back into the game, but Nyström and Nuryzhin score again to set the score to the final 2-5. The other highlight of the round is the Army Derby CASK Thorsborg vs. ASK Landsmark, often dubbed the hottest rivalry of the nation. Usually a hard-fought, defensive and tight match, it ends in an 8-3 blowout for a euphorised CASK in which Debreshev and Söderberg both score twice and defender Antti Toranen racks up four assists. Following the game there are some minor clashes between fans in Thorsborg and a brawl on the ice between some players, resulting in two-game-bans for Hjalmar Mikkelsen and Einar Bjurman for CASK as well as Vadim Alexandrov and Robin Sigmunsson for ASK, and a five game suspension for ASK's assistant coach Helge Jonasson.

STANDINGS

 SHS 5 Regular Season     Pld    W   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
 1 RHK Savojagrad            12    9   2    29   21   +8    19
 2 Traktor St. Andrei        12    8   3    50   33  +17    17
 3 HK Metall Jarnstad        12    8   3    42   38   +4    17
 4 SK Torpedo Pawlograd      12    8   4    43   34   +9    16
 5 Dynamo St. Andrei         12    7   4    51   40  +11    15
 6 CASK Thorsborg            12    7   4    39   29  +10    15
 7 ESK Storevik              12    7   5    35   32   +3    14
 8 Sjoedrhavn SHK            12    7   5    32   32    0    14
 9 PT Hovikkära              12    6   5    27   22   +5    13
10 ASK Landsmark             12    6   5    33   37   −4    13
11 International Pawlograd   12    6   6    28   22   +6    12
12 Dynamo Sjoedrhavn         12    6   6    32   27   +5    12
13 Thorsborgs Technik        12    5   5    38   35   +3    12
14 Lokomotive Markka         12    5   6    34   37   −3    11
15 Akademisk HK Sjoedrhavn   12    4   5    31   31    0    11
16 Spartakus Jarnstad        12    5   7    33   37   −4    10
------------------------------------------------------------------
17 Savojars Vinge Virkaja    12    4   6    28   32   −4    10
18 Admiral Storevik          12    4   6    35   33   +2    10
19 Hovikkära Skipsmän        12    4   6    24   31   −7    10
20 Atom HK Linder            12    4   6    24   31   −7    10
21 Partizan Novaya Russica   12    4   8    40   47   −7     8
22 Kjefla Vulkan             12    3   8    27   44  −17     7
23 Energie Thorsborg         12    3   9    29   43  −14     6
24 SK Chemie Frisks          12    1   7    21   37  −16     6

by **Savojarna** » Thu Jul 12, 2018 1:02 pm

SavojarSports.sj - inside reports from all Savojarna
SHS V Regular Season - 2/4

Matchday 13

The highlight of the round, and maybe the season, is the clash between Admiral Storevik and Dynamo Sjoedrhavn. In the capital of Ejana, these two teams go at it in an incredible speed and rack up two goals each in the first period before Dynamo's defence completely collapses for six minutes in the beginning of the second period. Aljaksander Zagulin and Jonas Hedman combine beautifully through the Dynamo defence and leave Malmström mortified. Following a penalty against Arjonenko, defender Anton Riksborg scores again and after the 5-2 by Zagulin on the breakaway, Malmström is finally replaced by Antti Suhonen. Dynamo now play more aggressively and claw their way back despite yet another goal by Hedman as towards the end of the period, Oblonsky provokes Petteri Kaljärvi into an unnecessary two-handed slash that earns the Storeviker a double minor. Dynamo uses it to get back into the game by a deflection of Djurberg and a beautiful one-timer by Pettersson, setting the score to 6-5. In a hard-fought final period, the score is 6-6 for most of the game until a counter by Andronov and Terjanov leads to the 7-6 and an empty netter by Albelin brings Storevik the victory in what observers called the best match of professional SHS history. Additionally, an overtime victory by Traktor St. Andrei over a tough Energie Thorsborg brings them the lead as RHK Savojagrad lose their away game against Technik in OT.

Matchday 14

Traktor's goalkeeper Marcus Valdner has a bad day as his team concedes seven goals and plays a horribly uninspired game in Markka and loses despite a hattrick by Leonid Karenin. As a consequence of this unnecessary loss and a RHK Savojagrad who does its duty at home against Linder, the lead is already lost to the Savojagrader again. CASK joins the top duo in their wrestling for the lead as the Thorsborger fight hard in their game against ESK, but ultimately win 3-2 in the shootout thanks to a spectacular save by Nick Hoyman. At the other end of the table, two teams start to lose all contact and hope for the playoffs as Energie Thorsborg and SK Chemie lose again, leaving the latter with only one victory in the entire season.

Matchday 15

In the battle of the bottom, SK Chemie Frisks manages a lucky victory over Energie Thorsborg as Per Strindberg accidentally deflects a puck so that it becomes unstoppable for Pakajärvi. Further up the table, RHK cement their lead a bit more again as they achieve a close victory over Akademisk HK. In the final minute they have to endure a solid 82 seconds of the puck being in their own zone and with Aka's goalie pulled, but thanks to a Karel Periskin in perfect form, Sjoedrhavn's university team wins the game and the lead. CASK helps a bit as they manage a 2-3 away victory of their own, beating Traktor St. Andrei thanks to a third period goal by Antti Toranen on the powerplay and moving into second place. Finally, Metall establish themselves as the another top contender as they beat ESK in overtime and move into third position, led by an Anders Hjalmarsson in his best form and a brilliantly sniping Patrik Nyquist who is becoming a topic for the national team as well now.

Matchday 16

The top duo do their duty as RHK beats ASK Landsmark with 3-0 and CASK wins their own home game against Kjefla Vulkan with 5-0, Ken Landman scoring his first SHS shutout as the coach gave Hoyman a rest. As HK Metall beats Traktor St. Andrei despite the Russians going ahead with 0-2 in the first period, the Jarnstader also remains in third place thanks to a hattrick by Nyquist who continues his quest for a scoring title. In the third and final Sjoedrhavn derby of the first round, Sjoedrhavn SHK and Akademisk play an engaged and close match with neither team ever getting a lead with more than one goal, and eventually Akademisk winning thanks to a rebound by Mercedinian Elliot Caprevi, who shone with his trademark Mercedinian stamina.

Matchday 17

Pure goal craziness delights the audience in St. Andrei as the native Dynamo goes ahead four times and gets drawn again four times by Partizan Novaya Russica, led by their Novozemlyan star Igor Strelnikov who bags two goals and an assist. His counterpart on the other side is Valeri Nuryzhin who gets four points as well - all of them assists. In the shootout, Strelnikov crowns his night with a decisive shootout goal to secure the victory for Partizan. The lost point does not affect Dynamo's quest for the top though, as the leader RHK loses their away game against Savojars Vinge in the overtime after they had led the game for most of the match. The upset of the round is pulled off by SK Chemie Frisks, whose tenacious defence manages to shut out an uninspired CASK for 54 minutes and scores twice on the powerplay. Debreshevs late deflection cannot turn the tide as Chemie wins their home game against a top team.

Matchday 18

Lokomotive Markka shows a shocking display of falling apart as Dynamo Sjoedrhavn plucks the Sumani side apart and leaves the Stadsstadion with an unchallenged 9-3 victory. Djurberg scores a hattrick while four assists allow defender Erik Kristiansen to take home five points. Chausson and Jällvik also reach three points as their opponents fall apart in front of them. For Dynamo, it is a welcome relief as the team remains in the middle of the table, ranked 12th and far from safely in the playoffs. It is not the only clear result of the day as HK Metall rip apart SK Chemie Frisks and win 7-0, allowing three players (Nikitin, Nyquist and Anjushkin) to score two goals each. With a rebound on the powerplay, Alex Wallsson completes the score for HKM, putting them in fourth place. Finally, CASK clearly win a Thorsborger derby against a weak Energie with 5-1. The result puts Energie ten points behind the playoffs and results in the dismissal of their coach Grigori Vetrayev. Until a new coach is found, U20 coach Ingmar Thomsen takes over.

Matchday 19

Thomsen's first game as head coach of Energie Thorsborg is a tough one as he has to face HKM with a tired team that lost the derby only two days before. The team shows some more energy than against CASK, but its limitations show as they have to yield to Jarnstad in the final period and lose 3-4 thanks to a goal by Nyquist, who remains absolutely on fire. Elsewhere, the feelings go into a completely different direction as Admiral Storevik lose an open-faced and offensive match against Akademisk HK with 4-7 and now drop out of the playoff places, a humiliating result for the navy club that is aiming for a title in the medium term. Yet another armed forces team suffers a surprising, high-scoring loss as ASK Landsmark lose their home match to Spartakus Jarnstad thanks to three goals and two assists by the previously near-unknown 23 year old Lasse Vojara. The right winger got a perfect night as he led his team's second line on an incredible scoring spree that was aided by an early injury to ASK's goalkeeper Lars Bohr. Finally, at the top things get tighter again as RHK lose a top-level clash to Traktor St. Andrei and see their lead shrink to just one point.

Matchday 20

Goals seem rather scarce as three matches end in a scoreless draw after regulation. The high-profile clash between Dynamo Sjoedrhavn and CASK Thorsborg gets resolved in the overtime as Frans Djurberg nets a beautiful pass by Nurchenko to secure the victory for the home team. The matches between SK Torpedo and a rehabilitating Energie Thorsborg as well as between Hovikkära Skipsmän and SK Chemie have to go into the shootout, where the home teams also prevail. Elsewhere, goals are everything but scarce: Both SVV and Traktor win 7-4 away from home, the former against Spartakus Jarnstad and the latter against Sjoedrhavn SHK, in what are the most high-scoring matches of the round. PT Hovikkära also scores plenty as they beat ESK Storevik 5-3, a victory that causes the former "sick giant" to climb to fourth place and continue an impressive victory series of now seven games without a loss.

Matchday 21

RHK are the first team to crack the 30 points mark as they beat Chemie Frisks 0-2 in a gritty and unspectacular away game, showing the qualities needed to win the title in long and hard playoff series. Their direct pursuitors HKM and CASK take points off each other as the Thorsborgers prevail in overtime following a hard-fought match. PT Hovikkära's eighth victory in a row comes by the hands of Pyry Otala, who scores twice against Traktor St. Andrei to bring about a 0-2 away victory, and pushes the team to second place. Finally, the other team that sacked their coach also slowly gains success: Energie Thorsborg beats the Hovikkära Skipsmän with 4-0 at home, scoring their fourth season victory and slowly getting back into contact with the end of the table.

Matchday 22

Thomsen's impressive record with Energie gets dampened a bit as his side has to suffer an undisputable 4-0 loss against the leader RHK, however, this can hardly be seen as a massive problem given the dominant play of the Savojagrader so far. A bigger surprise is the first loss of PT Hovikkära after eight wins in a row, losing a tight home game that was always on the knife's edge with 4-5 to Kjefla Vulkan. PT lead the match 4-2 going into the last period, but had to give up two goals during penalties against Parov and Klingberg and finally conceded a one-timer off the blue line by Bengt Valdr shortly before the end of the match. As the other top teams all win their matches, the second place of PT turns into a 6th rank, testament to the tight nature of the league. Finally, the Storeviker Derby between Admiral and ESK ends in a 3-2 for the Admirals, brought about by a breakaway for Jonas Hedman in the penalty killing late in the second period. The goal set the score to 3-1, a result that ESK could not reverse despite a goal by Sjögren two minutes before the end, with Davidsson already pulled.

Matchday 23

With a 3-6 away victory over Lok Markka, RHK Savojagrad can secure the lead at half-way. The last round before the break features loads and loads of goals, as the teams lay on the offence before a well-deserved rest. The record of the round goes to the thirteen goals scored between ASK Landsmark and Dynamo St. Andrei, as the latter wins the match 5-8 and moves into second place while ASK drops down to the edge. Meanwhile, the first teams seem to lose home as Energie Thorsborg loses to SHK thanks to a lone goal by Pedersen, and SK Chemie lose 2-4 to PT Hovikkära. Together with Atom HK, who also lose to Dynamo Sjoedrhavn, these teams now are already nine points behind the playoff spots and seem to lose contact with the top. Finally, the man of the round is Metall's Anders Hjalmarsson, who leads his team with three assists and finally scored the decisive goal in a 6-5 home victory over SK Torpedo with a beautiful deke and a shot between the goalkeeper's legs.

STANDINGS

 SHS 5 Regular Season     Pld    W   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
 1 RHK Savojagrad            23   17   5    65   43  +22    35
 2 Dynamo St. Andrei         23   15   6    99   74  +25    32
 3 CASK Thorsborg            23   15   6    70   46  +24    32
 4 HK Metall Jarnstad        23   15   7    90   74  +16    31
 5 PT Hovikkära              23   15   7    63   40  +23    31
 6 International Pawlograd   23   15   8    62   35  +27    30
 7 Traktor St. Andrei        23   14   7    89   66  +23    30
 8 SK Torpedo Pawlograd      23   12  10    66   59   +7    25
 9 ESK Storevik              23   12  10    72   67   +5    25
10 Sjoedrhavn SHK            23   12  11    69   72   −3    24
11 Dynamo Sjoedrhavn         23   12  11    68   58  +10    24
12 Thorsborgs Technik        23   11  10    75   67   +8    24
13 Savojars Vinge Virkaja    23   11  10    61   56   +5    24
14 Kjefla Vulkan             23   11  11    65   73   −8    23
15 Akademisk HK Sjoedrhavn   23    9  11    69   68   +1    21
16 ASK Landsmark             23   10  12    65   82  −17    21
------------------------------------------------------------------
17 Admiral Storevik          23    9  11    72   75   −3    21
18 Lokomotive Markka         23    9  12    72   80   −8    20
19 Partizan Novaya Russica   23    8  14    78   87   −9    17
20 Hovikkära Skipsmän        23    6  14    42   66  −24    15
21 Spartakus Jarnstad        23    7  16    61   86  −25    14
22 Atom HK Linder            23    5  16    35   68  −33    12
23 SK Chemie Frisks          23    3  14    32   69  −37    12
24 Energie Thorsborg         23    4  18    38   67  −29     9

by **Savojarna** » Fri Jul 13, 2018 3:06 am

SavojarSports.sj - inside reports from all Savojarna
FK Sjoedrhavn: Never Give Up

Sjoedrhavn, VH - With a metallic plonk, the hopes of the newest addition to the SFS dies as Otalainen's shot flies off the crossbar and lands in the stands of the Arena Sjoedrhavn. Transport Hovikkära, 18th and an important opponent in the fight to stay in the league, leaves the capital with three points while the hosts, in their final match before the break, once again will not score a point. An uninspiring and limited match, one that FK could have taken, ends with another defeat that the fans of the smallest Sjoedrhavner team look on in shock. Not a single victory could FKS achieve in the first nineteen matches of the league, and only four draws, as Joni Virtanen punches a ball over the line during a post-corner scramble in the box. The 25 year old star of the otherwise unknown team gets away from Landman and gets the ball past a helpless Mortensen. The stadium falls silent, not in shock, but rather in some sort of expected defeat. How does it feel to support a team with such a streak, and how is it to play in these circumstances?

We have spent a season with the newest side of the Savojar league, a team that is popular in its city and even was during its time in the SFS 2. Like SHK in the hockey league, FKS is the city's team, as an anonymous fan explains to us. "See, Dynamo have their fans all over the world. They are everywhere. They just happen to play here, alright. Then you have Parti, they are good, but they are a state team. They are for the KPS and the bureaucrats, and for the elites. FK belongs to the city, an association of all the people from here. Not something given to us, but something we have created. You don't ever let this down if you love this city". Other fans from the city agree with this assessment. Jan Hansen, capo of the Red And Blue Block: "This is a special thing for us. These guys, they come from here. Look at the left, Erlandsen, he is from my street. I used to play against the brother of the second goalie when I was at school, and my cousin was in a team with him. You don't get that at Parti or Dynamo, and that's why we love FK, not because of the team playing well or being successful. If we go back to the second league, it doesn't matter to me as long as we stay FK".

It is a special feeling grounded in the history of the three - formerly four - major Sjoedrhavener clubs. Dynamo was a part of the famous Dynamo program, established for police officers after the revolution. Partisan - a prestige project by the Communist Party, established in past-revolutionary history, said to be a bulwark of Savojar camraderie, but shutting out those who are not with the KPS and more flashy prestige project than a worker's team. Finally, Akademisk FK, the now-defunct university team of the NUS. Closed to the city's workers, they do not want to associate with any of the three teams. In 1932, the numerous union teams of the city unite. In a dockland pub, they form FK Sjoedrhavn, a team meant to be open to all the workers in the city. To today, it is the biggest club in the country in terms of members, matched only by the regional pride that goes into ESK Storevik.

Not everywhere is the atmosphere as good as here. Some people believe that FK's play is not brave enough, not entertaining enough. In the pubs around the stadium and the city centre, the fans don't want to see the defensive and somewhat limited FK play. They demand more attack, more daring play - and a replacement in the striker position. Ilanen, the Sumani striker of the team, is under fire for his lack of scoring. They demand the 20 year old Harald Morven, and every mistake that Ilanen makes is accompanied by loud complaints and later on even booing. It is a completely different atmosphere from the sad, but optimistic and resilient feeling in the stadium. They even complain about that, as some fans who want to remain anonymous say. "I can't really agree with what the Ultras say. They claim you have to push, that we also have to give our best. But if FK plays like that, I don't think that they deserve my support with this kind of football. They are scared, they don't show what they can do. It's a shame, but it's not my responsibility". Some others find even harsher words for the people in the stadium: "They're a party group. What they want is atmosphere, celebrating, but there is nothing to celebrate. I'm not gonna jump around like some entertainer just because FK are playing".

The reactions in the stadium are similarly harsh. "We don't need this from our fans - if we can call someone who only loves FK when they play well and win games that", Hansen says while he shows us the massive tattoo of the logo on his chest. "This stays forever, like my love for FKS. This is like my city, my home, my family - I stay with it, even if things are going wrong. And I hope the team feels that, the amount of our love for them". The team indeed does feel it, captain Laerman says. "It is a hard time for us. But their support carries us. It is a special feeling, I have grown up in the docks with FK and I have always dreamt of playing for this team. I had an offer to go into the first league when we were down, three years ago, but I stayed with FK and I don't regret it for a second. Our fans are the best and loudest in the league, I think, and every match we want to go out and give them a victory. Solidarity is the key here, and I think this is our great value".

This team sticks together even in the toughest of times. After nineteen games without a victory, the team and its fans would deserve it for sure. But the second half won't get easier, and FKS requires a push in the second half to avoid a swift return to the SFS 2.

SavojarSports.sj Result Center
Savojar Football Serien V - 2/4 (MD 11-19)

RESULTS

STANDINGS

SFS 1
                           Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts
 1 Libertas Bergheim        19   10   9   0    33   20  +13    39
 2 Lokomotive Jarnstad      19   11   4   4    23   12  +11    37
 3 Partisan Sjoedrhavn      19   10   5   4    42   20  +22    35
 4 Metall Jarnstad          19   11   2   6    25   16   +9    35
 5 Admiral Storevik         19   11   2   6    21   16   +5    35
 6 ESK Storevik             19   10   3   6    37   32   +5    33
 7 Dynamo Novaya Russica    19    9   4   6    20   12   +8    31
 8 FK Torpedo Pawlograd     19    8   6   5    30   30    0    30
 9 Akademiker Savojagrad    19    9   2   8    29   29    0    29
10 Traktor St. Andrei       19    7   7   5    35   32   +3    28
11 CASK Thorsborg           19    7   5   7    27   26   +1    26
12 ASK Landsmark            19    5  10   4    13    9   +4    25
13 Dynamo Sjoedrhavn        19    7   4   8    29   32   −3    25
14 Energie Thorsborg        19    6   6   7    28   30   −2    24
15 Savojars Vinge Virkaja   19    6   4   9    26   29   −3    22
16 Landsmarks Industrie     19    5   4  10    29   36   −7    19
17 Transport Hovikkära      19    5   3  11    16   24   −8    18
18 RLSK Pawlograd           19    4   5  10    22   37  −15    17
19 FK Odin Kjaershavn       19    2   5  12    22   38  −16    11
20 FK Sjoedrhavn            19    0   4  15    20   47  −27     4

Colour codes:
1: Champion + UICA Champion's Cup
2-4: UICA Globe Cup
18: Relegation game vs. 3rd of SFS 2
19-20: Direct relegation to SFS 2

by **Savojarna** » Sat Aug 04, 2018 11:07 am

SavojarSports.sj - inside reports from all Savojarna
SIHA ponders league reform following disappointing World Cup run

Sjoedrhavn, VH - The 36th World Cup of Ice Hockey had been one of the most disappointing ones for Savojarna. In Anthor, the team only secured the place in the KO round in the final few matches following a shocking and humiliating defeat against Razenthuria early in the tournament. After that, the run came to a swift ending in the octofinals with a defeat to Neu Engollon. This result is the worst result for Savojarna since the WCoH 33, when nobody expected much from the side to begin with. Now, entering the tournament as number five following a final appearance on home ice and a quarterfinal loss against our rivals from Vilita and Turori, we had higher expectations - which were suddenly frustrated by a highly solid Neu Engollon team, which defeated a tired and uninspiring Savojar side.

The result left many observers not only disappointed, but also wondering where they had gone so terribly wrong as to allow a defeat like this. It wasn't as much the loss per se, but also the manner of the exit from the tournament that had upset observers at the SIHA. There had been questioning of a too long season, too little competition within the professional teams of the SHS and a too comfortable life for its leaders, who also make up the national team core. Furthermore, there were reports of issues within the team after it had lost its natural leader, Alexey Yarchenko. Many players that were used to leading roles in their teams seemed to assume a standing they didn't have in the national team, and raising demands that could not be met by their mates, leading to problematic atmosphere within the team. Thus, the current form of the SHS drew much criticism from both journalists and officials.

The SIHA had already been in trouble following a corruption scandal that cost the federation president his head and the league several months of delay, leading to a very tight schedule and a break to accommodate WCoH as well as putting qualification for the international club stage in jeopardy. Further reform seems unavoidable now that the amount of teams and the length of the season had been pinned down as the source of problems. Twenty-four teams in the relatively small Savojar talent pool lead to too little competition within the squads, critics say, and mean that too many pros get a comfortable position within the league. The proposed solution is a split of the twenty-four team league into two twelve-team-leagues with 44 games and a three-round playoff. A relegation system, modelled after the SFS, would complete the new system, with a stronger youth league and a possible extension of a new SHS 2 to fourteen teams being further possibilities.

While the season would only get marginally shortened, it would mean that teams are more competitive and young talents get more chances at important roles in the SHS 2, similar to how a big part of the highly successful U21 squad in football had come out of the SFS 2, getting crucial playtime against adult opponents on a lower level. This could be even more important in a sport like hockey, which has a stronger physical component. Clubs are naturally opposed to the change as they fear for their standing and think it would lead to a more unequal scene, cementing certain teams on top and letting others drift into irrelevance. However, others also think that there could be a benefit for teams who can contend for high spots in the lower league, adapting a new identity - and especially in the association, many simply believe that the success of Savojar hockey should be more important than particular interests.

SavojarSports.sj - inside reports from all Savojarna
SHS V Regular Season - 3/4

STANDINGS

 SHS 5 Regular Season Pld W L GF GA GD Pts 
 1 HK Metall Jarnstad        35   23  10   143  115  +28    48
 2 Dynamo St. Andrei         35   21  10   144  103  +41    46
 3 CASK Thorsborg            35   22  11   105   72  +33    46
 4 RHK Savojagrad            35   21  11   101   75  +26    45
 5 SK Torpedo Pawlograd      35   21  12    94   82  +12    44
 6 PT Hovikkära              35   20  13    89   65  +24    42
 7 Savojars Vinge Virkaja    35   20  13   101   82  +19    42
 8 ESK Storevik              35   20  14   118  105  +13    41
 9 Thorsborgs Technik        35   19  14   114   93  +21    40
10 International Pawlograd   35   20  15    79   59  +20    40
11 Traktor St. Andrei        35   19  14   125  100  +25    40
12 Dynamo Sjoedrhavn         35   19  15    96   81  +15    39
13 Sjoedrhavn SHK            35   18  16   104  106   −2    37
14 Akademisk HK Sjoedrhavn   35   15  17   106  109   −3    33
15 ASK Landsmark             35   16  18   104  117  −13    33
16 Admiral Storevik          35   15  17   119  119    0    33
------------------------------------------------------------------
17 Kjefla Vulkan             35   15  19    89  110  −21    31
18 Lokomotive Markka         35   13  19   111  134  −23    29
19 Partizan Novaya Russica   35   13  20   126  139  −13    28
20 Hovikkära Skipsmän        35   10  22    61  104  −43    23
21 Spartakus Jarnstad        35   11  24    97  125  −28    22
22 Energie Thorsborg         35   10  24    67  102  −35    21
23 Atom HK Linder            35    8  24    65  110  −45    19
24 SK Chemie Frisks          35    5  22    69  120  −51    18

by **Savojarna** » Mon Aug 06, 2018 4:31 am

SavojarSports.sj - inside reports from all Savojarna
The final phase: Who is still in the run for the Championship?

With nine games to go in the Savojar Football Serien, things are getting hot near the top and bottom of the table. With the teams rather close together, few sides have already secured their league standing, and many are still vying for an international spot or the right to remain in the SFS for another year - or simply to avoid a humiliation. We present you the contenders and chances for each main spot in the league that is still available, and look at who may make a run for the title and who will fall by the wayside and join unfortunate FK Sjoedrhavn in their journey back to the second tier.

At the top, the race is and remains tight. After having been in a lurking position halfway through the season, Admiral Storevik were able to improve dramatically and take the lead away from Libertas. Following a tough schedule for the Bergheim side, the Ejanans also extended their lead to five points and are now in the pole position for a title run. In round 34, Admiral will face their first pursuitor in Bergheim, a crucial match that could decide the championship depending on its outcome. Until then, Libertas as the prime title challenger will have to make sure not to slip up unnecessarily to keep up the pressure on Admiral and take advantage of their somewhat easier schedule in the remainder of the season.

Right behind the duo follow defending champions CASK Thorsborg, who have met the expectations by remaining close to the top with 52 points, seven behind the leaders. Much will depend on Petteri Hytönen retaining his current form, as the alternatives remain shaky at best. With Nyborg recovering from injury, the main offensive load rests on the shoulders of the aging Hytönen, and Thomas Larsen's iron-clad nerve system in goal. While FK Torpedo Pawlograd was originally thought to be a weaker team than CASK, they now seem almost equally likely to challenge the title. With the same amount of points as CASK and a younger, more balanced team, Torpedo can still challenge the leaders, but are mostly going to focus on retaining their Globe Cup spot against the expected onslaught of Partisan Sjoedrhavn.

Having set out to win a title this year, the team from the capital is not qualified for international business at the moment, a disappointment for Parti's hungry audience. With a crucial 1-0 over Lok Jarnstad, they reaffirmed their ambitions and secured the spot of first pursuitor for the Globe Cup, but will still need a push to get there. With two points lacking, the last round may prove dramatic for Partisan, when they face their direct competitors CASK Thorsborg in a potentially decisive away game to finish the season. From behind, Lok Jarnstad will try to keep up the pressure despite their narrow loss to Partisan. The third-placed finishers of last year and early leaders in this year will try to repeat their feat, but face an uphill battle with five points lacking in comparison to fourth-placed Torpedo.

At the other end of the table, few teams can truly be safe. FK Sjoedrhavn is pretty much relegated already with only eight points and one single victory to show for after 29 games, but ahead of them, things get closer. FK Odin Kjaershavn will need a great effort in the final nine games to overcome their eight-point-deficit to Transport Hovikkära, but with the audacity of a desperate team, they may still just about make the cut. The true bloodbath will ensue in the fight against the relegation match spot. Transport currently hold that place with 29 points, but ahead of them lays an abundance of teams in striking distance.

First of all, RLSK Pawlograd have only three points more and an inferior goal difference. The Pawlograders are used to the grit of desperate fights against relegation and by no means an easy way of getting points, but their spirits may wane at the wrong point - as fans in Hovikkära surely hope they will. The next team started with high ambitions, but some injuries and two trainer changes later, Dynamo Sjoedrhavn is fighting against the ultimate humiliation of having to contest against relegation. Only four points ahead of the playoff spot, they are in an unusual situation for many players on the team. Maybe the stress of the bottom of the table gets to the players and makes a dark horse stumble?

Finally, Landsmarks Industrie and SVV are on 34 points, five ahead of Transport Hovikkära. The two seem fairly solid, but limited in terms of talent (LI) or simply in the middle of a long rebuild (SVV), thus not in a massive danger of collapse like Dynamo and still capable of outbattling RLSK or Transport. In case of emergency, however, their patience may be put to the test. Ahead of them, with 38 points, ASK Landsmark is worth a mentioning despite being the first team that is almost definitely not in any danger of relegation. ASK started the season as a favourite but ended up in this place after one disappointment chased the next, topping it off with a long term injury of defensive leader Simon Omark that put the young goalie, Jacobsson, in a precarious position. It is this kind of surprise that makes the SFS worth watching, and we hope for many more to come in the last nine games!

SavojarSports.sj Result Center
Savojar Football Serien V - 3/4 (MD 20-29)

RESULTS

STANDINGS

SFS 1
                           Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts
 1 Admiral Storevik         29   19   2   8    39   26  +13    59
 2 Libertas Bergheim        29   14  12   3    50   32  +18    54
 3 CASK Thorsborg           29   15   7   7    44   33  +11    52
 4 FK Torpedo Pawlograd     29   15   7   7    60   50  +10    52
 5 Partisan Sjoedrhavn      29   14   8   7    56   33  +23    50
 6 Lokomotive Jarnstad      29   14   5  10    35   26   +9    47
 7 Metall Jarnstad          29   14   4  11    33   27   +6    46
 8 Energie Thorsborg        29   12   8   9    57   50   +7    44
 9 Akademiker Savojagrad    29   13   4  12    45   47   −2    43
10 Dynamo Novaya Russica    29   11   9   9    25   17   +8    42
11 Traktor St. Andrei       29   11   9   9    59   54   +5    42
12 ESK Storevik             29   12   5  12    57   59   −2    41
13 ASK Landsmark            29    8  14   7    27   20   +7    38
14 Savojars Vinge Virkaja   29    9   7  13    45   51   −6    34
15 Landsmarks Industrie     29    9   7  13    46   53   −7    34
16 Dynamo Sjoedrhavn        29    9   6  14    42   49   −7    33
17 RLSK Pawlograd           29    8   8  13    44   61  −17    32
18 Transport Hovikkära      29    8   5  16    27   39  −12    29
19 FK Odin Kjaershavn       29    5   6  18    38   59  −21    21
20 FK Sjoedrhavn            29    1   5  23    32   75  −43     8

Colour codes:
1: Champion + UICA Champion's Cup
2-4: UICA Globe Cup
18: Relegation game vs. 3rd of SFS 2
19-20: Direct relegation to SFS 2

by **Savojarna** » Wed Aug 08, 2018 3:24 am

SavojarSports.sj - inside reports from all Savojarna
SHS to be split up from next year onwards

Sjoedrhavn, VH - We have already reported on the plans of the Savojar ice hockey association SIHA to split up its prime domestic product, the Savojar Hockej Serien, into two leagues. As the SIHA's acting president Valtteri Jukkanen announced today, this split will indeed take place beginning with the next season of the SHS. The teams that make the first league are those that finish in the top 12 of the SHS Rankings after this season's playoffs, reflecting the results of the last four seasons. According to Jukkanen, the SIHA retains the right to manually reshuffle some teams if they consider the regional distribution of teams to be too one-sided. This move attracted wild criticism especially from union teams of strong cities such as Sjoedrhavn and Thorsborg, who feared favouritism in the SIHA's League Commission towards the state-operated teams and called for a strict ranking-based admission to the SHS 1. SHS 2 will be filled with the remaining twelve teams for now, refraining from the option to let more teams join professional ice hockey.

When asked about the possibility of promotion and relegation, Jukkanen stated that the exact specifics are subject to the League Commission, but the current draft proposes a playout series between the two last-placed teams of the SHS 1, followed by a relegation series against the SHS 2 champion. This should encourage teams to fight on even if they missed the playoffs to secure place nine or ten, and will give the last-placed teams another chance to save themselves. The final proposal needs to be accepted by a majority of professional clubs, which could be subject to debate, but should eventually find a majority according to SIHA officials. Many top teams are in favour of the change, which allows them to strengthen their side with more competitive matches, while some struggling teams also said that they consider the top of the SHS 2 more attractive than their current state.

Criticism mainly came from the teams that are solid playoff contenders in the status quo, who fear to become a "lift club" which commutes between the leagues, potentially leading to financial problems as they would have to rebuild their teams regularly. This concern had been met by Jukkanen with a statement that such a scenario would be unlikely due to the relegation matches, which ensure that only teams capable of being at least somewhat competitive at the highest level would be capable of being promoted. Many players also welcomed the change, as they hoped for better chances to play at top teams. Finally, the strenghtening of the positions of the top squads should contribute to Savojar ice hockey on the international stage, both in regards of club ice hockey and the national team. Especially among Savojarna's foreign-engaged players, the move was welcomed. Asked about their experiences with the smaller NZEL, Jonas Gulbrandsson and Ville Stefansson were both answering very favourably. They called the NZEL highly competitive because of its high skill density especially compared to the SHS, which was too spread out.

Especially the problem of strong players in weaker teams that cannot leave as easily due to monetary restrictions should be addressed by this move. Bryzhnev's engagement with Partizan Novaya Russica was a good example of such an issue, where a player could not lead his team to success despite playing a dominant role in the squad. Such issues had plagued Savojar ice hockey for a while and, according to national coach Fridtjof Ragnarsson, pose a serious problem due to the lack of development these players see. Therefore they often come into the national team young, but won't progress and lose their spot over time. This could be seen with Bryzhnev and Gulbrandsson, both of whom took a major step in development after transferring to Novaya Zemlya and now lead the national team after having been viewed as eternal prodigies before. Gulbrandsson especially had greatly profited from internal competition in the team, something that the new SHS system is supposed to encourage and further.

How it will play out in reality can only be seen in a year. The exact mode of the new SHS and the teams in each league will be revealed at the traditional pre-season press conference, Jukkanen said. While the topic of league reform will likely remain somewhat of a hot issue among fans and observers, teams have mostly announced not to raise opposition as the problems of the old league had been apparent.

SavojarSports.sj - inside reports from all Savojarna
SHS V Regular Season - 4/4

STANDINGS

 SHS 5 Regular Season Pld W L GF GA GD Pts 
 1 HK Metall Jarnstad        46   29  12   183  146  +37    63
 2 CASK Thorsborg            46   28  14   133   93  +40    60
 3 PT Hovikkära              46   28  16   125   85  +40    58
 4 Dynamo St. Andrei         46   27  15   190  143  +47    58
 5 SK Torpedo Pawlograd      46   27  16   115  104  +11    57
 6 ESK Storevik              46   27  18   160  136  +24    55
 7 Thorsborgs Technik        46   26  18   149  119  +30    54
 8 Savojars Vinge Virkaja    46   26  18   140  116  +24    54
 9 Dynamo Sjoedrhavn         46   26  19   132  110  +22    53
10 RHK Savojagrad            46   25  18   119   94  +25    53
11 Traktor St. Andrei        46   24  19   156  126  +30    51
12 Sjoedrhavn SHK            46   24  20   132  133   −1    50
13 International Pawlograd   46   25  21   104   85  +19    50
14 Admiral Storevik          46   22  21   172  163   +9    47
15 ASK Landsmark             46   21  22   130  142  −12    45
16 Akademisk HK Sjoedrhavn   46   20  23   135  154  −19    43
------------------------------------------------------------------
17 Hovikkära Skipsmän        46   18  24    87  121  −34    40
18 Kjefla Vulkan             46   19  26   103  131  −28    39
19 Lokomotive Markka         46   18  25   141  169  −28    39
20 Partizan Novaya Russica   46   16  28   148  176  −28    34
21 Spartakus Jarnstad        46   14  32   125  165  −40    28
22 Energie Thorsborg         46   13  31    82  124  −42    28
23 Atom HK Linder            46   10  33    86  151  −65    23
24 SK Chemie Frisks          46    7  31    91  152  −61    22

PLAYOFF SEEDS

HK Metall Jarnstad (1) vs. Akademisk HK Sjoedrhavn (16)
CASK Thorsborg (2) vs. ASK Landsmark (15)
PT Hovikkära (3) vs. Admiral Storevik (14)
Dynamo St. Andrei (4) vs. International Pawlograd (13)
SK Torpedo Pawlograd (5) vs. Sjoedrhavn SHK (12)
ESK Storevik (6) vs. Traktor St. Andrei (11)
Thorsborgs Technik (7) vs. RHK Savojagrad (10)
Savojars Vinge Virkaja (8) vs. Dynamo Sjoedrhavn (9)

by **Savojarna** » Mon Aug 13, 2018 2:41 am

SavojarSports.sj Result Center
Football => SFS 2 => Season 5 => Final Standings

STANDINGS

SFS 1
                           Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts
 1 Rotor Värstjö           30   19   8   3    76   33  +43    65
 2 FK Chemie Frisks        30   15  10   5    62   40  +22    55
 3 Metsuri Virkaja         30   14   8   8    44   33  +11    50
 4 SK Cuprum Grennvik      30   13  10   7    46   39   +7    49
 5 Polar Grundviken        30   12   9   9    38   36   +2    45
 6 Framfarir Kjefla        30   10  14   6    51   46   +5    44
 7 Motor Johansborg        30   12   8  10    63   60   +3    44
 8 Mir Nestrovo            30   12   5  13    52   53   −1    41
 9 Norrhavn FK             30   11   7  12    37   38   −1    40
10 Agrar Jurka             30   11   6  13    40   51  −11    39
11 EU Storevik             30   10   5  15    60   78  −18    35
12 Navigator Jaromirgrad   30    8   9  13    53   58   −5    33
13 Union Roopere           30    9   5  16    49   61  −12    32
14 Elektron Harkka         30    6  13  11    68   75   −7    31
15 RAS St. Andrei          30    6  10  14    26   41  −15    28
16 Zenit Jegrava           30    4   9  17    37   60  −23    21

Colour codes:
1-2: Promotion to SFS 1
3: Relegation game vs. 18th of SFS 1

by **Savojarna** » Mon Aug 13, 2018 5:01 am

SavojarSports.sj - inside reports from all Savojarna
CASK complete the hattrick

Thorsborg, VH -- For the second time in history and the first time since 1949, CASK manage to win the Savojar championship for the third time in a row thanks to a late victory over Partisan Sjoedrhavn at home. The match had been tightly contested from the beginning as the table before the game had revealed that Partisan likely needed to at the very least draw to retain their UICA Globe Cup spot, and CASK would only be champions if they managed to score at least as many points as Admiral would against Savojars Vinge Virkaja. There were all kinds of complicated calculations about who would get to play internationally, but the title race had come down to a clean two-horse race in which CASK lead with 69-68 against Admiral Storevik before the decisive match. Shortly before eight, in front of 58'200 fans in a sold out Stadion Karl Persson, the teams walked out on the ground in good conditions. It was rather cool for an early summer evening with a temperature of 14° at kick-off and dry weather. Similar conditions were measured in Storevik, ensuring that both decisive games would be held in fair circumstances like a football fan's heart desired.

For the decisive match, the teams also could field their best sides in a clash shaping up to be a classic early on. Rune Zackrisson brought out the big guns, utilising his strong offensive midfield in a 4-1-4-1 anchored by Livonen and with Nyborg and Hytönen charged with the offence. In the front, Valter Birja should score for the army team. Their opponents entered the pitch in their customary 4-4-1-1 aiming at quick counters and a play over the wings, led by Juota and Palvarainen. In centre, the 20 year old Morten Poulsen who played a brilliant season and will be awarded the prize for the best player under 23 was supposed to connect this midfield to sole striker Perttu Karjanen, second behind Energie's Gustav Lindgren in the goal scorer statistic. With CASK only lightly favoured against a strong Partisan, the match finally kicked off precisely at 20:00 under the guidance of 39 year old Russican referee Konstantin Bilukov.

Both teams were first trying to play solidly from behind, apparently scared to go down a goal early. CASK had their first chance after nine minutes, when a dribbling by Nyborg opened some space as he passed Zyukov and completed a pass to the left wing, where Anders Pahl took the ball with him. But the pass by Pahl towards Birja was cleared by Helman, leading to the first corner of the match. Partisan's first chance came a bit later, but was also the best opportunity of the opening phase when a shot from about twenty metres by Morten Poulsen just missed the post by a little bit. Following that, the match became agitated and fast, but also mostly contained between the two boxes as both teams had very solid defensive play. Palvarainen could break through thanks to a long pass by Roesk about half an hour after the kick-off and managed to be faster than Mitrovic, bringing a precise pass to the middle where Perttu Karjanen could head the ball into the net and set the score to 0-1 for Partisan. The goal had completely shocked the stadium, which had fallen entirely silent with the exception of about 4'000 Sjoedrhavener fans behind the goal of Thomas Larsen.

Said silence intensified after the break as in the final minutes of the first half, Admiral also scored a goal against Savojars Vinge. With both matches being 1-0 against CASK's wishes, the Thorsborgers would lose the championship on the final day to Admiral Storevik, who could get their first title since 2010. In the break, many fans were already feeling somewhat consternated by the results. There was surprisingly little reaction by Zackrisson, who had sent the exact same team back onto the field despite the problems of his side, and quite a few fans were getting very impatient as a consequence. But the coach clearly seemed to believe that he was on the right track, and he was redeemed when after the break, his team managed to increase pressure continuously and Partisan struggled highly to return to the game. A shot by Hytönen in the 50. minute was deflected to a corner by Jernayev and led to a corner, before which Zackrisson finally did react and replaced his defensive midfielder Jari Livonen with the second striker of CASK, the more technical and fast Kjetil Flyborg.

Six minutes later came the true point of change in the game as a mistake by goalie Johansson gifted the equaliser to CASK. Nyborg had attempted a one-two with Hytönen, but was harshly stopped after the first pass by Roesk, for whom the game was moving a bit too fast following a blunder in positioning. The resulting free kick from just short of thirty metres was a chance for Nyborg, a known specialist for direct free kicks. He set himself the ball and aimed for a flat shot around the wall, aiming for the lower near corner. Johansson had indeed gone to the right corner, but let the hard shot slide through his hands and thus allowed for the equaliser, releasing an incredible amount of charged up energy and pressure from the CASK team. The celebration was a testament to the pressure this team had, with Nyborg shouting out all his joy and excitement even though the title was still with Admiral virtually.

However, from this moment on, CASK was the more active team and put Partisan into increasing trouble. With Lok and Libertas leading, Partisan also had to attack more and more as a draw would not be enough in this case to secure the Globe Cup competition. With both sides being increasingly required to attack, the game became an open-faced, offensive match. The first major chance was given up by Karjanen who had missed a header from seven metres, followed by a shot from the edge of the box by Flyborg that landed straight in Johansson's arms three minutes later. Following a substitution of Juota for the younger and more offensive Steinar Aarsoy, the U21-international almost scored with a daring shot from 20 metres, but Larsen could save the attempt and Kjäll cleared just moments before the shoe of Karjanen could connect with the rebound and push it over the line.
In the last fifteen minutes, Partisan originally increased the pressure again with the duo of Aarsoy and Poulsen cooperating beautifully and putting major pressure onto the goal by constantly feeding Karjanen, who now had to be tightly marked by Nielsen. But after a save by Larsen, he quickly launched the game again and caught Partisan on the wrong foot. Following a won aerial duel by Nyborg, Pahl could take up the ball and run past Löfqvist, who had advanced a bit too far, and cross the ball to the centre. Flyborg had missed the ball, but it fell right onto the foot of Valter Birja, who could score sliding and pushed the ball over the line with his sole, leaving Johansson in the dirt and CASK with the lead.

The match had to be interrupted briefly after enthusiastic fans had joined the players on the pitch to celebrate the hattrick ten minutes early and Bilukov had to send the players back into the cabin. Following a few minutes of waiting in which the security forces maanged to restore order, both teams returned to the field for a highly charged final phase, with Partisan now attacking all-out but failing to push through the tight CASK defence. They managed once, when a mistake in coordination between Kjäll and Nielsen allowed for a long ball by Poulsen and some free space for the joker, Lukayev, but he only had hit the crossbar, from where the ball flew up into the stands. Seven minutes later, Bilukov blew his whistle for the last time, sending the 58'200 fans assembled at the stadium into euphoria as they now legally flooded the pitch and celebrated the historic hattrick. Captain Hytönen lifted the cup to kickstart a night of celebrations in Thorsborg, culminating around midnight on the steps of the Thorsborg City Hall, where they finally got to present the trophy to the fans of the city.

CASK Thorsborg 2-1 Partisan Sjoedrhavn (0-1)
Stadion Karl Persson; audience: 58'200 (sold out)

Goals: 29' Karjanen 0-1 (Palvarainen); 57' Nyborg 1-1; 79' Birja 1-2 (Pahl).
Yellow Cards: 32' Mitrovic, 42' Livonen, 52' Helman, 85' Nielsen (all foul).
Red cards: ---
Remarks: 80' Game interrupted for a few minutes due to pitch invasion. 86' Lukayev (PAR) hits crossbar.

CASK Thorsborg: Larsen - Mitrovic (82' Jensen), Kjäll, Nielsen, Popovich - Livonen (51' Flyborg) - Pahl, Nyborg, Hytönen, Ilyurov (68' Nikanen) - Birja.
Partisan Sjoedrhavn: Johansson - Thorvaldsson, Helman, Jernayev, Karlsson (51' Löfqvist) - Juota (67' Aarsoy), Zyukov (82' Lukayev), Roesk, Palvarainen - Poulsen - Karjanen.

SavojarSports.sj Result Center
Football => SFS 1 => Season 5 => Final Standings

RESULTS

STANDINGS

SFS 1
                           Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts
 1 CASK Thorsborg           38   21   9   8    68   48  +20    72
 2 Admiral Storevik         38   22   5  11    52   39  +13    71
 3 Libertas Bergheim        38   17  14   7    64   50  +14    65
 4 Lokomotive Jarnstad      38   20   5  13    46   34  +12    65
 5 FK Torpedo Pawlograd     38   19   7  12    77   72   +5    64
 6 Partisan Sjoedrhavn      38   17  12   9    69   44  +25    63
 7 Metall Jarnstad          38   18   8  12    42   32  +10    62
 8 Energie Thorsborg        38   15  11  12    75   64  +11    56
 9 Akademiker Savojagrad    38   16   6  16    58   58    0    54
10 ASK Landsmark            38   12  17   9    48   32  +16    53
11 ESK Storevik             38   15   7  16    73   76   −3    52
12 Traktor St. Andrei       38   13  12  13    81   82   −1    51
13 Dynamo Novaya Russica    38   13  10  15    31   29   +2    49
14 Landsmarks Industrie     38   14   7  17    64   72   −8    49
15 RLSK Pawlograd           38   11  12  15    52   69  −17    45
16 Savojars Vinge Virkaja   38   11  11  16    60   67   −7    44
17 Transport Hovikkära      38   12   7  19    41   49   −8    43
18 Dynamo Sjoedrhavn        38   12   6  20    52   64  −12    42
19 FK Odin Kjaershavn       38    7   8  23    50   77  −27    29
20 FK Sjoedrhavn            38    4   8  26    50   95  −45    20

Colour codes:
1: Champion + UICA Champion's Cup
2-4: UICA Globe Cup
18: Relegation game vs. 3rd of SFS 2
19-20: Direct relegation to SFS 2

RELEGATION GAME

Dynamo Sjoedrhavn 1-0 Metsuri Virkaja (1-0, 0-0)

Dynamo Sjoedrhavn remain in the SHS 1.

by **Savojarna** » Tue Aug 14, 2018 9:02 am

SavojarSports.sj - inside reports from all Savojarna
SHS V Playoffs: Octofinal Summary

HK METALL JARNSTAD (1) 4-0 Akademisk HK Sjoedrhavn (16)
5-1, 6-3, 7-4, 3-2

The favourite was never in trouble in this series, where HKM dominated from the first minute on with its aggressive hockey. Aka tried to counter with some similarly aggressive forechecking in the second two matches, leading to highly spectacular play from both sides, but often ran up to the solid defence around Antti Ruhanen. The captain of HKM showed his value not only in defence, but also with his calm play in the buildup. Together with his partner Anjushkin this was enough to regularly launch spectacular attacks to the Akademisk goal. Aka crumbled under the pressure put on by the top line surrounding Patrik Nyquist, who scored a hattrick in Game 3 and a total of ten points throughout all games, putting in a great case to be called up to the national team at the next occasion. In the final match, Akademisk tried to defend themselves a bit more solidly and rely more on counters than an outright assault, resulting in a much closer matchup than before. However, a shot by Stefan Tangen on the powerplay that was deflected by Pihlström in front of the goal decided the match in the final period and led to HKM sweeping their way into the quarterfinal.

CASK THORSBORG (2) 4-1 ASK Landsmark
5-2, 3-0, 3-1, 1-3, 5-3

The Army Derby had been played in the octofinals of the inaugural season of the SHS, with the better end for CASK. The Landsmarkers wanted to take revenge in what may be the most heated duel of the country, but failed to do so as CASK played a very solid game and shut down their own zone for most of the first three matches. Thanks to a Niklas Hoyman in best form, ASK struggled on the few occasions that they actually managed to breach the tight web CASK's forwards constructed in the neutral zone when they had lost the puck. The first three matches were also dominated by the third offensive line of Thorsborg, built around the young Hjalmar Mikkelsen, which had simply overwhelmed their ASK counterparts. Assisted by Valeri Taranin, who scored four goals in the first three games, and Ivan Karashov, the line managed to push away the defenders by sheer power and used the space for countless deflections and rebounds. In the fourth game, a brilliant show by the ASK defence, including goalie Lars Bohr who was much criticised throughout the series, paved the way to the only victory of the Landsmarkers. A second-period goal by Juha-Mikko Ranttanen and an empty-netter by Akkori Corispan of Ontorisa, who had played his first match in the series, sealed the deal for ASK. They were outgunned by the CASK offence on the next match though, and two goals by Dominik Gränlund and Antti Toranen in the final period decided this series surprisingly clearly for CASK.

PT HOVIKKÄRA (3) 4-3 Admiral Storevik (14)
4-3 (OT), 4-4 (2-3 SO), 2-1, 2-4, 3-1, 1-2, 4-1

Home advantage proved decisive in this very tight duel, led by the respective defences more than many expected and finishing without a single away victory. The first two matches were offensive spectacles with many changes of the lead and dramatic overtimes, with twenty minutes without a goal in the second game and thus a decision in the shootout, where Pyry Otala had missed his first shot and then had to watch his PT not being able to retain the lead. Iro Nurminen was the great tragic hero of game three, when the Admiral goalie stopped 39 shots and kept his team in the game for most of the time, but then gave up an unnecessary goal in the final minutes when he let a seemingly easy shot rebound onto the stick of PT's Eero Lakkasjärvi. However, Admiral could strike back on the next encounter back in Storevik, where Vitali Shipulin shone with two goals to his name. PT Hovikkära reacted in game five, replacing the insecure and too slow Aro Terjala (who announced his transfer to local rivals Skipsmän, in the new SHS 2) by the 19 year old Juhamatti Sirkulainen, usually engaged at Young PT. Sirkulainen played a good game as 7th defender, and in the attack his teammates did their jobs as well, leading to a 3-1 victory. The ultra-tight game six was originally lead by PT for most of the game following an early goal by Tuomas Jaskinen, but turned slowly over the following periods. Shortly before the end of the second, Zagulin wristed a puck over Jansson's pad, and seven minutes into the final period a slapshot by Fredrik Grenn forced the series into game seven. This match was controlled by PT from the beginning, leading 2-0 after twenty minutes and allowing only one goal on the powerplay when the score was already 3-0. With a final score of 4-1, PT Hovikkära won the deciding game and qualified for the quarterfinal.

DYNAMO ST. ANDREI (4) 4-2 International Pawlograd (13)
3-5, 3-5, 3-1, 5-4, 4-4 (2-1 SO), 7-6 (OT)

A spectacle of offensive display ended better for Dynamo St. Andrei despite the great shock of the first two matches. The usually brilliant International keeper Andrei Strakhov had to leave the series after the first match, having pulled a muscle in his leg, and was replaced by Axel Ekblad, who clearly couldn't provide the high-quality goaltending Inter was used to. Given the circumstances, Pawlograd did surprisingly well in the offence, usually the weakness of the team, but couldn't contend with a Dynamo that got increasingly pumped up, especially not after a concussion robbed International of first-line defender Ville Lahta as well. Throughout the series, and especially in game six, the defence of International showed its issues with over-aging, and as a consequence of the series the 38 year old Evgeni Markov, who still had a contract for SHS VI, ended his career immediately. Markov was out of touch with the game for much of the series and replaced by the young Vladimir Nushkin by game five. Thanks to Elegin, Ulyachev and Killa reaching new heights in their form, International could still contend on the offence for the rest of the series, leading to a highspeed encounter. But the previous favourites were thrown out of contention by Dynamo's national team winger Yuri Elyagin, who danced past Perezhogin and caught Ekblad over the left pad in the ninth minute of overtime in game six, thus shooting his team to the quarterfinals.

SK TORPEDO PAWLOGRAD (5) 4-0 Sjoedrhavn SHK (12)
5-0, 1-0, 5-2, 2-1 (OT)

Another overtime victory to end a season was scored by SK Torpedo Pawlograd, who had managed to shut out Sjoedrhavn for over seven periods straight. The first match was a demonstration in efficiency and tactical brilliance by Torpedo, who had demontaged an overly optimistic and sometimes naive SHK. The routined Alexey Varyshnin in Torpedo's goal was having a calm day as the neutral zone trap by Pawlograd stood perfectly. The Pawlograd Trap relies on the center falling back almost to the level of the defenders, while the two wingers enact a constant pressure on the opposing buildup, a strategy that seemed to have thrown SHK off. Poul Simunov could intercept a pass by Jarborg early on and ran off towards the goal, passed over to Lavrov and set the score to 1-0 for Torpedo. This led SHK to open up even more, inviting further counters like this. Nevski stole the puck off Roessler in the neutral zone, launched Yurkin, and the former national team winger pushed the rebound into the net to make it 2-0 before the break and see SHK crumble. While they were playing more cautiously in game two, they hardly got chances against Varyshnin (who only made 22 saves on a shutout) and lost to a powerplay goal by Gennadiy Perniyev. After the third game was somewhat of a repetition of the first one, even though it saw SHK's first goal scored by Novozemlyan Radoslav Klepakhov, the fourth and last game concluded the series in overtime as Simunov scored with a one-timer to the top near corner.

ESK STOREVIK (6) 4-2 Traktor St. Andrei
4-3, 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 4-3

In yet another series of massively spectacular, high-scoring games, ESK bumped out Traktor with only one away victory. The Storeviker and SHS 3 champions started out very aggressively and fast, in their typical highspeed and high-intensity style. In his usual flashy manner, Eythor Malinsson dangled a puck around Traktor's Tuukka Lajanen and passed it out to Ericsson, who smacked it into the goal to set the score to 4-3 in game one and brought ESK ahead. But two days later, four goals would not be enough as Viktor Davidsson showed weaknesses, but was also not helped very much by his defence. Especially Laukansson was criticised for way too optimistic offensive play, but there were too many collective mistakes in the ESK team that a brilliantly prepared Traktor around Ilya Zaryanov and Leonid Karenin took advantage of. For the next few games, the winner always scored six goals, showing not only the offensive power of those sides but also the problems in defence that they both struggle with. Especially goalkeeper Viktor Davidsson of ESK Storevik was in the focus of criticism, being replaced by Harri Novanen in the third game. However, so far they still rely on Davidsson despite many calls from the fans to let Novanen start after he seemed significantly more solid and calm. In the end, the series was decided by Sergey Grigorenko and Anders Hejman, who scored twice in the early third period of the sixth game after it had been 2-2 for a while by then. Despite a rebound by Marko Rashin, Traktor could not equalise anymore and had to end their season.

THORSBORGS TECHNIK (7) 4-1 RHK Savojagrad (10)
3-2, 6-3, 2-3 (OT), 4-0, 9-1

Despite their opponents being the reigning champions, many were rather surprised and disappointed by the quick end of RHK Savojagrad's campaign given their strong team. It should be noted that RHK had played a lot better than the results imply, but especially one of them is incredible - the nine to one that RHK suffered in game five in Thor's Den. According to STV's Johan Byggström, it had been "the most complete and utter annihilation of a team I ever witnessed in playoff hockey". The demolition started at the end of the game before this, when a clash before the goal had lead to Thorsborg's Flemming Aversen falling onto Karel Periskin and injuring the RHK goalie's shoulder. In the next game, coach Andropov surprised by putting the 19 year old Andrei Larkina in goal instead of the more experienced Markov. He had justified that decision by saying that Larkina had showed himself better in the training, but clearly the boy could not handle his nerves as he gave up four goals in thirteen minutes, hardly aided by a disoriented defence following the loss of Yarchenko (injury sustained at the World Cup in Anthor) and Alenichev (suspended for an altercation following the crash of Aversen and Periskin). At this point, Andropov finally brought Viktor Markov, but he could not avert the upcoming disaster. With RHK blindly attacking, many openings for counter attacks opened up. As the siren sounded for the first time, Eirikur Jotansson had already lifted the score to 5-0, and it would only get worse. RHK was relegated to the role of a disoriented spectator until the final period, when at least it was up to de Villiers to save them some honour with the 8-1 on an assist of Simonen - no grounds for joy as they quit the playoffs only nine minutes and one goal later.

SAVOJARS VINGE VIRKAJA 4-1 Dynamo Sjoedrhavn
3-0, 2-2 (2-3 SO), 2-1 (OT), 2-1, 4-0

For the first time in the SHS' history, all eight home teams qualified thanks to the two relatively clear home victories by SVV in an otherwise incredibly tight and hard-fought series that many neutral observers would have liked to last for six or seven games. With Ville Kerjanen and Petter Malmström, this series featured two backup goalies of the national team facing off each other, both accompanied by strong teams and it was expected to be a very Savojar match, one that would be chess on ice with an occasional spark of ice hockey brilliance. This was more or less what the game was indeed, but with more sparks of brilliance than many expected when they had dismissed this clash as boring before the first puck dropped. They saw themselves confirmed when SVV spent the first game controlling an early lead scored by Jovinen after a genius pass by Grigorenko and raising the score on the powerplay, only to wait for the empty net to bag the win. But then, the true war between these two state clubs began. In the second match, an overtime winner by Lukas Nyman for SVV was disallowed for a high stick. A goal here could have turned the series as Niskänen's miss in the shootout meant that it was now 1-1 instead of 2-0. The third game saw another overtime winner for SVV being allowed, this time scored by Jens Hallmark with a clever wrister between Malmström's legs. The narrow defeat in game four, when Dynamo outshot SVV 43-29 at home and still lost thanks to a brilliant night by Kerjanen, seemed to have broken their fighting spirits, and SVV bagged the series on the next evening with a relatively unspectacular 4-0 victory.

QUARTERFINAL SEEDINGS

HK Metall Jarnstad (1) vs. Savojars Vinge Virkaja (8)
CASK Thorsborg (2) vs. Thorsborgs Technik (7)
PT Hovikkära (3) vs. ESK Storevik (6)
Dynamo St. Andrei (4) vs. SK Torpedo Pawlograd (5)

by **Savojarna** » Wed Oct 03, 2018 7:39 am

SavojarSports.sj - inside reports from all Savojarna
SHS V Playoffs: Quarterfinal Summary

HK Metall Jarnstad (1) 2-4 SAVOJARS VINGE VIRKAJA (8)
2-6, 3-6, 6-3, 2-1, 2-3, 0-3

Aggressive play carried HKM into the quarterfinals, and a similar recipe should lift them over SVV into the semifinals. However, this backfired spectacularly as the duo Grigorenko - Jovinen showed their incredible speed in game 1 and, off the back of a brilliant performance of Ville Kerjanen in goal, managed to get two goals each. Mortensen and Nyman brought about the final score of 2-6 in Jarnstad. They confirmed the success in game 2, but had to suffer in the third match when Kerjanen had a bad night and two early powerplay goals by Ansgarsson and Anjushkin created a 2-0 lead for HKM that Savojars Vinge could not overturn. Game 4 finally brought a good matchup for both teams, and saw them fight it out in a tight match where both sides showed their qualities. Despite another great performance by Kerjanen (38 saves), Metall got the away victory as Anders Hjalmarsson scored off a rebound in the final minutes. Following another great clash in Jarnstad that was decided for SVV late in the game by a slapshot from Balder Niskanen that whizzed right past the catcher of goalie Alexander Wennerström, the air force team had no trouble confirming the victory at home with a shutout by Kerjanen.

CASK Thorsborg (2) 3-4 THORSBORGS TECHNIK (7)
4-4 (3-1 SO), 5-3, 3-3 (0-2 SO), 4-3 (OT), 1-3, 3-5, 2-3

After the Army Derby in the octofinals, CASK had to face yet another big rival with their neighbours and current champions Thorsborgs Technik. The Techniker had been a bit underwhelming so far, but were determined to take revenge in the playoffs as they showed with a swift end to the hopes of RHK Savojagrad, finishing off the Russican team 9-1 in the final match. The series was characterised by aggressive play with no thought given to defence over wide stretches of it, a dynamic match that pitted CASK's traditional strength and no-nonsense attack against the fast, speedy and clever Technik. The former seemed to work better as CASK won a hard-fought 4-4 in the shootout thanks to goals by Toranen, Gränlund and Renning as well as three saves by Nick Hoyman. In Game 2 in Thor's Den, Technik lead the game for a long time but ultimately lost as Debreshev deflected a puck into the net to equalise and a wrister by Taranin found its way into the goal to set the score to 3-4. Subsequently, CASK conserved the lead to set the series to 3-1, but with a late victory in the General Harden Stadion, the tides turned. Technik clawed its way back to a Game 7, and in this decisive match, they won thanks to a late counter by Eirikur Jotansson and Roope Vuotilainen. Vuotilainen took the puck in the own zone, carried it down to the offensive zone and fed it over to Jotansson, who finished it off with a beautiful slapshot.

PT HOVIKKÄRA (3) 4-0 ESK Storevik (6)
6-4, 2-1 (OT), 7-0, 6-5

ESK Storevik, supposed to be a favourite to the title with their still young team that is largely the same as in their SHS III victory, was left with an empty tank halfway through this peculiar series, allowing PT to coast to the semifinals. The first match in Hovikkära was still open thanks to an effort by Grigorenko, who equalised twice in the second period, but a third period goal by Saevarsson and an empty-netter by Alpo Juhanen decided the game for the hosts. The second game then was in the hands of PT for a long time as ESK were scared of getting another early goal, but this played into the hands of the tactical chessmasters of Hovikkära as Vetrayev's 0-1 in the powerplay set them on the course to an easy win. ESK managed to bring some more energy and passion into the match by the final period and got the equaliser off a shot by Terkka, deflected by Anders Hejman; but a sudden death goal by Jaskinen decided the game and gave PT the away victory. It was the third game that ended ESK's hope as Viktor Davidsson had a black night and was already beaten three times in the first eleven minutes. Tuomas Jaskinen picked up a hattrick, and also was the dominating figure of Game 4 with two goals and one assist in the 6-5 victory in which ESK only took the lead for a total of four minutes, never truly challenging the sweep after the second match.

DYNAMO ST. ANDREI (4) 4-3 SK Torpedo Pawlograd (13)
0-1, 4-3, 4-2, 1-6, 3-0, 1-6, 4-1

A hard-fought series that opened with two away victories, but then only continued with home victories until the end, leading to Dynamo winning in the seventh game thanks to a strong defensive showing only two days after having conceded six goals in Pawlograd. But let's start from the beginning, when a physical and tactical game was decided by a dirty rebound by veteran grinder Igor Yurkin. In the second match, it looked like there would be a repetition of the first game until Elyagin and Rudin could bring Dynamo ahead 0-2 thanks to two powerplay goals. Following that, there was more and more space on the ice that the teams used for spectacular attacks, but Torpedo could not sufficiently react to a wristshot by Alex Yushchenko to set the score to 2-4. Dynamo then tried to shut down the neutral zone in the coming games and managed so in their third home game, when together with a brilliant performance by Vitali Nemanyov, they could keep a clean sheet. However, on their two away games they were a bit too naive and offensive, running into counters and being pulled out of position by Torpedo and incurring big losses. Neverthelless, their seventh match was dominated by a strong neutral zone defence and a deadly efficient powerplay orchestrated by Rasmus Vindjammer, who accumulated two assists on the two PP goals of Dynamo St. Andrei.

SEMIFINAL SEEDINGS

PT Hovikkära (3) vs. Savojars Vinge Virkaja (8)
Dynamo St. Andrei (4) vs. Thorsborgs Technik (7)

by **Savojarna** » Tue Oct 16, 2018 5:48 am

SavojarSports.sj - inside reports from all Savojarna
SHS V Playoffs: Semifinal Summary

PT HOVIKKÄRA (3) 4-1 Savojars Vinge Virkaja (8)
1-0, 1-2, 1-0 (OT), 4-2, 4-1

PT, the perennial non-winner of the SHS, finally get another shot at the title after a series of massive chokes. In a game where both teams were playing defensively and cautiously, the goaltenders were in the focus of attention. SVV's Ville Kerjanen showed why he is set to replace Andrey Strakhov in the national team by only allowing three goals in 192 minutes and getting a percentage of 96.87%, but had to see himself being surpassed by Ivar Jansson with only two goals in the same time and two shutouts in the first three games. Kerjanen's superior saves percentage could not save SVV from losing as the PT defence was superior, leading to a shot advantage for the Hovikkära side in all three games. In game 4, it looked like the air force team would equalise the series again until the 48th minute, when Jaskinen deflected a sharp pass over Kerjanen's pad to set the score to 2-2. In the remaining game, a powerplay goal by Vetrayev from the blue line and an empty-netter by Anders Falun led to the ultimately decisive 4-2 victory that PT confirmed at home. SVV attempted a last-ditch offensive approach in Hovikkära following the first goal by Jaskinen, but ran into counter-attacks that led to a comfortable 3-0 lead after two periods and Hovikkära's final qualification.

Dynamo St. Andrei (4) 2-4 THORSBORGS TECHNIK (7)
4-2, 2-4, 2-5, 4-5, 6-1, 1-2

The series between Dynamo and defending champions Thorsborgs Technik was a completely different beast, focused on offence and speed rather than the tight chess games of PT and SVV. After a series of games which waved back and forth, but saw Thorsborg coming out on top three times thanks to the superior speed of the Techniker, the series became serious in Game 5. The first four games seemed light-hearted and flowing, seeing Jotansson scoring one of the most beautiful goals of the playoffs in the end of the fourth match. A breakout pass of Ottesen landed directly on the stick of Kartev, who used the boards to dangle the puck around Troels and passing it to the slot, where Jotansson accepted it on his backhand and slid it between Nemanyov's pads with the forehand. Following the fourth game and facing elimination, Dynamo came out aggressively in the fifth match and took a quick lead thanks to a wristshot by Nuryzhin and a deflection by Rudin. Following the 3-0 in the powerplay by Troels, the game basically was settled. THT caught themselves for the sixth game, and a 37-save-game by 40 year old Matti Storberg secured the victory for the Technikers who join PT Hovikkära in the final.

SavojarSports.sj - inside reports from all Savojarna
SHS V Playoffs: PT Hovikkära win the championship in Game 7

PT HOVIKKÄRA (3) 4-1 Thorsborgs Technik (7)
1-0 (OT), 2-4, 4-1, 2-0, 0-2, 0-2, 3-1

A high-level matchup that was maybe not always led by spectacle, but by clever tactical play and a brilliant duo of Pyry Otala and Tuomas Jaskinen, PT Hovikkära finally crowned themselves champions of Savojarna. Together with Aimo Varanen, they managed to run through the Thorsborgs Technik defence the deciding few times more. The first game had been dominated by the goalkeepers and a brilliant defensive play especially by the centers, and was eventually decided by this first line when Varanen could win the puck in the offensive zone and fed Otala in front of the goal, leading to the decisive goal. However, Thorsborg came back at home, when two powerplay goals by Vuotilainen and Lindberg led to a two-goal-lead that held to the end. The series of home victories was broken in Game 4 thanks to two third-period goals of PT. Linus Klingberg wrestled the puck off Volkanov in his own zone and found Manlund on the right wing. His original shot was blocked by Storvald, but the rebound landed on the stick of Eero Lakkasjärvi, who finished the job with a goal. The 2-0 came in the final minute off an empty-netter by Dragunov.

With three match pucks on their sticks, PT seemed to get nervous while Matti Storvald reached to new heights, reaching 137 minutes without a goal conceded. Vuotilainen, the season IV Playoff MVP, finally reached his old level and led the first THT line with Kartev and Jotansson to his sides, but the lack of secondary scoring in an aging Thorsborg team was becoming an increasing problem. Nevertheless, thanks to another brilliant Storvald performance and goals by Vuotilainen and Aversen, they managed a second victory in a row and tied the series to force a Game 7 in Hovikkära. In this game, after 16 minutes and 39 seconds, a shot by Vetrayev bounced off Storvald's pad and was eventually pushed over the line by Fredrik Saevarsson. The goal that would later be PT's Championship goal was scored in the middle period by Jaskinen, who received a pass by Otala and finished directly with a one-timer from the wing, beating Jansson above the catching glove. There was a powerplay goal by Gävle to bring THT back in the game, but not enough to turn the match as Helguson deflected a puck to decide the game and the championship four minutes before the end.

SHS V Champion: PT Hovikkära

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