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Showing posts from October, 2020

End of season evaluation and review - part 2

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If Rantakenttä was the field of dreams, Pihkala felt like the stuff of nightmares for Tahko’s poor defence Places 6-9 At the lower end of the top 8 there was a real scramble for the final playoff spots. This post  focuses on places 6 to 9 as they finished in the regular season and considers how 6th to 8th place performed in the postseason. Some general observations for 6th to 9th place: Hyvinkää had a wild ride this season, with moments that looked like they would be firmly out of the top 8 and talks of being a potential top 4 team. If there was one word that gave any Tahko fan a cold chill it was “defence”. In a park that has such wide open spaces beyond the outfield, Pihkala can become your own worst enemy if you have a leaky defence. The signs were there from the very build up to the season, with training games against KPL and Manse showing some fundamental flaws. But Hyvinkää have a pretty resilient batting lineup and with veteran Juha Korhonen leading the charge, they could ke

End of season evaluation and review part 1

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Sotkamo were top of the class this year, but their performance wasn’t all plain sailing Places 1-5 Now that the season has finished, it is take to take a look back at how the teams performed in 2020. This first post focuses on the top 5 as they finished in the regular season and considers how they performed in the postseason. Some general observations for the top 5: Joensuu had the world at their feet coming into the postseason, and they feared no opponents. With a winning streak that went to 23 games in total, they looked almost unstoppable, only their local rivals (Kitee) proved to be a challenge. But the bubble burst with a short series against KPL who unlocked Joensuu’s defence at Kerubi in game 1 and Joensuu imploded, losing to KPL and the bronze series to Vimpeli. There was clearly a lot of expectation in the Joensuu ranks, as there had been all year, but a spirited KPL were determined to seize the moment. The moment however may never have been, if Kitee had clinched the se