Turun Uimarien miesten joukkue voitti muutama viikko sitten vesipallon pohjoismaisen vesipallosarjan Nordic Leaguen. Seura onnittelee mukana olleita pelaajia ja valmentajia!
Alla päävalmentaja Raulin mietteet Nordic Leaguen peleistä.
Miesten SM-sarja alkaa TU:n osalta tulevana perjantaina 6.3. 18.15 TU-Kuhat Akademy
For the 2019-2020, the Nordic League expanded from 6 teams/2 countries to 9 teams/4 countries. Teams were divided in 2 groups and tournaments were played in Vilnius (Lithuania), Stockholm, Lodz (Poland) and Turku.
Turun Uimarit was in Group B, playing against Vilnius, Hellas Stockholm and Finnish teams Cetus and Kuopio.
Vilnius has dominated the group, winning all matches. In the first round, TU has defeated Cetus and Kuopio and lost against Hellas (Sweden) and Vilnius, all matches having a clear outcome, win or loss. Coming to second round, that counted for Impivaara Cup as well, TU had to win against Cetus in the first match to ensure its qualification for the Final Six. But when the match ended, Cetus recorded a convincing victory, complicating the qualification scenario. Hellas was the surprise of the tournament, in the way that the team sitting on the second place of the tournament, lost all the matches in Turku, being eliminated in the group phase – a true group final against TU, where the hosts scored an easier than expected victory.
When the time for Final Six came, best 6 teams travelled to Stockholm, 7th to 9th of February.
In the first day, TU defeated Polisen (Sweden) 13-9 and Järfälla (Sweden) beat Cetus in penalties, getting the tickets for the semifinals. The semifinals produced two big surprises – Vilnius and Lodz came to the Final 6 undefeated, winning all the matches. Järfälla defeated Vilnius, after a solid performance, leading the entire match. TU and Lodz offered a match with lots of twists, but in the end, TU manage to win by a single goal, setting a final rematch with Järfälla.
Final day brought the medal matches, Vilnius defeating Lodz and Järfälla dueling against Turun Uimarit. Järfälla started the match way better, leading by 3-4 goals, but after that, TU manage to came back in match and an extremely good third period assured their victory 18-15 and the first big title in the North, in the club’s history.
Worth to mention, TU played the qualification rounds mostly with its own players, including Maksim Strontsev, whom together with new sign in Aleksandar Mojic from Serbia, performed exceptionally. For the Final Six, TU could count again on Pavel Mikhailov (topscorer Final 6), Alex Baltean (MVP) and Claudiu Grama from Romania and as well on their player-coach Raul Perian.
Altogether, it was a very successful edition and we are already looking forward to defend our title next season – season that we hope it will have more teams from more countries.
In worth to mention part – mention the farewell tournament for Juuso, the captain Rim – they commited the whole season and help the team a lot during all 11 matches (Rim played with back pains in the final), our still youngster Pessi and Jani, plus the new wave of juniors – Matti, Leo, Saku, Aapo and Aku that next year will have a bigger role in NL. Emil played also a substantial role in winning NL and being at his best in the most important moments.
Also, I would like to thank to Tuomas (also coaching), Pärre and Jari for helping the team when we needed.
-Raul