End of the road...

... for SaiPa this season.

Having, as tradition demands, been tipped to be clearly last in the SM-League, and having, as tradition also demands, confounded the pundits, SaiPa were in the last play-off position with one game to play; SaiPa-Ilves. Two points behind SaiPa were the millionaires of Jokerit Helsinki.

There was a full house of 4825 in Lappeenranta Kisapuisto, and the Willimies fan club made a big effort to arrange a suitable setting (see the photo below).

The Saipa-Ilves 'tifo'.

And what happened?

The home side couldn't cope with the pressure; the wheels fell off the wagon; and the season ended with a 1:5 defeat.

Never mind! The boys did well to hang on in the fight for a play-off place for as a long as they did. And anyway, it's only 5 months to the start of the next season!

SaiPa and Finnish humour

Many of you will know that Finns have a peculiar sense of humour - think of the Monster rockers, Lordi, first ever Finnish winners of the Eurovision Song Contest.

As a further example of Finnish humour, click on the link below to see the 20-second advert for SaiPa, Lappeenranta's ice-hockey team:

Saipan-TV mainos

(Link fixed: 11 Sept 2008)

So, what is it all about?

From the point of view of the city slickers of Helsinki, people outside the Kehä 3 ring road are all ignorant, uncivilized country yokels, 'juntti' in Finnish. The TV advertisement plays up to this stereotype.

The motorbike in the video is the classic 'Pappa-Tunturi' or 'Grandad-Tunturi', a 50cc, 2-stroke machine from the 1960s.

While the advert is all in good fun, I'd like to know whether the local tourist board are laughing.

The new ice-hockey season starts on Saturday, 13 September 2008. So remember to give the boys a shout - the chap in the video shows you how!