JYP Jyväskylä made a big addition to the team's defence this summer with the addition of Mikko Mäenpää, a veteran with experience in the World Championships and KHL. The team is 2-0, thanks in part to Mäenpää's work on the power play.

by Jere Korkalainen

JYVÄSKYLÄ - JYP Jyväskylä took the maximum 6 points from their first two Champions Hockey League games on Friday and Sunday, beating Group I opponents Red Bull Salzburg 3-2 and the Kloten Flyers 2-0.

Defenceman Mikko Mäenpää thinks the team played a lot better in the second game, due in large part to the team's sucess on the power play. A newcomer to the team, the veteran Mäenpää has been a big part of JYP's power play so far. He has a point on all three of the team's power-play goals, including the game-winning goal against Kloten on a blast from the point.

Mikko, what are your thoughts on how your team played in your 2-0 win over Kloten?

We were able to get our game to a much better level than on Friday. Our defence was really tight actually for the whole 60 minutes. We were prepared for how they are going to play and didn't give them any extra room. We really succeeded on those things that we planned before game.

International games are always just great experiences. You get to see so many difference hockey cultures and ways to play this game. But now the thing that matters is that we got a nice win so I am happy.

What were those thing that you were prepared for and succeeded on?

We were prepared for their active forecheck and I think we got away with it alright. Also, we got some results on the power play. Our power play against Salzburg was awful but against Kloten it looked like it should.

You mentioned that the power play wasn't good in the first game. Did you have some special things planned for the power play with guys like Eric Perrin and Jani Tuppurainen?

Well yes, I am still a new guy on this team so it's good to have some special plans. In the last game we were also pretty unlucky. The puck was bouncing and so on so we didn't get our power play to work like we had planned.

This time everything was different. We wanted to play more simple and get some results that way. The results we had gave us the win.

From seeing little things like blocking shots and so on, it seems that CHL ­games mean alot to you guys.

I don't really care if it's the CHL or just regular pre-season game. In these games you can show how much hockey means to you and how ready are you to play for your team. A game is always a game and everyone wants to win in every game. It doesn't matter if it's August or February; when you see your teammate blocking a shot, it always gets you going.

We are only in August, so would you say your game is on the level you'd like it to be at this point of the season?

Today and as the season goes on, things will and have changed. You can't get the playing style you hope for to the wanted level without playing. Playing feels all the time better and I already feel like I can play better and better. It's just a huge honour for me to play for this kind of team.

How about your team's way of playing? Is preparing for the season going as you planned?

Well everybody is giving everything they can. You see everybody already blocking shots and taking hits, which shows commitment from our players. That just shows what kind of players we have on our team. These things are good signs at this point of the season. The results from last couple of seasons show what kind of thing this team is capable of.