Both of the Finnish Liiga’s semifinals ended on Saturday night, with Tappara Tampere and the Lahti Pelicans defeating KalPa Kuopio and Kärpät Oulu, respectively, to end each series on home ice in five games. That sets up a rematch of last year’s final, which Tappara won in five games.

The Pelicans outshot Kärpät 59-38 in game five, but goaltender Tomi Karhunen was excellent for the visitors. The Pelicans needed an overtime goal by Konsta Hirvonen to secure the 2-1 victory.

“We defended really well throughout this series and were patient,” Pelicans goalie Niklas Kokko told Sami Hoffrén of Ilta-Sanomat after the game. “We reminded ourselves that we didn’t have to change anything, but trust in ourselves. Before overtime, we emphasized that they’re the ones who are under pressure – they have to win.”

It was an interesting series for Kokko, the 20-year-old Seattle Kraken prospect who was Finland’s starting goalie at this year’s World Junior Championship. Kokko is from Oulu and played for Kärpät until being transferred to the Pelicans just after the World Juniors. He admitted hearing it from the Kärpät fans during the series and he traded barbs with some of his former teammates on the ice, but everything was forgiven in the handshake line.

“They wished me good luck and I thanked them,” said Kokko. “Sometimes it was a bit of a verbal war out there, but it’s great that now we were able to honestly look each other in the eye and thank others for the series.”

Kokko’s opposite number in the finals will be Finnish senior national team netminder Christian Heljanko. After Tappara’s 3-1 victory over KalPa, the Tampere fans were chanting Heljanko’s name, prompting the netminder to climb the net to salute them.

“We played a good game on Friday in Kuopio, but today we were even better,” Heljanko told Jussi Heimo of Ilta-Sanomat. “Especially in the second period we were really strong. If (Kalpa goalie Stefanos) Lekkas hadn’t stood on his head, the game would have been over already.”

Looking ahead, Heljanko said, “Our game has developed little by little. Glimpses of our best have already been seen, but not once for a full 60 minutes. If we’re able to succeed in that during the finals, we’ll have nothing to look back in regret after the season, and we can accept the result, win or lose.”

The finals will begin next Saturday at Tampere’s Nokia Arena, with a potential seventh game going May 2 at the same venue. Interestingly, the season is not yet finished for KalPa or Kärpät, either. They will meet for a bronze-medal game in Oulu on Friday, the day before the finals start.