Kärpät Oulu squeeked out a 2-1 victory on Saturday in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd in Kosice. For goalie Tomi Karhunen, it was reminiscent of the 2012 Slovak Extraliga finals.

by Tomas Schügerl

KOSICE - The Champions Hockey League made its debut in Kosice on Saturday night, and one of the big stories was the size and enthusiasm of the crowd, which created an atmosphere that felt more like spring than late summer. Even the visiting Kärpät Oulu team seemed impressed.

"The atmosphere was great thanks to the fans," said head coach Lauri Marjamaki. Forward Lasse Kukkonen commented, "It's always nice to play in front of a lot of people, I like their passion about the game. It was such a great experience." And Ivan Huml added, "Playing in front of a full crowd is something amazing. At the end they gave a standing ovation for the play both teams."

One Kärpät player who wasn't surprised by the energy created by the 8347 in attendance was goaltender Tomi Karhunen, who played in the Slovak Extraliga for Slovan Bratislava in the 2011-12 season. In that year's final series, Slovan defeated Kosice to win the championship, and the games in Kosice were played before large, noisy crowds at Steel Arena.

"When the Draw was finished and I saw that Kosice was in our group, I was so happy and excited to get the chance to come here and play again," he said with a smile on his face. "Yeah, lots of good memories of that season and I really enjoyed this game."

The game itself did not begin so well for Karhunen, though. After his team dominated the early minutes and led 1-0, Kosice's first shot on goal at the 10:26 mark beat him to tie the score and ignite the Kosice crowd.

"Yeah, we had control of game and then came that first shot," the goalie recalled. "There was a lot of traffic in front of me and I didn't really see puck. Actually my old teammate, I guess Marek (Bartanus, although it was actually Marek Zagrapan) tipped it and past to score. It was a tough start of game for me, but the second period brought more shots and I was into the game and it was very well."

For Karhunen it certainly was, as his team regained the lead 23 seconds later and he stopped the next 27 shots he faced to preserve the one-goal victory. He was particularly sharp in the second period, when he stopped 18 shots, including a mad flurry in the 24th minute and a big save off ex-Bratislava teammate Bartanus in the 35th.

"(Kosice) played really well," the goalie said, but he didn't seem surprised by it. "We kind of knew what was coming. We watched some video from the games and we thought we knew how they play. I still think that they played very well and it was quite a tough game for us."

But tough games in front of energetic crowds are always good tests for teams. Kärpät has now begun with two one-goal wins on the road and lead Group A with the maximum 6 points. They now have three of the remaining four games at home.

"It means a lot when you can win those tight games. It shows that we have a mentally strong team." When asked to compare Saturday's game with Thursday's in Liberec he said, "Both games were pretty similar. We had a control at the beginning, but then the other team started to play better and better, so we had some troubles. However, we got our lead and we found a way to win the games. That makes a great team."