A direct message from Jokerit’s top acquisition to Sport fans: "Hardly anywhere else..."

Jokerit returned to the Liiga ice in Vaasa on Tuesday. The team succumbed to the home team Sport after a shootout, with a final score of 4-5.

Jokerit’s summer’s top acquisition Antti Kalapudas stated after the match to SuomiKiekko that Tuesday’s game in Vaasa was eventful and included many twists.

– A fast-paced game with a lot of emotion. The crowd was very involved. It was the first game of the season, so you could tell everyone had energy, maybe even a bit more than sense. It was a tight game and turned out to be a win for Sport in the shootout.

Kalapudas played in his Jokerit debut on the second line alongside Teemu Turunen and Alexander Forslund. The line has room for improvement going forward, as for example, Kalapudas’ performance stats ended up three notches below zero.

– A few goals were conceded. Of course, one cannot be satisfied with that. A few chances were created, but we didn’t score, and we conceded, so my game definitely ended up on the negative side, Kalapudas comments on his and his line’s performance.

Kalapudas mentions that there has been an excited atmosphere among the Jokerit team for quite some time.

– There has been a pretty anticipatory feeling all along that this day would come. We have been training hard for a month for this, so that when the season starts, we are ready. And how the fans are still involved, it’s amazing to play in front of them.

All eyes are on Jokerit this season, but according to Kalapudas, it does not disturb the team, but rather the opposite.

– Yes, we are all professionals enough here. There is a lot of media attention, but we know how to take it properly and just as a resource, Kalapudas explains.

Kalapudas also played for Sport during his Liiga career from 2017 to 2019. He sent a direct message to the supporters of his old team.

– An absolutely amazing crowd. It’s hard to find such an atmosphere anywhere else in the area as there was today. All I can do is thank our fans and also Sport’s fans. It was a great atmosphere and nice to play, Kalapudas concludes.

Vaasa’s Sähkö Arena was sold out on Tuesday. The match between Sport and Jokerit was attended by 5,200 spectators.

Joni Alatalo