Thirteenth striker, power play and two points. Puistola: The Czechs did not surprise with anything | Hokej.cz

Sixteen shots, four goals. Suomi played their typical concrete hockey in Brno. Lukáš got a tough shift. The Finns didn’t start the scoring until the middle of the match with a power play. Patrik Puistola, a club teammate of the Kovařčík brothers, contributed two points.

In the first period, Lukáš Dostál could almost jump on a sausage from the goal. The Czechs kept the Finns under pressure and only allowed them to shoot twice on goal. At that moment, few people would load the ticket on the opponent.

“After the first period, we didn’t change anything in particular. We wanted to keep playing simple, focus on passing and winning battles. We just said to ourselves that we mustn’t lose so many pucks in the middle zone,” forward Puistola described after the game. “The Czechs didn’t surprise us with anything, we showed everything on video. Apart from the first third, it was good from us,” he added.

The 23-year-old was originally drafted as the 13th forward, but after Markus Nurmi’s injury, the coaches also sent him to the powerhouse. And it paid off – after his pass to the right circle, Saarijärvi shot from the first and Dostál capitulated for the first time.

“Special teams made the decision. We scored a goal on the power play, we played very well in the breakdown and Harri held us up (Säteri, editor’s note) in the gate. We didn’t practice that signal in any way, because I wasn’t originally supposed to play the power play. But Nurmi was injured (Markus, editor’s note) and I jumped in there. I was a bit lucky in the accident,” Puistola concluded.

Czech self-confidence was dealt a blow a minute before the second siren. Right after the puck, Artta Hyra slapped the puck, which rolled behind Dostál from the chaos in front of the goal.

“I was standing right next to it, but I honestly don’t know how it went down,” laughed Puistola. “I tried to push into the goal. Hyra simply shot and the puck bounced happily. Thanks to him, I have another assist,” he continued.

The native of Tampere has spent the last three seasons at Jukuritu Mikkeli and has been collecting almost a point per game this year. He knows the Kovařčík brothers very well. “We exchanged a few words before the match, but nothing special. No bets have been placed.’

“It’s hard to play against them. They are very fast skaters and play hard. It’s not easy with them in personal battles,” commented Puistola’s club teammates.

A loud background is not the norm for the national team in Finland. In Brno, however, familiar faces from Kometa took charge of the cauldron. “The atmosphere was really good. The fans could be heard throughout the match, I really enjoyed it,” praised the Finnish striker.

It was an important test for both teams. The match between the Czech Republic and Finland will be a hit on the very first day of the World Cup. “Let’s take a look at the video of the match, we can always learn something. It’s hard to say if I’ll make it to the championship. We have a few extra guys here at the tournament, we will certainly rotate the lineup a bit,” concludes Puistola.

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