Needles
Registered User
- Jun 29, 2010
- 1,029
- 1
There's a lot of discussion about our 2012 WHC team at Jatkoaika, so I decided to start the speculation here as well.
We are the defending champions and the majority of our players were selected from Europe, so naturally many gold medalists will return this year. Our lineup at the 2011 Gold Medal game:
Karjala Tournament was played last weekend, and the best players were selected. Some notable players were missing, like Janne Lahti, Petteri Nummelin, Jori Lehterä, Niko Kapanen, Antti Miettinen, Ville Koistinen, Anssi Salmela, Petri Vehanen and Ari Ahonen. Our lines against Sweden were:
It's safe to say that 90-95% of those names above will form our European core next spring. Our defense and goalies could be be almost identical than last year (+Vatanen & possible #1 goalie, - Lepistö). The situation in NHL is wide open, but many people are eager to see if teams like Anaheim, Carolina and Minnesota can make it into playoffs. I don't want to make final fantasy rosters yet, but I hope that Jalonen keeps retooling the team. Especially if we can't find any secondary scoring at the following EHT tournaments.
Guys like Peltonen, Nummelin and Sami Kapanen have achieved great things, but I think it's time to move on. Vatanen & Granlund were among our top players at Karelia Tournament, hopefully another young player will make the team this year. There will be many NHL players eager to be part of the team, but it will be interesting to see how Jalonen reacts. The Olympics were a near disaster and last year we won gold with four NHL players...
We are the defending champions and the majority of our players were selected from Europe, so naturally many gold medalists will return this year. Our lineup at the 2011 Gold Medal game:
15 Tuomo Ruutu (A) - 9 Mikko Koivu (C) - 37 Mika Pyörälä
71 Leo Komarov - 39 Niko Kapanen - 50 Juhamatti Aaltonen
20 Janne Pesonen - 26 Jarkko Immonen -64 Mikael Granlund
24 Jani Lajunen - 29 Petteri Nokelainen - 40 Antti Pihlström
28 Anssi Salmela - 18 Sami Lepistö
41 Pasi Puistola - 4 Ossi Väänänen
19 Jyrki Välivaara - 21 Janne Niskala
5 Lasse Kukkonen (A) - 6 Topi Jaakola
31 Petri Vehanen
35 Teemu Lassila
Karjala Tournament was played last weekend, and the best players were selected. Some notable players were missing, like Janne Lahti, Petteri Nummelin, Jori Lehterä, Niko Kapanen, Antti Miettinen, Ville Koistinen, Anssi Salmela, Petri Vehanen and Ari Ahonen. Our lines against Sweden were:
Janne Pesonen - Jarkko Immonen - Mikael Granlund
Ville Peltonen - Petri Kontiola - Jonas Enlund
Juhamatti Aaltonen - Mika Pyörälä - Antti Pihlström
Leo Komarov - Matti Kuparinen - Jesse Joensuu
Petteri Wirtanen
Janne Niskala - Sami Vatanen
Jyrki Välivaara - Ville Lajunen
Pasi Puistola - Ossi Väänänen
Lasse Kukkonen - Topi Jaakola
Karri Rämö
(Niko Hovinen)
It's safe to say that 90-95% of those names above will form our European core next spring. Our defense and goalies could be be almost identical than last year (+Vatanen & possible #1 goalie, - Lepistö). The situation in NHL is wide open, but many people are eager to see if teams like Anaheim, Carolina and Minnesota can make it into playoffs. I don't want to make final fantasy rosters yet, but I hope that Jalonen keeps retooling the team. Especially if we can't find any secondary scoring at the following EHT tournaments.
Guys like Peltonen, Nummelin and Sami Kapanen have achieved great things, but I think it's time to move on. Vatanen & Granlund were among our top players at Karelia Tournament, hopefully another young player will make the team this year. There will be many NHL players eager to be part of the team, but it will be interesting to see how Jalonen reacts. The Olympics were a near disaster and last year we won gold with four NHL players...