Kärpät Oulu and JYP Jyväskylä have met a few times in recent years in the chase for the Liiga championship. This year, two of the Finnish league's most dominant teams in recent years meet again in the semi-finals. 

by Jere Korkalainen

The Finnish Liiga quarter-finals finished up Monday. None of the  four series had any real surprises and it's the regular season's four best teams that continue to battle for the Cup. Tappara Tampere and Lukko Rauma will play their third consecutive semi-final series, while  the other finalist will be settled with the meeting of JYP Jyväskylä and Kärpät Oulu.

JYP have taken their place among the big teams in Finland. The start of these glorious years was in 2007–08, when they made their way to the quarter-finals for the first time in five years. After the new rise, this spring is the sixth time that JYP has made the semi-finals, with the brightest years being 2009 and 2012 when they won the league championship.

Kärpät Oulu have been a dynasty over the past decade, making their way to the Liiga finals six times. From 2003 to 2008, Kärpät won the title four times before stumbling upon some hard years. But now the club from northern Finland is on its way to being again the number-one team in the country, winning the Liiga championship last year and making the semi-finals in this year's Champions Hockey League.

These two teams have a lot of recent playoff history. JYP won their first championship in 2009 by sweeping Kärpät in four straight games in the finals. These teams met also in the 2010 quarter-finals and JYP was again the better team, barely winning in seven games.

JYP had a pretty difficult regular season, in particular they had trouble keeping their level of playing on a consistent level. But despite the bumpy ride, they managed to finish fourth in the regular season. JYP had home-ice advantage in the quarter-finals against the Espoo Blues and made their way to the semi-finals with a four-game sweep. Their dominance was quite surprising, as this series was expected to be the most even of all the quarter-final series. JYP found their consistency and were actually quite dominating against the Blues.

JYP have two strong forward lines. The second line of Jani Tuppurainen, Anssi Löfman and Markus Hännikäinen has been fantastic during the whole season. Not only is the trio dangerous in the attacking zone, but all three players get a lot of penalty-killing time as well. 

But the biggest star of JYP's offence is Éric Perrin and this spring is really special for him. Perrin has been the captain of JYP for three season and he has announced that this will be his last year with the club. The departure of the 39-year-old centre has given a lot of motivation to the rest of the team, as everyone wants to to see him go out as a champion.

The biggest uncertainty in JYP's semi-final appearance will be on defence. The team's defensive corps has at times been vulnerable under pressure. Against the Blues they managed the pressure pretty well, but Kärpät will be a bigger challenge. 

In net for is Tuomas Tarkki, who has every year been better in the playoffs than during the regular season. Tarkki has played a key role in the team's road to the semi-finals, and this series will be special for him for many different reasons. 

The 35-year-old goalie was Kärpät's starting goalie for four years, including when these teams met in the finals in 2009.  But now in Kärpät's net is a very familiar guy ,as Kärpät lay their hopes on Tarkki's little brorther, Iiro Tarkki. Even though Tuomas plays for JYP, his real home is in Oulu. Oh, and by the way, Tarkki's wife plays in Finland's top women's hockey league for,  you guessed it, Kärpät.

Does the series favourite have weak any spots?

Kärpät had a pretty difficult start to the season but since then they have risen to their  expected level – maybe even better. Kärpät hasn't lost two games in a row since November, which pretty much says everything you need to know about how well the defending champs are playing. Kärpät didn't show play their best in the quarter-finals against SaiPa Lappeenranta, but got to semi-finals anyway with a 4–1 series victory.

Kärpät have an unbelievable roster, especially up front. Most dominant is the top line of Julius Junttila, Joonas Kemppainen and Joonas Donskoi. Every player on this line still has the best years of his career ahead and there has been speculation of them playing in the World Championships. Kärpät actually have three strong lines, as players like Ben Maxwell, Lukáš Kašpar, Mika Pyörälä and Esa Pirnes are among the league's brightest stars.

The defence of Kärpät isn't as strong as their offence, but still clearly one of the best in Liiga. Kärpät's defence has lots of creative and offensive skill. One small weakness is that they don't have any really sold defensive defencemen other than Lasse Kukkonen. Also, Kukkonen hasn't been performing up to his usual level, so this might be one place the team is vulnerable. 

One thing that Kärpät should also fix compared to quarter-finals is their penalty-killing. During the quarter-finals, Kärpät was one of the weakest teams while shorthanded (75%). As well, JYP was the best power-play team in quarter-finals (50%), so Kärpät might have tough times ahead if they take too many penalties. 

Compared to JYP, the biggest advantage that Kärpät might have is in coaching. Lauri Marjamäki has done marvellous job with Kärpät and he is a tactical genius. One of his biggest accomplishments is getting even his biggest stars to play as a team. 

That might be the reason if Kärpät gets one step closer to their dream.