TOURNAMENT REPORT: SM-Triples 2024, Aug 3. Pori
The early August Saturday morning air carried a hint of mist and an even greater sense of a major sporting festival as the Terassimölkky trio set off for Pori and the final Finnish National Championships (SM-kisat) of the summer. What makes this competition especially unique is that Terassimölkky has broken away from its “foster club,” the Helsinki Mölkky Club, and is now traveling to its first SM-Championships as its own association, wearing jerseys designed by the undersigned. In addition to myself, the travelling party includes Antti and Jouni; Peltsi was left out of the triples team this time, as substitutes are not allowed in this format.
We arrived on time, and a massive 105 teams had gathered at the Pihlava sports field in Pori, making this the largest SM-Triples of all time. The previous record was set by the event organized by the Helsinki Mölkky Club last summer, and since I had a hand in the marketing for both, I’m not exactly upset that “our own” competition was relegated to second place. There were many familiar faces, but also a significant number of first-time competitors, which is especially gratifying. During his opening speech, Jarno Blomster, the Chairman of the organizing body, Porin Karhumölkky, wanted to reward my efforts in promoting the visibility of the competition with a “Juniorimestari 2024” (Junior Champion 2024) throwing bat. This is a historical item in itself, as the Juniorimestari competition (for under 16-year-olds) is indeed being held for the first time in connection with the SM-Triples. And of course, Terassimölkky’s Antti also got a chance to speak in his role as the Chairman of the Finnish Mölkky Association.
Before the group stage began, we had time to warm up a little and exchange a word here and there with familiar faces from the Mölkky circles. The sun is shining, and there is no sign yet of the rain that had been haunting the forecasts. Best of all, a second Terassimölkky team was also present, as I managed, after many twists and turns, to assemble a somewhat exceptional Terassimölkky Kvarken lineup around Jarmo, who had arrived from Vaasa, right at the last minute. Thank you, Satu and Jukka!
In the first game of the group stage, we faced the Kalikankaatajat, who had arrived from Mahlu. We certainly have to take our hats off to Mahlu, as they once again had several teams present, and the level is consistently high. For me, these were the first National Championships of the summer, as I willingly skipped the Singles, Doubles, and Quadruples events due to a new addition to the family. And that definitely showed, especially in the first games, with a shaky throwing hand. However, the pins sometimes bounced unluckily for the opponents too, and in the first round they threw over the 50-point limit. With Jouni, in particular, keeping his hit percentage at a perfect hundred, the final result was a clean 2–0 victory.
In the second game, we faced the Hawk Tuah trio, a team that is riding the crest of the meme trend, at least in name. They arrived as part of a larger group of friends, bringing a wonderfully festive, carnival-like atmosphere. Perhaps the wigs and other antics caused us to take the match a bit lightly, because after I missed an easy throw for the win, our opponents immediately capitalized and took the first round. We pulled ourselves together in the second and secured at least the total points scored (the cumulative score over the two rounds) for ourselves.
Our third opponent in the group stage, Pulut (The Pigeons), is a rare team in that I don’t recall ever having played against a team consisting solely of women in the SM-Triples before. The result was a clear 2–0 victory for us, but their spirit on the court was excellent. A big thank you and respect to our opponents.
Our fourth-round encounter with the team from Köyliö was a rematch from last summer’s SM-Triples, as our run was ended in the very first knockout round by the KöMö crew—though I don’t think all the faces were exactly the same this time. In any case, the Terde trio’s game flowed well, resulting in a win in both rounds. Jaakko, who lives in Pori and was part of the very first Terassimölkky tournament in 2011, also came to cheer us on.
Next up were a couple of games against first-timers, resulting in some really interesting matchups. The team “Kolme neljäsosaa” (Three Quarters), we heard, honours a deceased member of their four-person group with their name. Once again, a salute to our opponents—a wonderful gesture. And a special mention to the players hailing from South Ostrobothnia; we don’t see too many of them in Mölkky circles, and that particularly warms the hearts of Antti and me. Their throwing wasn’t bad at all, resulting in our second tie of the day.
Orimölkky, on the other hand, is a concrete example for me that the long evenings and voluntary work spent on advertising hasn’t gone to waste. They told us they first heard about the SM-Doubles through a Facebook ad and were inspired to attend. Since then, they’ve reportedly put together a larger playing group in their own village and are now participating in the SM-Championships again. Their performance on the court is also very promising, even though both rounds ultimately went our way. This is despite the fact that Jouni finally found his ‘talent’ for missing throws on this particular day.
The group stage is gradually nearing its end, and a spot in the knockout rounds is presumably almost certain, but there is still plenty at stake in the last couple of games, where we encounter familiar faces from over the years. Kuhmalahden Kuusveto, whom we last met at the spring indoor championships, gave us a very tough challenge, and we had to settle for a tie. Before the final game, it was our turn for a break, which was well-spent stuffing ourselves with vendace (muikku). Usually, the game after a break and a meal is notoriously difficult, but this time we played our best game of the day so far against Jegguli, led by Ile Horttanainen, and that was enough to secure the top spot in the group over them.
In the overall ranking of all 105 teams, we stand in 4th place after the group stage, which promises good positioning for the knockout rounds, to which the top 64 teams of the day advance. The format for the knockout stage is a best-of-five system.
In the first knockout round, we faced a team called Aurinkoiset (The Sunny Ones), ranked 61st. The gentlemen from Naantali were first-timers at the National Championship (SM) level, and their throwing was quite exemplary at times. However, Terassimölkky had found a strong rhythm during the day, and with experience also on our side, the match was a fairly clear 3–0 victory for us. We were now among the top 32 teams.
The rain finally decided to honor the event with its presence, though fortunately, the worst downpour occurred while we didn’t have a game in progress, allowing us to hide in the depths of Antti’s car.
In the second round of the knockout stage, it was time to size up a team from Mahlu, this time the female-majority team Mahlun Mainio (The Splendid Ones of Mahlu, ranked 29th). The court was very wet in places after the rain, which significantly changed the nature of the game compared to the group stage. We were forced to concede one round to the opponent, but otherwise the game was quite firmly in our hands the whole time, and the path to the top 16 was secured with a 3–1 victory.
Next up was a significant classic and a “masters versus apprentices” setup, as we met the Helsinki Mölkky Club’s (HMS) HMS Back to the Roots lineup (ranked 20th) in the third knockout round. This team included our own Mölkky “idols”: Jukka Mäntylä, Tontsa Laakso, and Juha Hammaren. What made the situation even more exciting was the fact that for the past five years, we had actively played under the name HMS Terassimölkky, and now that prefix had been dropped. Skill-wise, the match fell far short of a memorable classic, as both teams displayed considerable inconsistency and missed throws at times. However, we simply had fewer of those mishaps, leading to a 3–1 victory over our idols. In all honesty, the score doesn’t tell the full story of the match events. But a win is a win, and with it, we advanced to the top 8.
The fourth knockout round marked a return to the starting point, as we once again faced the Mahlu team Kalikankaatajat (ranked 28th), whom we had defeated 2–0 in the day’s opening game. Whether we had the morning’s victory too strongly in mind or for some other reason, the match was a significantly tighter battle this time. Rounds were stolen back and forth, and suddenly we were facing the thrilling and notorious fifth and decisive round, which the opponent even got to open thanks to their better total points scored (pikkupisteet). We still needed to pull off one more steal, and we ultimately managed to do it. With a 3–2 victory, we advanced to the medal games!
The semi-final certainly didn’t offer any relief, as the name Liekin Farmi (The Flame Farm, ranked 33rd) strongly suggests Iitti, a region known for producing accurate throwers. And indeed, familiar and, above all, skilled players stepped onto the court from there. In the first round, we managed to collect a rare three consecutive misses when the whole team failed on a relatively easy throw from about 6–7 meters. So, the semi-final did not start according to the script. But, as they say, it goes back and forth, and in the second round, the opponent performed the same trick when, after one unsuccessful long-range throw, two pins thrown from close range fell agonisingly short.
We got to open the third round and handled it rather routinely to our names, but then in the fourth, nothing seemed to work, and we only managed 27 points. That meant we were once again heading into a decisive fifth round, and once again, the opponent got to open.
A steal was again required, but it began to feel extremely difficult when we had 24 points and the opponent had 46, with a single ‘four’ pin approximately 7–8 meters away. But, as has often been noted, finishing the round, especially a decisive one, is difficult. After two failed attempts, the opponent decided to go for four points via a couple of two-pin clusters, leaving our only lifeline to defend those two-pin clusters out of play.
Somehow, I managed to throw the front two-pin cluster’s other pin into the rear two-pin cluster, meaning there was no longer an obvious two points available on the court. And when the opponent’s long Mölkky throw only hit the ‘five’ pin, dropping them back to 25 points, the game was wide open again. Finally, we had 40 points, and the ‘ten’ pin was in play, and I knew that succeeding with that throw would secure my first SM-medal. For some reason, my hand didn’t shake at all, and it landed exactly where it should have. After quite a thriller and sometimes against all odds, Terassimölkky was in the final!
The final was also exceptionally played in a best-of-five system, as the day had already lasted nearly 12 hours and darkness was gradually beginning to threaten the arena. Ridis (ranked 38th) was a team formed by Jukka Reinamo (familiar from the Helsinki Mölkky Club) and his son Ville, along with Kai Oksa, and the latter, in particular, was in truly magical form. I, on the other hand, was admittedly starting to feel a little too satisfied now that the first medal was secure, and after two games that stretched to the fifth round, I couldn’t seem to find the energy for a proper fight anymore. Thus, it was not a memorable final; Ridis rolled to a 3–0 victory, although even in the last round, I had a chance to at least extend the match by one more round. But not this time.
All in all, the day leaves an excellent feeling, and not just because of the success. Porin Karhumölkky succeeded in organizing a fine tournament that was also very pleasing to see, with many, many new faces. After a truly long day, I still had to get behind the wheel and drive our crew back to Helsinki, where we arrived sometime after two in the morning, tired but happy.
– Vesa / Terassimölkky
GROUP STAGE
Terassimölkky – Kalikankaatajat 2 – 0 (100 – 69)
Hawk Tuah – Terassimölkky 1 – 1 (68 – 88)
Terassimölkky – Pulut 2 – 0 (100 – 13)
KöMö PiispanKaatajat – Terassimölkky 0 – 2 (70 – 100)
Terassimölkky – Kolme neljäsosaa 1 – 1 (92 – 84)
Orimölkky – Terassimölkky 0 – 2 (70 – 100)
Terassimölkky – Kuhmalahden Kuusveto 1 – 1 (88 – 76)
Jegguli – Terassimölkky 0 – 2 (73 – 100)
PLAYOFFS
Round of 64: Terassimölkky – Aurinkoiset 3 – 0 (150 – 122)
Round of 32: Terassimölkky – Mahlun Mainio 3 – 1 (190 – 164)
Round of 16: Terassimölkky – HMS-Back to the Roots 3 – 1 (179 – 159)
Quarterfinal: Terassimölkky – Kalikankaatajat 3 – 2 (221 – 223)
Semifinal: Liekin farmi – Terassimölkky 2 – 3 (175 – 177)
Final: Terassimölkky – Ridis 0 – 3 (120 – 150)