Is Karhunen any good, or is it just that he's not as bad as Backlund?
He's... not bad, by any means. And possibly could be a lot better, if he just got to play. He has let in some easy goals at times, and did a really good impersonation of a vacuum cleaner in his first game this season, but those might something he'd get rid of if he just got the play routine going.
There's also a lot of good in his playing, and he's one of the calmest players you'll ever see take the grease. Which, considering how many hotheads Kärpät has in their roster this year, is just pure blessing. Plus, the biggest difference between him and Backlund; while Backlund can be fucking amazing at times and make miracle saves left and right, there are other times when he's just pure disaster, and then he loses his temper and becomes even worse, while Karhunen will just steadily do his thing day in, day out, no matter the final score.
To be fair, part of the problem might just be, that Kärpät is not an easy team for a goaltender to play for. Not because we not have anyway defensive minded system, because we do, but because Kärpät fans are extremely hypercritical of our goalies. The thing of it is, that once upon a time, at the start of the Golden Years (yes, they are actually referred as such, for real) we had possibly one of the best goalie tandems the league has ever seen in Bäckström and Rinne. And so now, that's somewhat the standard all our goalies are held against, and as I'm sure you can imagine, that's a comparison where very few could hold their own.
I just want to watch all the hockey, is that so much to ask? I know. Luckily Mestis is mostly just made of fail, so there's no need to think about following them. I was thinking about trying to pony up the cash for a season pass, so I could watch all Kärpät games this season, but now I'm not so sure. Not only is the service provider really expensive, their system is also perpetually broken. I've watched maybe one game, where the stream didn't lag or crash constantly, and if I'm going to just get sound with maybe one picture every two minutes or so, I might as well just listen to the radio broadcast. At least that's free.
The craziest part of it all, is that you can actually go see games live, for cheaper than watching them online. At least if you are a student.
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He's... not bad, by any means. And possibly could be a lot better, if he just got to play. He has let in some easy goals at times, and did a really good impersonation of a vacuum cleaner in his first game this season, but those might something he'd get rid of if he just got the play routine going.
There's also a lot of good in his playing, and he's one of the calmest players you'll ever see take the grease. Which, considering how many hotheads Kärpät has in their roster this year, is just pure blessing. Plus, the biggest difference between him and Backlund; while Backlund can be fucking amazing at times and make miracle saves left and right, there are other times when he's just pure disaster, and then he loses his temper and becomes even worse, while Karhunen will just steadily do his thing day in, day out, no matter the final score.
To be fair, part of the problem might just be, that Kärpät is not an easy team for a goaltender to play for. Not because we not have anyway defensive minded system, because we do, but because Kärpät fans are extremely hypercritical of our goalies. The thing of it is, that once upon a time, at the start of the Golden Years (yes, they are actually referred as such, for real) we had possibly one of the best goalie tandems the league has ever seen in Bäckström and Rinne. And so now, that's somewhat the standard all our goalies are held against, and as I'm sure you can imagine, that's a comparison where very few could hold their own.
I just want to watch all the hockey, is that so much to ask?
I know. Luckily Mestis is mostly just made of fail, so there's no need to think about following them. I was thinking about trying to pony up the cash for a season pass, so I could watch all Kärpät games this season, but now I'm not so sure. Not only is the service provider really expensive, their system is also perpetually broken. I've watched maybe one game, where the stream didn't lag or crash constantly, and if I'm going to just get sound with maybe one picture every two minutes or so, I might as well just listen to the radio broadcast. At least that's free.
The craziest part of it all, is that you can actually go see games live, for cheaper than watching them online. At least if you are a student.