Raimo Helminen praised SaiPa and the entire Lappeenranta

The audience at Lappeenranta’s Kisapuisto shouted and cheered from their stands when SaiPa’s head coach Raimo Helminen a bronze medal was strung around his neck on Thursday.

SaiPa beat Ilves 7–2 in the bronze medal match of the SM league.

Helminen piloted tiny SaiPa to the medals for the second year in a row. Last spring there was silver.

The performance is almost unbelievable. Just another spring, SaiPa was considered a joke in the SM league. At that time, the team remained jumbo in the regular season by a clear margin.

Helminen and his teams have turned the course of the entire club. He will continue as head coach next season.

Experienced the puck man was emotional in an MTV interview after the bronze medal match. He even seemed a little overwhelmed by the loud love he was getting from SaiPa fans.

“It feels wonderful,” Helminen said and flashed a wry smile.

“A great community here in SaiPa. It’s a great thing that the city and the region have caught fire behind SaiPa. All Saipa residents should be proud of that.”

Helminen praised his team profusely, as he often did earlier in the season.

“Me and the entire coaching staff are so proud of those players. They have been there every day and done the work that has been asked of them. You can’t help but praise each individual,” he said on MTV.

“Really great feeling about what kind of guys play here.”

Both of them it must have been hard for the teams to get excited about the bronze medal match. Behind were the stinging semi-final losses to local opponents. SaiPan was beaten by KooKoo, Tappara of Ilves.

SaiPa succeeded in the trick better, supported by their great home crowd.

“We were efficient. We wanted energy for the game, that’s our thing. Fortunately, we found that very well,” head coach Helminen praised.

SM league the final match series between Tappara and KooKoo starts in Tampere on Saturday.