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A Response from the Front Line
0-1 (07.06) Juha Riihijärvi (K Staal, P Hersley)
0-2 (07.22) Christian Sjögren (R Tomik)
0-3 (10.52) Jonathan Coleman (M Matthiasson, P Hersley) 5/4
0-4 (29.35) Juha Riihijärvi (K Staal, C Söderberg)
0-5 (39.41) Jonathan Coleman (M Matthiasson, D Moravec) 5/4
Shot: 20-42 (9-16, 8-15, 3-11)
Penalties: HIF: 8x2 MR: 5x2
Referee: Thomas Thorsbrink
Attendance: 871
Riihijärvi, Staal and Söderbergh responded to recent criticism in the only and best possible way. The first line led the way tonight in Stockholm in this comfortable 5-0 win over Hammarby. Riihijärvi scored twice and his colleague's Staal and Söderbergh were busy and inspiring, all three gave the strongest possible sign that their troubles were over. "Jussi (Riihijärvi) was good, in fact the whole line was good" reflected "Osten" later.
Not a great start
Hammarby started the stronger but the Redhawks rode out the storm and soon took control of the game. In a period of just three minutes and forty seconds they scored three goals without response and effectively put the game beyond the home team. Hammarby coach, Arto Blomsten, says "we started well, we had good pace and speed. But to beat Malmö we needed to have taken even our half chances, They beat us pretty easily."
Coleman amongst the goals!!
The Redhawks ground down their opposition and were totally efficient from the first period, this was followed by a skillful, competent contribution from the team right through the second period. Jonathan Coleman had not scored thus far this season tonight, scored not once, but twice. His first after ten minutes of the opening period and his second goal with less than a minute left on the clock of the middle period.
The Third Period was Best
With a five goal lead at the start of the final period it may have been easy to sit back and let the opposition back into it. Malmö resisted this temptation and kept the effort going. Blomsten said the Bergström after the game " we were beaten by a better team, I hope it goes well for you in the Kvalserien.". "Osten" who was obviously pleased with the evenings proceedings thought the third was his teams best period, despite there being no goals, he was especially pleased with the stable and disciplined effort from his players.
"A pretty Solid Match"
"Osten" was pleased with the match and he had every reason to be. Corey Hirsch kept his ninth shut out of the season and the effort overall was a very stable one. "I think we had a very solid game. We scored some good goals and we were very effective in the first period." He enjoyed it but also stated that "Söderbergh was clean through on goal twice and Staal had a couple of chances.."
Happy with Hersley
Despite mistakes from Söderbergh and Staal our first line are possibly back on the right track again. "They played unbelievably well for 18 or twenty games. Later there were injuries and some illnesses to players, but now it's coming back together again. "said "Osten" who earlier named one player in the first line who was that bit better this evening. "I was glad that Patrik Hersley had a really good game this evening, particularly in the first two periods. He was spectacular."
Satisfactory Czech List
The new Czech signings were of obvious interest and Osten liked what he saw. "Stepanek was stable, calm and assured, he seems secure on the ice." "Moravec did not achieve much but had great intentions. It will take him a while to get settled, I think he could be very useful for us in the future"
Good atmosphere at Hovet Stadium
Afterwards both coaches commented on how nice it was with a big effort from the Hammarby fans, "we had a bigger crowd against Almtuna but the noise was bigger today" said Osten., "there is potential here at Hammarby. There are not so many places where one can claim to have as good an atmosphere as here today."
Fans Look Forward to Sunday
The travelling fans are of course looking forward to what inspiration the Redhawks can provide against Västerås on Sunday. There they will see Gustav Wesslau start again in goal and Thuresson getting a chance after missing Fridays game. The game is on live TV with Viasat Sport 1 where the puck will drop at 1600.
Text: John Noonan
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