Some action in Finland and COVID-19 cancellations in Sweden

Two New York Rangers prospects played Friday, but more saw their games cancelled due to the pandemic

The hockey leagues in Europe have been trying to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, but teams continue to test possible and at least one league has paused until the new year.

Liiga (Finland)

Tarmo Reunanen made his Liiga debut with HPK and had a rough night as HPK dropped a 3-2 decision to Ässät (Aces).  He played 21:22, the most minutes of any HPK defender and took two penalties and was a minus one on the night.  He had one shot on goal.  Reunanen had been promoted from the TUTO Hockey team in the Mestis League.

HPK is in 14th place in the 15 team league with two regulation wins in 13 games. They’ve gone to overtime five times and won only once.

Leevi Aaltonen wasn’t in the lineup for KalPa’s game against HIFK, a 4-2 loss.  It was a letdown after a big win the night before to Lukko .

Alsvenskan (Sweden)

In the Alsvenskan League, Jakob Ragnarsson and  Timrå improved on their league leading record with a 3-1 win over Almtuna on the road.  The Rangers defense prospect played 13:43 and  two shots on goal.  Timrå has a league leading 35 points on a 11-1-2-0 record.

Olof Lindbom and his Mora team have been sidelined by the coronavirus as member of his team have tested positive.   Their Friday match against Björklöven has been postponed and the team in in quarantine and out of action at least until after November 20.

Other leagues

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation’s executive committee  to pause all games for J20 National leagues.  That means Rangers prospects center Oliver Tärnström from AIK and goalie Hugo Ollas of Linköping will be off the ice until January 1 at the earliest.  Linköping  had played 15 games, but saw their last three games cancelled.   AIK last played on November 1 and Tärnström had gotten into 12 games.

On a good note,  HKM a.s. Zvolen in Slovakia finally played a game after five postponements.  Unfortunately, Adam Huska was not in net for their 4-1 loss to HC Košice.

Libor Hajek has finally surfaced in the Tipsport Exraliiga in the Czech Republic.  Originally destined to play for Olomouc, an agreement has been reached him to play for HC Kometa Brno (the Brno Comets).

He made his debut on Friday in the Comets’ 3-2 win over Mladá Boleslav.  Hajek played 17:03 and had two assists.  He had one shot on goal, one hit and finished with a plus/minus of +2.   The Tipsport Extraliiga was shut down for most of October by the coronavirus and started playing games again on November 7.

It’s sure that the NHL is observing what is going on in Europe as they come up with a plan for a return to play.   It hasn’t been easy with numerous positive tests and postponements.