Salibandyseura Greasers FBC

How wonderful to celebrate our 21st anniversary as a floorball-club by going to Helsinki! We were quite excited about the trip and The Big Game (TGB) that awaited us.

I went to "Hesa" already on Friday the 20th to meet with Jani. We had dinner at Restaurant La Tour and after that we a few beers at the Teatteri. Jani is really an extraordinary guy, who really knows how to arrange things. After Jani went home, I checked out the night clubs at Teatteri and Vaakuna to be updated for Saturday evening...

The rest of my team arrived Saturday at 1 o'clock. Except for one of the guys (the one who got the price as best player in our team - Robert Veide), who was so excited about TBG that he forgot his air ticket and had to return home. He missed the plane and arrived to our hotel just when we were waiting for the taxis to take us to the Merihaan Arena.

The rest of us had lunch, and some of the guys even had beer. You know, Saturday, soccer on tv, that calls for beer. - Good, I said, if we loose, we now have something to blame our loss on. (I'll be back to that subject later.)

I've seldom felt so much adrenalin pump in my veins as when TBG started. To us, it was a bid happening to play a real game against a real team!

We were expecting You to run fast and play tough, but we were quite chocked that You also played so good tactically. After just one year in leauge, You did everything right it seemed. We played passively to await You and to attack fast when You lost the ball, but Your defense was extremely good, following us man to man and playing tough but fair. That I think was the part of Your play that impressed at least me the most, the perfect defense.

We felt that when we went from 1-6 to 3-6 we had a chance. You seemed to get nervous and backed home, stopping the aggressive attack. But, You shoot very good and soon our dream of winning TBG was gone.

Why did we loose? I won't mention the lunch beer. The main reason that we lost is that You are a better team. In everything. Shooting, man to man, defense, physical play. We also think that You played tough but very fair.

But. if we change the following details, we think we can have a chance to win when me meet again:

1. No beer for anybody for lunch. (That's the toughest change to make!!!)
2. Play with at least 15 players. Don't start with only 9 players, and as one was injured very early we were only 8. (In our age that's a disaster.)
3. Move towards the ball. We played as we do in our small arena, but when the pass comes it takes double as much time for the ball to get to the receiver on a big arena than it does on a small one, and You got time to steal the ball from us when we stood still instead of meting the ball.
4. Move against the ball when attacking. . We stayed at the sides of the arena and therefore we have too long way to pass the ball, and You easily stealed it from us. We have to follow the guy who has the ball to be closer to him.
5. Shoot more. Often when we were in the slot, we passed the ball away and tried to score from a distance of one meter. That's effective in a small arena where it's easier to cover the goal, but it's not the best play to attack in real floorball.
6. Use the wall. We were not used to use the wall.

And the trip to Helsinki made us very tired. And the track was built downhill against our goal. And there was a wind blowing against our goal inside the arena. And the audience was supporting You. And we are old and. No. As I said, You are a better team. In everything.

But: The wonderful thing about floorball is that it's not always the best team that wins. That's why we believe we hold a chance when You come to Sweden to play against us. IF, I say IF, we do everything right this time, we can, I say CAN, make it. You owe us that chance and we look forward to REVENGE!!!

Fortunately, we had the rest of the Saturday evening to comfort ourselves. Jani and Jarmo followed us to the Teatteri, and we had a very nice dinner there, followed by some drinks and beers at the 10th Floor.

We in IFK SOS all say:

Thank You very much, all of You in Crossboarder Greasers for TBG: we LOVED to play against You, we HATED to loose, but we look forward to trying to defeat You here in Stockholm soon. We hope that You liked it as much as we and that You give us the chance to win before we are to old and start to play wheelchair-floorball (maybe that will be a sport in the Paralympics some day, that's what I hope anyway.).

And special thanks to Jani Hanka: You made TBG possible because of Your ideas and Your hard work! It was really fun getting to know You. I look forward to meeting You soon again!!

Written by Stefan, IFK SOS