Hermes made a statement in their Mestis opener, beating KeuPa 5:0 on Thursday evening at their home rink. The hosts opened their campaign with a comprehensive victory that left the visitors with little to show for their efforts. By then, the pattern was clear enough — Hermes controlled proceedings from the first whistle.
The scoreline tells you most of what you need to know. Five unanswered goals against a KeuPa side that looked disjointed throughout. The visitors came for a cross he never reached, as the game slipped away from them with each period. To be fair, KeuPa's recent form offered little encouragement heading into this fixture.
Hermes have been around long enough to know how to start a season properly. Their last five results show a team capable of scoring freely — six against Roki Rovaniemi, three against KeuPa's old rivals IPC in multiple encounters. This was another example of offensive fluency, though the margin felt larger than anything they'd produced before.
Both sides begin the standings with zero games and zero points, which tells us nothing about where they might finish. The table is empty, as it always is at this stage. What matters is what happened on the ice — a dominant performance from the hosts, a forgettable night for the visitors.