F-liiga champions Classic were sailing to a historical regular season clean sweep with 23 straight wins. Until last night when Happee schocked them with a 10-7 away victory with four goals and an assist by Jami Manninen.
Jami Manninen returned to Happee from Swiss NLA mid-season and this time his night included a breakaway goal off a ball lost by Classic defense, a distance shot that was close to turning the goalcage over and an empty-netter brilliantly set up by Juuso Heikkinen.
Despite their defeat, Classic have already secured the regular season with two games to go. This was their fourth game without World Champion center Nico Salo who has been out injured since the end of January. Happee stand fifth on the table but their seven straight victories do promise an interesting play-off spring.
Photo: Esa Takalo
