In his first game of the 2016-17 hockey season, TPS centre Eric Perrin had two assists in his team's 4-1 win over Lorenskog IK. He spoke about the game and the team afterwards.
by Leeni Pellinen
TURKU – Eric Perrin was pretty satisfied after his team's win over Lorenskog IK. The Canadian forward arrived in Turku just two days before the game, following his summer break. He was pleased to get back in action so quickly.
“I arrived back just two days ago,” he said after the game. “It was a pretty fast start. It was fun to get back in action with the guys, get back together. I'm very excited about that. The first game is out of the way now. We played very well all three periods. Of course there were moments, bad moments, but in general I’m happy with this game and win.”
Perrin played together with team captain Tomi Kallio and new Swedish forward Erik Thorell. The line played really well, producing two big goals in the second period to give TPS Turku a 3-1 lead. The chemistry of the trio is especially impressive considering Perrin has been with team such a short amount the time prior to this first CHL home game.
“Me and Tomi played together all last year. I think that our view of the game is pretty much the same, so that makes things a lot easier. It’s like riding a bicycle sometimes. And Erik compliments the line very well. He’s got great speed and good hockey sense and seems quite well to understand what kind of game we want to play,” the centre Perrin explained.
“So it was just the first game, but I think it’s promising when you see it right away happening like that. Of course everybody understands that we need work a lot of things still, but it’ll only get better.”
TPS travels to the Czech Republic on Thursday for a game on Friday against Bili Tygri Liberec. Perrin is an experienced player and he knows what to expect in that game.
"In my past experience every time I have played against Czech team, they are always very skilled players, very dangerous offensively. I think that the key to playing against those teams is to be good defensively and then capitalize on those attacks when we do have them. So, it’s gonna be a defence-first mentality for sure.”
Perrin is quick to remind us that it’s not always about the opponent. These first competitive games of the season offers chances for the team to focus on their own game too prior to the start of the Finnish league regular season.
“You know, in these kinds of games we are not trying to focus too much on the other team. We really want to work those things that we want to be good at. This is the time to do it. So we have game plans and things we want to work on and how we play offence and defence. These are great games to us to practice those things. I think we try to not overthink those. We are trying to focus on our game.”
According to Perrin, the CHL has a big role in developing team spirit and getting to know each other. It's also a nice change to play against teams from other countries.
“It is such a nice change to be able to play against all these teams from all over Europe,” Perrin says, “and also to be able to travel – this creates the team. You're travelling together, you’re having fun to be together, having dinner and you develop the closeness that you need for the season. This is the time to do it. I think this is really good thing mentally and you build our team.”