Saturday, 17. October 2009 kl. 18:48 | Af Peter Houkjær
SSV was constantly one step ahead Wiler-Ersigen (Photo: Morten Frivert)
The match started out fairly even, but after 3 minutes SSV took the lead after a freeshot. Harri Forsten found Saku Lehti in front of the goal. Lehti did not fail and scored the first goal of the match. In the next 10 minutes Wiler-Ersigen pushed hard for the equalizer, however SSV were the most dangerous of the two teams, creating a number of good chances. Towards the end of the period chances were created at a higher rate by both teams and with 47 seconds left on the clock, SSV received a 2-minute penalty, but Wiler-Ersigen were not able to score within the final whistle of the 1st period.
In the start of the 2nd Wiler-Ersigen were not able to take advantage of SSV’s 2-minute penalty, but Wiler-Ersigen created some good chances in the following minutes, but were denied scoring by Henri Toivoniemi in the SSV goal. After 8½ minutes, a penalty shot were given to SSV. Kari-Matti Ratsula made it look easy, as he dribbled around Daniel Streit in the Wiler-Ersigen goal, and made it 2-0. The Swiss tried to play more offensively, but a ball-loss after 12 minutes, were punished by the Finns, when Harri Forsten passed the ball to Santtu Manner who could easily put the ball into the goal. After the goal SSV kept the ball in their own ranks, trying to kill some time. In the last five minutes of the period Wiler-Ersigen pushed hard onto the Finnish goal, creating a number of good chances and with a little over one minute left on the clock, the offensive push was rewarded. A good attack started by Patrick Mendelin resulted in a goal scored by the very same Patrick Mendelin. No further goals were scored in the 2nd period, but Wiler-Ersigen really got their hopes up with the goal one minute before the end of the period.
Wiler-Ersigen continued to push towards the Finnish goal, as the 3rd period started. Most often they tried to pass the ball into central area in front of the goal, but basically every time the Finns stood their ground and denied the Swiss from creating open chances. And yet again, the Finn’s proved to be more effective, as they scored their fourth goal after 10½ minutes. This time by Juho Järvinen assisted by Saku Lehti. With seven minutes remaining, a four vs. four play emerged as each team received a 2-minute penalty. However none of the teams were able to score. In the last four minutes Wiler-Ersigen pushed with a big offensive, replacing their goalkeeper with an extra player for most of the remaining time. But once again, the Finn’s stood firmly in their defense and one minute before the final whistle, Harri Forsten scored in an empty net.
SSV Helsinki thereby secured a place in the final at the 2009 Euro Floorball Cup, with a deserved victory. The match was more even than the result indicates, but the Finn’s proved to be more effective in front of the goal, and the Finnish goalkeeper Henri Toiviniemi had many important saves.
