With the CHL quarter-finals coming up, Kärpät Oulu's Ivan Huml and Ryan Glenn talk about how they are approaching the series against SaiPa Lappeenranta.

by David Micke

OULU – The CHL quarter-final round is includes one all-Finnish battle. However, the players from Kärpät Oulu don't see any major advantage in playing against the team from their domestic league. 

“We know them pretty well, we even played them last season in the playoffs,” said Czech forward Ivan Huml, referring to last year's semi-final series, which Kärpät defeated SaiPa Lappeenranta 4–1 en route to the title. “At the same time, they know a lot about us. Originally, we had been looking forward to playing against foreign teams in the CHL, but this means there is going to be at least one Finnish team in the next round.” 

There is one possible advantage for Kärpät, however. Their roster includes three players who called Lappeenranta home last season. A trio of North Americans - defencemen Ryan Glenn and Dan Spang and forward Patrick Davis all played for SaiPa in 2013–14. 

“They are really hardworking team, they bring that diligence every game,” said 34-year-old Glenn about his former club. Huml agreed with him on that, stating, “They don’t stop until very end of the game.”

To win, SaiPa will depend on the goaltending of 39-year-old Jussi Markkanen, a former NHLer whose experience includes the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals as a member of the Edmonton Oilers. 

“I do not think he has any weaknesses, so the goalie is obviously one of their strengths, too. We just have to try to get a lot of shots with lot of bodies in front of the net,” added Glenn.

Just like Kärpät, SaiPa are very consistent with their defensive game. In their previous CHL games, both teams have shown  that it’s not easy to score goals against them. These teams have already faced each other once in Finnish league action this season, with Kärpät winning 3–0 on home ice. 

“We played our system really well that night and had good defence,” Glenn said of the teams' previous encounter. “In order to beat them we're going to have to continue that and stay as a tight unit.”

In the Liiga regular season standings, Kärpät currently sit in second place, while SaiPa sit back in 11th. That doesn't mean, however, that the club from Lappeenranta doesn't have a chance, or that Kärpät are taking them lightly. As Glenn played for SaiPa last season, he might have some insight how best to prepare for this two-game series. However, he thinks that Kärpät's best approach will be just to play their usual game. 

“We have our system and we'll stick with that. We don’t really worry about how other teams play.”