Kiekko-Espoo's Jyrki Ahola direct quote about HIFK star: "As if someone had shot with a shotgun"

Kiekko-Espoo lost the first local derby of the season against HIFK on Friday with a score of 0-3.

After the match, Kiekko-Espoo’s head coach Jyrki Aho was not satisfied with his team’s performance.

– We had to fight hard. We couldn’t compete in the first two periods as much as we should have. In the third period, we fought better. Of course, we also spent too much time in the box, Aho commented.

– I was not satisfied with our play today. The first period was really bad. One would have expected a bigger push, and since it’s a local game, I thought it would come easily, but it didn’t.

Twice Kiekko-Espoo managed to send the puck into HIFK’s net. However, both goals were disallowed because an Espoo player had interfered with HIFK goalie Hugo Alnefelt.

– Who knows about those? I certainly don’t know what is a disallowed goal and what isn’t, Aho commented on the disallowed goals.

– Hugo at least showed well that he was hit. That’s a plus for him. Hopefully, he won’t get a ten-minute penalty for diving.

Do you feel he exaggerated the situation?

– Yes, I do feel a little that he exaggerated. Just a little! It was as if someone shot him in the back with a shotgun. He fell the same way.

In the third period, Kiekko-Espoo’s promising comeback was cut short by Linus Öberg‘s ejection. The Swedish forward struck an opponent in the head with a cross-check. Did he lose his nerve control in this situation?

– In my opinion, it was a battle situation in front of the goal. Okay, the stick was high. Now everything is worth five if you touch someone with a cross-check, but you can block the forechecker and do all sorts of other things, but cross-checking is the worst of sins.

Kiekko-Espoo’s games continue on Wednesday when they face TPS. After Friday’s match round, the Espoo team is in tenth place in the league with 23 points.