Turku was the venue for the opening game of the second CHL season. TPS was a tough host to their Austrian visitors, Black Wings Linz, winning by a comfortable margin of 6–1. The heroes of the night for TPS were the dynamic duo of Tomi Kallio and Lauri Tukonen, who were responsible for the first three goals of the game.

by Markku Silvennoinen

TURKU – The CHL opening round game in Turku started an hour before any other, and that gave Tomi Kallio and Lauri Tukonen a head-start on the competition. They took advantage by scoring the first three goals of the 2015–16 CHL season. All three goals were similar – the veteran Kallio loaded the gun and the younger Tukonen pulled the trigger. For Kallio, it was an especially sweet occasion as it happened in his first game at HK Areena since the year 2000.

“It has been over 15 years since I last played here, so it definitely gets me going. I’m trying to put this 38-year-old body on the line each night,” said Kallio, who put on a big performance in his homecoming game.

Kallio took his place on TPS’s top line alongside Tukonen and Lithuanian centre Tadas Kumeliauskas. Tukonen is starting his second season in Turku and looked to be full of energy. His first season for TPS was filled with bad luck and Tukonen ended up watching a good portion of the season from sidelines due to injuries. 

In Thursday’s game, Tukonen saw his confidence grow by leaps and bounds after each goal. The boost was illustrated by his tendency to shoot even from the tightest of angles.

“Hockey is a game of probabilities so you simply have to try and score every chance you get,” said Tukonen, who ended up tallying a game-high total of seven shots on goal.

“We got the train moving”

There was an air of uncertainty as to what kind of shape the home team’s game truly was. TPS had a rather underwhelming pre-season and it’s lowest point was reached last weekend, when TPS faced fellow CHL participants IFK Helsinki and Tappara Tampere in an exhibition tournament and were outscored 9–1 in those two games.

This week, however, has seen TPS rise to the occasion. First TPS won it’s last pre-season exhibition on Tuesday and continued where they left off against Black Wings Linz. Both Kallio and Tukonen were upbeat about the result on Thursday.

“We have moved forward from last week as a team. Our game was lot more disciplined today and everyone was playing more for the team and their linemates,” said Kallio, who now has 8 points in 7 career CHL games after recording 5 points in 6 games last year with the Vaxjo Lakers.

“My hat is off for the whole team,” Tukonen said. “Everyone took it upon himself to make sure we wouldn’t repeat the performance of last weekend. We have been able to get the train going to right direction this week.”

Even after a comfortable five-goal victory, Kallio is making sure that, as the team’s new captain, every player also keeps in mind the reality of where they are as a team.

“Of course it’s important to see that our game is developing, but none of us should have any illusions about our game being even nearly where it should be.”

Good vibrations and plenty of chemistry 

It is still early, but judging by the very encouraging start to the competitive season, the TPS coaching staff may very well have been able to solve one big piece of their puzzle by putting together the line of Tukonen, Kumeliauskas and Kallio. 

“Playing with Lauri has felt good from day one and Tadas complements the line brilliantly. We want to play a fast game. Today we got it going pretty good and we are certainly feeling the chemistry between us developing,” analyzed Kallio.

“We have been talking about things a lot and we’ve been working really hard to get our game going where it’s going. It’s nice to see our efforts paying off like this,” said Tukonen.