EHM The Blue Line

Went to Jokerit - HK Neftehimik Nižnekamsk at the Hartwall Arena this evening. Jokerit started very strongly until they scored and then Neftehimik hit 3 in a row. The game swung back and forth, with both teams trading goals before it was Jokerit's turn to score 3 in row to make it 5-4. Neftehimik got the leveller with just under 7 minutes to go and the game ended 5-5. Neftehimik survived a powerplay in OT, but Jokerit got the GWG with a couple of minutes left. Good even game, although I thought the best team won. Some interesting calls/non-calls by the refs

Calv wrote:Went to Jokerit - HK Neftehimik Nižnekamsk at the Hartwall Arena this evening. Jokerit started very strongly until they scored and then Neftehimik hit 3 in a row. The game swung back and forth, with both teams trading goals before it was Jokerit's turn to score 3 in row to make it 5-4. Neftehimik got the leveller with just under 7 minutes to go and the game ended 5-5. Neftehimik survived a powerplay in OT, but Jokerit got the GWG with a couple of minutes left. Good even game, although I thought the best team won. Some interesting calls/non-calls by the refs

I did not watch the match myself, but I heard Jokerit had their infamous second-period performance again... Well, at least we got two points.

The quality of the KHL referees vary greatly, and they clearly favour the big clubs, especially those of the army (CSKA and SKA). When it is criticised, they fine the team that has done so and pretend nothing happened.

In the book by Bernd Brückler, former KHL goalie, he mentions a lot of the referees get treated to a night out by the host team when they arrive. Good food, booze, that sort of stuff. That's not to imply it has any effect on their decisions on the ice, but the teams are certainly trying their best to be on their good side.

Tasku wrote:In the book by Bernd Brückler, former KHL goalie, he mentions a lot of the referees get treated to a night out by the host team when they arrive. Good food, booze, that sort of stuff. That's not to imply it has any effect on their decisions on the ice, but the teams are certainly trying their best to be on their good side.

Who would have thought being a KHL referee would be a dream job.

A9L3E wrote:

Tasku wrote:In the book by Bernd Brückler, former KHL goalie, he mentions a lot of the referees get treated to a night out by the host team when they arrive. Good food, booze, that sort of stuff. That's not to imply it has any effect on their decisions on the ice, but the teams are certainly trying their best to be on their good side.

Who would have thought being a KHL referee would be a dream job.

They make a pretty good living too. There was once an article on it. A Finnish former Liiga ref, can't remember who, now a KHL ref, was said to make about 100 000 euros per year.

A9L3E wrote:

Calv wrote:Went to Jokerit - HK Neftehimik Nižnekamsk at the Hartwall Arena this evening. Jokerit started very strongly until they scored and then Neftehimik hit 3 in a row. The game swung back and forth, with both teams trading goals before it was Jokerit's turn to score 3 in row to make it 5-4. Neftehimik got the leveller with just under 7 minutes to go and the game ended 5-5. Neftehimik survived a powerplay in OT, but Jokerit got the GWG with a couple of minutes left. Good even game, although I thought the best team won. Some interesting calls/non-calls by the refs

I did not watch the match myself, but I heard Jokerit had their infamous second-period performance again... Well, at least we got two points.

The quality of the KHL referees vary greatly, and they clearly favour the big clubs, especially those of the army (CSKA and SKA). When it is criticised, they fine the team that has done so and pretend nothing happened.

I was actually thinking it was going to be a boring match in the first because Jokerit were dominant. Fortunately (for me) it wasn't

From what I noticed, the ref was missing more calls against Neftehimik, but that might have just been due to me sitting with the home fans and reacting with them.

A9L3E wrote:

Calv wrote:Went to Jokerit - HK Neftehimik Nižnekamsk at the Hartwall Arena this evening. Jokerit started very strongly until they scored and then Neftehimik hit 3 in a row. The game swung back and forth, with both teams trading goals before it was Jokerit's turn to score 3 in row to make it 5-4. Neftehimik got the leveller with just under 7 minutes to go and the game ended 5-5. Neftehimik survived a powerplay in OT, but Jokerit got the GWG with a couple of minutes left. Good even game, although I thought the best team won. Some interesting calls/non-calls by the refs

I did not watch the match myself, but I heard Jokerit had their infamous second-period performance again... Well, at least we got two points.

The quality of the KHL referees vary greatly, and they clearly favour the big clubs, especially those of the army (CSKA and SKA). When it is criticised, they fine the team that has done so and pretend nothing happened.

By coincidence I found this article in today's Iltalehti (in Finnish):

http://www.iltalehti.fi/khl/2015120820799218_jr.shtml

It would seem the ref who was blamed for Jokerit's last season's defeat in the playoffs, was let go, and the reason behind Erkka Westerlund's fine from commenting on the refs was a league wide rule, not a biased attempt at shutting up the critique.

Tasku wrote:By coincidence I found this article in today's Iltalehti (in Finnish):

http://www.iltalehti.fi/khl/2015120820799218_jr.shtml

It would seem the ref who was blamed for Jokerit's last season's defeat in the playoffs, was let go, and the reason behind Erkka Westerlund's fine from commenting on the refs was a league wide rule, not a biased attempt at shutting up the critique.

Interesting, although the referees were heavily biased towards CSKA throughout the series, to the extent that whenever there was a hit by Jokerit I was hoping this was not something to provoke the referees to a yet another dubious decision. But other than that series, I have not seen any clear bias towards or against any team.

A9L3E wrote:

Tasku wrote:By coincidence I found this article in today's Iltalehti (in Finnish):

http://www.iltalehti.fi/khl/2015120820799218_jr.shtml

It would seem the ref who was blamed for Jokerit's last season's defeat in the playoffs, was let go, and the reason behind Erkka Westerlund's fine from commenting on the refs was a league wide rule, not a biased attempt at shutting up the critique.

Interesting, although the referees were heavily biased towards CSKA throughout the series, to the extent that whenever there was a hit by Jokerit I was hoping this was not something to provoke the referees to a yet another dubious decision. But other than that series, I have not seen any clear bias towards or against any team.

Yeah, I didn't really follow any of that, so I don't know. Just saw the article right after I read your post here.

I was at the group phase game of the WJC the past month, it was Russia against Finland and it turned out to be the only game Finland lost! On the bright side the game was entertaining and I also saw Slovakia - Czech Republic earlier during the day. Here's a pic from the latter game's warm-up:


It seems that I had almost the same seat as Calv at Jokerit's game.

A pretty good view!

Thanks to you both for sharing the pics

ForNever wrote: It seems that I had almost the same seat as Calv at Jokerit's game.

Get out of my seat!

Calv wrote:

ForNever wrote: It seems that I had almost the same seat as Calv at Jokerit's game.

Get out of my seat!

Never!

ForNever wrote:

Calv wrote:

ForNever wrote: It seems that I had almost the same seat as Calv at Jokerit's game.

Get out of my seat!

Never!

Go home already! The game is over!

HKH - Kiekko-Ahma of Finnish Second Division. 4-2 final score.

Just got back from my annual Dinamo Riga trip.

This was our welcome at the airport - I'm guessing CSKA had just arrived also. We did see the Manchester Storm guys departing Manchester as their flight to Belfast was delayed.


Not a bad view for a €8.50 seat!


They got absolutely smashed and that was without Radulov and Da Costa. However the atmosphere was great and I managed to see Denis Denisov in real life!

Went to see Jokerit - SKA this evening, Jokerit won 3-1 and were pretty good value for their win. They played well defensively and exposed SKA's poor defence a few times. SKA were pretty poor, defensively they left men wide open and had poor coverage when Jokerit broke out of their zone, offensively they were kept on the outside for most of the game and spent too long behind the net on their powerplays. The one goal they did score was a neat finish though. Kovalchuk didn't look that great, a few nice passes but he didn't have much of an impact on the game.

Division title is ours.

Calv, what did you think of refereeing? Would be nice to hear an un-biased opinion.

In this game it was a bit inconsistent I thought, a couple of instances that I felt could've/should've been called but were missed and yet there was a very soft call that was made early on. A bit of confusion at the end as well with the too many men no-call. Saying that, it was much better than the last game I saw at Jokerit where the refs seemed to ignore the majority of the stuff that Neftehimik were pulling.

Went to the big one this evening, Kiekko Vantaa - JYP Akatemia JYP won 3-1 with the 3rd coming through an ENG. Vantaa struggled to get many good chances as JYP clogged up the middle of the ice, they'll rue hitting the bar twice as well. Nico Aaltonen, who started the season at Manchester Phoenix was playing for Vantaa. I saw him play a few times earlier this season in the EPL

There was a nice sunset as I got to the arena

I will probably go to a Swedish J20 SuperElit Top10 game on Sunday.
My favourite team Djurgården is visiting Färjestad

Yeah nice sunset Calv!!

Manimal wrote:I will probably go to a Swedish J20 SuperElit Top10 game on Sunday.
My favourite team Djurgården is visiting Färjestad

Have you seen Orebro J20s? Interested to hear how Sam Duggan looks compared to the Swedes

Calv wrote:

Manimal wrote:I will probably go to a Swedish J20 SuperElit Top10 game on Sunday.
My favourite team Djurgården is visiting Färjestad

Have you seen Orebro J20s? Interested to hear how Sam Duggan looks compared to the Swedes

No, I've never seen them play.
I see he has produced at the J18 level but not much at the J20

Calv wrote:

Would you mind me using this as a background image?