Sit down!

[jRuutu 2,426]

 

Those words echoed all over the Calgary arena last night when Helsinki Titans were playing against the Calgary Wranglers. Julian Borwinn who is the head coach of Helsinki instructed rookie Jim Bob to sit down on the bench and let other players go on the ice for the powerplay - he was out of the powerplay lineup. Some might be wondering if there is more to the story, all we know is that Helsinki as a team has not been playing that well on the powerplay, Titans are around the bottom of the league when it comes down to powerplay, so could have been just that - head coach trying to shake things up a little bit.

 

The game was not easy for Jim Bob from there on either, everything was going fairly well still, the game was 1-1, but when the third period started it all went wrong. Bob took two penalties, during those two penalties Calgary scored a powerplay goal and the game was as good as over, 3-1 and under ten minutes on the clock. Calgary offered Helsinki a small window to get back into the game two minutes before the end when Encarnacion took a tripping minor, but it was not enough for Helsinki, the game ended 3-1 for Calgary.

 

After the game was over we managed to get a comment from Jim Bob, we asked his thoughts on the whole getting benched thing and what happened in the third period, this is what he had to say:

 

Quote

I don´t know, I was ready to go out there, but Borwinn with his deep tenor like voice said I´m not going out there, I thought someone was yelling in a tunnel it was so loud. I got scared a little bit, but that was it, I still played on 5v5, but not on the powerplay. What comes down to the third period, my mind was out of the game at that point, the rules these days are super strict on stick related penalties, so no excuses from my part - should keep my skates moving instead of trying to cut corners.

 

That is all I have to say about this game, moving on from here. Obviously I want to play on the powerplay and I will do my best to work hard in the practice and get back on the powerplay units, that is where everybody wants to play in and I´m no different.

 

As you can see, Bob danced around the whole benching thing nicely, but he did have a smile on his face and even joked around a little bit, so we can assume everything is all good in Helsinki. Remains to be seen what happens with Jim Bob when going forward, he did take three silly penalties, which cost one goal. Normally not so bad, but in a close 2-1 game, you just can't take any penalties. Learning moment for the young winger, Helsinki and their season continues with three-game home run! Prague, New York, and friendly rival Malmo are coming to visit, especially the Malmo game should be electric, Finnish and Swedish teams playing against each other - remember to check that game out!