TuTo 1-4 TPS.

TuTo's home rink, the OS/G Areena.

My reintroduction with TPS hockey began tonight, with the final warm up game before the season proper begins on Thursday. Mestis side and fellow Turku club TuTo were the opposition. The match was played at the OS/G Areena, more commonly known as the Kupitaan jaahalli. It's a modern rink on the south side of town with a capacity of 3000. Ticket sales had been brisk all week and the official attendance was 2850, though there seemed as many watching the game from the bar as there were empty seats.
Strangely for a derby game, or any game really, there didn't seem to be segregated seating, with TuTo and TPS fans sat next to each other, making me rather unsure as to how careful I should be about cheering. A beer was €5 and a slice of pizza €3. There was no match programme, but instead there were pieces of card available with both teams listed.

The game was a good workout for both sides, and played in meaner spirits than one would expect from a friendly matchup. TPS started with a first line of Vahalahti, Plihal and Anttila. Five minutes in and only the European Trophy's top goal scorer Plihal remained. Patrik Moisio took out Ville Vahalahti and had to answer to the fists of 6'7" Marko Anttila. Vahalahti never returned to the game and both the summer pick up from Ilves and Moisio were sent packing as punishment for a fairly even bout that was unfortunately at the other end of the rink from my front row behind the net seat. That'll teach me for leaving it so late to get a ticket.
The first period ended goalless with TPS clearly the better side but TuTo perhaps having the better chances, yet neither Marek Schwartz nor Tommi Virtanen were really troubled.

Blurry fisticuffs between Anttila and Moisio.

Ryan Stone impressed tonight with his work ethic and opened the scoring mid-way through the second with a fairly simple finish at the back post. Soon afterwards Garrett Raboin dispossessed the TuTo point man as he tried to control a puck that had run along the top of the boards. Raboin broke clear but was hauled down from behind in front of the net before he could get his shot away. Unfortunately the penalty shot was a fairly tame effort at the five hole which Virtanen dealt with easily. Not to matter however as the action continued to rain down with TPS extending their lead with Mika Viinanen scoring a similar goal to that of Stone's. The difference that this time Virtanen was dragged further out of position leaving Viinanen with an empty net to score on his debut for his home town team at the age of thirty-two.
With the two goal lead the game settled down until Marlo Koponen picked up the puck, strolled through the TPS rearguard and quickly released a shot that found the rigging. Schwartz would perhaps want that one back but Koponen's delight at scoring was proportionate with the sweetness of the goal. 2-1 TPS at the end of the second.

The third period progressed at the same rate as my hatred for the song "Jailhouse Rock" which was played every time someone took a penalty. The constant rain of infractions didn't seem to affect the flow of the game that much and gave TPS plenty of special teams practice before the season starts for real. There were a couple of melees including one originating when Schwartz had his helmet knocked off. His fist was cocked back about to deliver retribution before he thought better of it and his teammates waded in.
Just as you were beginning to wonder if TuTo would thieve an equaliser, Jakub Cerny fired in a fairly standard shot from the blue line which found the back of the net. Virtanen was rightly angry with himself at failing to deal with it. Despite the two goal cushion, TPS pressed as the clock ticked down and they were rewarded when Michal Birner roofed a backhand effort whilst facing away from goal. There were further chances in the final minute but the game ended as a 4-1 victory for TPS.

It's hard to get too excited about a three goal win over a team from the league below who had been turned over by bigger margins in their previous two pre-season games against the 2010-11 Mestis champions Sport. However, the team all looked on the same page which is important for a side which has undergone such heavy reconstruction following a very disappointing season last time around. Plihal drifted in and out of the game but can be excused for having to play the majority without his two linemates. There's no news yet on Vahalahti but fingers crossed he won't spend six weeks on the sidelines like Marko Virtala.

TPS won't hit the ice in anger again until the commencement of the SM-Liiga on Thursday when they travel to Hämeenlinna to face HPK.