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The Fun Starts Here
The regular season is over. Malmö finished top, Rögle a distant fourth. Tonight however that counts for nothing. All six teams in the Kvalserien start from scratch tonight. There is no room for complacency. Osten says "This season has been valuable and interesting. We have had a good preparation for what is about to happen. We have for the most part a new organisation and a new team. It takes time for all the pieces to fall into place. It hasn't been a long, monotonous process, the organization has been goal orientated with an eye to the future.
" In many ways the season has been a happy one, so far. The organization has been homogenous and the players have always been focussed on improvement. "One can never really be fully happy, there is always the chance to make things that little bit better, even if things are good already", Osten goes on to say " we have had several parts to this season. First we wanted to change the negative trend that was in the club. We always have and will, act professionally, which counts for a lot. Recently we had the part where we won the Allsvenskan. So far we have achieved all of our goals."
Starting Again
But obviously we had really only one target this season, to return to the Elitserien. Encouraged by twelve straight wins behind us and three wins against Rögle, but Osten says "leave those achievements behind us. We are obviously in a winning trend but we don't get any points in the Kvalserien because we won lots of games in the Allsvenskan. But we can be humble, yet at the same time have confidence going into this Kvalserien. We have grown in our capacity during the regular season."
Even the muscles have grown a bit. So the Redhawks would be prepared for the Kvalserien there was, what the team leadership called, a second preseason, or a mini-preseason. Rock hard physical training combined with paced, strong ice training. Despite the hard training the Redhawks finished the regular season moving like a steam roller. Now with the Kvalserien imminent it was time to bring the tough training sessions back.
Reports say that it looked every leg looked very spirited during the training sessions on the ice. "We have focussed on that and sure there is a good spring in their steps," says Osten.
Physically its great and its unreasonable to say that the Redhawks could fail because of poor effort compared to their opponents. "Work is connected to mental energy, but if we lose because of poor physical fitness? That would surprise me," claims Osten who is proud of his teams ability in terms of training capacity during the season. He goes on to say "we have had careful, good training sessions in principle since the first one in August. I could say that we have not wasted one of those training sessions."
The Referee
Morgan Johansson is tonights referee. He also refereed Malmös final game against Bofors where he penalised Malmö 11 (by 2 minutes) and Bofors 12 penalties. You can count on the fact that Morgan has a policy of zero tolerance. Osten says "irrespective of who the referee is it is important that they keep their cool. Keep it disciplined, especially in close contact situations."
The Same as Before
Malmö have played Rögle six time this season. Its always been the same. Malmö take the initiative and go on the attack, Rögle sit back and try counter attacking. "It's going to be very tight, tactical and tough. It has been small margins between the teams in previous games. Rögle will come with a strong defensive mindset and try to hit us with counter attacks. We will try to keep the "tactical pin"," predicts Osten, and so it will be the same as before. Being firm is considerably important and one derby can be more important than another.
The Redhawks are going to try and impress an entusiastic home support. "I hope we can continue as we did in the regular season, but with more speed in the bodies. Its important that we are light and not tense, hot but at the same time cold and together we are smart," reads Ostens recipe for future success. "It is better to play with experience, it is safer, but being able to mix it is also what is needed for things to go well."
The Players
Corey Hirsch will mind the Redhawks net tonight. He is one of Malmös most experienced players and thus far he has had a wonderful season, keeping ten shutouts. "Corey is focussed yet at the same time he is very relaxed, and that's important. The task for him is not so big compared to others in a similar position. It feels good that he is so relaxed"
More worryingly Jonathan Coleman, defender, is injured and will miss tonights game. As reported elsewhere Miska Kangasniemi has returned to Finland.
Malmö will play with seven backs. Offensively things will be the same as recently with only one change, Christian Sjögren will come in to replace Johan Forsberg on the fourth line. The other lines will remain untouched. "We have options," says Osten and got somewhat secretive when asked what kind of powerplay formation we are going to see.
Osten is harmonious
Secretive, but relaxed. Happy, harmonious, focussed. Lars "Osten" believes like many of the rest of us that it is going to be failry stimulatging to be involved in the first play off game this evening.
I am a little nervous. Is that good or bad, you think?
"Hahaha, that we will see tomorrow" jokes Osten in finishing.
Let the Games Begin!!!!!
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