GDT: Gold Medal Game - May 22 - Finland vs Canada - Part II

[Lempo]

So Finland has lost 80 % of their final appearances in the World Championships. Ouch!

Builds up character.

 

[Lempo]

Sad. Witch-hunt for finding someone to blame has already started in Medias.

Um, which/whose medias? I think in Finland the usual suspect are pretty much like "everything went as expected" and concentrate on the good stuff like the bright-looking future.

Someone torched up a poster blaming it on Saravon Pekka though.

 

[IDeyChopNaira*]

Vasilevskiy played bad? I saw last 2 games of Tampa - he plays awesome. My first Olympic Games were 1998 Nagano. Russia were very good team, brilliant, but Hasek was better. Vasilevskiy plays better than Hasek.

Tovarisch TygeBrahe,

I am also a huge fan of the Russian players, but I think you are slightly exaggerating here.

I understand when people say that Tretiak was better than Hasek, but Vasilevskiy... Give the guy at least 10 years, then we can discuss how high Vasilevskiy ranks all-time.

 

[IDeyChopNaira*]

Builds up character.

Also increases the nation's silver reserves

 

[Jablkon]

Hasek was genius. He won alone OG-98 for Czech Respublic. Even they played terrible and the best team was Russian. But final...Bure and Co made nothing versus Hasek. The wall. 0:1

))) Thats a new story for me. So not only Canada, but right now Russia was the best team in that tournament. That's a pure joke.Only US was better than us and got Haseked in first two periods..Period.

 

[Lempo]

Also increases the nation's silver reserves

Oh yeah. To quote Esa Tikkanen, medal is metal.

 

[IDeyChopNaira*]

))) Thats a new story for me. So not only Canada, but right now Russia was the best team in that tournament. That's a pure joke.Only US was better than us and got Haseked in first two periods..Period.

Give the Russians a credit. They are the only big team to score twice on Hasek.

US were going to be a failure in Nagano - it was obvious since their opening loss to Sweden.

 

[babylonzoo]

Give the Russians a credit. They are the only big team to score twice on Hasek.

US were going to be a failure in Nagano - it was obvious since their opening loss to Sweden.

in 1998 yes, in 2002, Canada beat him 3 times

 

[IDeyChopNaira*]

in 1998 yes, in 2002, Canada beat him 3 times

We were talking about 1998

 

[Jablkon]

Give the Russians a credit. They are the only big team to score twice on Hasek.

US were going to be a failure in Nagano - it was obvious since their opening loss to Sweden.

Well,exactly. Russia beat us in group. It was probably only one russian team which really looked and worked as a team in that times. They truly deserved to be in finals. But whoever says they were just shutdown by Hasek is downgrading that czech team for no reasons. It wasnt the case in semis with Canada neither in final with Russia. Everybody can check youtube and watch it again. We had big luck only in two periods against US.

Dont know why people have tendencies to simplify it to one person. It was a great team overall. No one from Canada is apologizing for having Price and Crosby in a team so why we should do it for having best forward and best goalie in that times. Especially when Roy and russian goalie played almost on same level as Hasek...

 

[Macman]

Fantastic win. Canada played a near-perfect game by following the same template used in Vancouver, Sochi and Prague -- a quick and mobile defensive corps that gets the puck up ice as quickly as possible instead of collapsing around the goal and building a wall like some other countries do. It was team defence by spending as much time as possible in the other team's end. Morgan Rielly was fantastic. I'm not sure how he didn't make the all-star team or win top defenceman prize.

Kudos to Finland for playing so well, and to Moscow and St. Petersburg for being great hosts.

 

[TonsofPuppies*]

First of all, congrats to the Canadian team for their second straight gold medal. It's really nice to see more players accepting invitations to play at this tournament and doing the country proud by getting results. Can't wait for the final players to be announced for the World Cup roster and for that tournament to begin. Proud of all the guys and proud to be Canadian!

Second, I would like to sincerely congratulate Finland on not only their spectacular tournament, but on their incredible year of international dominance. World U18 gold, World U20 gold, and fell just one goal short today of WHC gold. You guys should be so proud of your players, coaches and especially your hockey development program. Don't be down on any of your guys. I know they didn't look good today, but Canada played a near perfect shutdown game, learning heavily from their first game against Finland and the mistakes they made. It's very difficult to beat a team twice in the same international tournament and today was no different.

Your players really embody the strength and courage of your national symbol - the Lion. Over the years you guys always have the best "team" in these tournaments. What I'm referring to is your game strategy, your teamwork, willingness to block shots, etc. You guys are always the best in those areas, even if you don't have the best players. That's why I (and many other Canadians) ALWAYS cheer for Finland if Canada isn't playing or has been knocked out already. What you guys manage to accomplish with a population of only ~5.5 million people is unbelievable to me - I feel this fact is lost on a lot of people. Taking population into consideration, I honestly feel that you guys are the BEST hockey country in the world.

I feel like I'm rambling here, but honestly, I know the loss today sucks, but you Finns should keep your heads high. We are entering the best era of Finnish hockey ever and it's only just begun. Barkov, Määttä, Puljujärvi, Laine, Aho, Juolevi, etc... The future has never been brighter for your program, so sit back and enjoy the ride. Can't wait to see you guys again in September. Suomi! <3

 

[DaJackal]

Well, that was fun until the final. My thoughts:

-First of all, let's get this clear: better team won. Canada dominated, Finns did really well and had some chances - in fact the game was actually as tight as the final score implies. Congratulations.

-McDavid is a beast. His skating is a joy to watch. Even my fiancee commented on this.

-After all, Finland did better than I expected. Just look at the D corps on paper. Our top pairing was two AHL guys with a total of 4 games of NHL experience. Still they managed to play very good D as a team, but our defenders couldn't help our offense that much.

-About Laine as MVP: In my opinion he didn't do enough to earn it, but I bet IIHF factored in his age. From Team Finland Granlund and Koskinen would have been worthier candidates. Anyhow, it wasn't that big of a foul.


Extremely proud of our team, though. What bugs me the most is that for (most) Canadians this doesn't mean a thing. The players it does, naturally, but the Canadian media and common people don't see it valuable at all. Just another day in the office. (Well, winning 26 of those might get tiring...) What is the situation in Finland? 3.25 million people were watching the game. In a country of 5+ million inhabitants. That is over 60% of the population. I am not trying to turn this into a moral victory or claim that the outcome was flat out wrong: better team takes the gold, end of story. I just wanted to emphasize how important this tournament is in Finland.

We will rise next year, I hope (although Barkov & Jokinen might be too busy with SC playoffs then, Panthers are a rising force). The World Cup I only see as a joke, currently (U23 Team and Team Europe, what?!?!?), so I won't put much weight on that - although I will most likely watch every time Finland plays. Just my personal opinion, I'd like to keep it the way it was - WHC every year and Olympics as the ultimate test where all the best players will be present.

P.S. Thank you for your kind words StamCock2016. Made me feel a bit better.

 

[Scotty B]

You really think that with this men you'll played better? We have very much top forwards and goalkeepers, but we can't win since 1992 year.

Do we really think the guys on our 2015 WC team were better than team Russia? Everybody with eyes --- and not still in denial --- does. They clobbered RUS 6-1 and outshot them 37-12. Watch a replay of that Gold medal game, and SEE FOR YOURSELF!

 

[Scotty B]

To add to the dick sucking contest, I have always thought of Canada as the Finland of rest of the world. Both countries are so similar you probably wouldn't even realize you're living in different country aside from the language spoken. So cheers my Canadian buddies. Or am I even your buddy, guy?

Still don't like your attitude towards my favourite NHL team

Don't be blue Suomi...You're still our Buddy, Guy...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU5xA6ty0a4

 

[IDeyChopNaira*]

Do we really think the guys on our 2015 WC team were better than team Russia? Everybody with eyes --- and not still in denial --- does. They clobbered RUS 6-1 and outshot them 37-12. Watch a replay of that Gold medal game, and SEE FOR YOURSELF!

It was the best Canadian team I've ever seen. arguably, better than the 1984 and 87 Canada Cup teams

 

[Scotty B]

It's more on this coach. Kari Jalonen hasn't been known as a very adaptive coach. Ironically our junior teams paly much differently than the men's team. Our new national team doctrin is that we're supposed to be the ones dictating the play, which was the case at the U-20 and U-18 WJC but not with the men's team. Lauri Marjamäki is known as a very tactically competent coach so will see next season and at the Worlds if the men's team will start to play similar style as well.

I was under the impression that Team Suomi was well coached. But they made no discernible adjustments to counter what Canada was doing. ( Historically, Russia has the same problem, only moreso ). To give just one glaringly obvious example: even though Canada was not the home team, and didn't have last line change, they kept getting the match-ups they wanted all game?

It's clear that Suomi's brain trust need to go back to the drawing board and contemplate the importance of tactical adjustments on the fly...This was , after all, a Gold Medal Game...No point in holding anything back for the morrow

 

[Scotty B]

Well,exactly. Russia beat us in group. It was probably only one russian team which really looked and worked as a team in that times. They truly deserved to be in finals. But whoever says they were just shutdown by Hasek is downgrading that czech team for no reasons. It wasnt the case in semis with Canada neither in final with Russia. Everybody can check youtube and watch it again. We had big luck only in two periods against US.

Dont know why people have tendencies to simplify it to one person. It was a great team overall. No one from Canada is apologizing for having Price and Crosby in a team so why we should do it for having best forward and best goalie in that times. Especially when Roy and russian goalie played almost on same level as Hasek...

At one pt, circa 2000/2001...Czechs were OG Champs, WC Champs and Back to Back World Jr Champs! Pretty sure Hasek wasn't on ALL those teams

 

[Scotty B]

Fantastic win. Canada played a near-perfect game by following the same template used in Vancouver, Sochi and Prague -- a quick and mobile defensive corps that gets the puck up ice as quickly as possible instead of collapsing around the goal and building a wall like some other countries do. It was team defence by spending as much time as possible in the other team's end. Morgan Rielly was fantastic. I'm not sure how he didn't make the all-star team or win top defenceman prize.

Kudos to Finland for playing so well, and to Moscow and St. Petersburg for being great hosts.

There was a lot of aggressive pinching by TC's defense, it led to some counterattacks, but virtually no odd man rushes against hence they were snuffed out rather quickly, usually in the neutral zone... and then there's TC back on the attack!

Suomi spent precious little time in TC's zone

 

[Scotty B]

First of all, congrats to the Canadian team for their second straight gold medal. It's really nice to see more players accepting invitations to play at this tournament and doing the country proud by getting results. Can't wait for the final players to be announced for the World Cup roster and for that tournament to begin. Proud of all the guys and proud to be Canadian!

Second, I would like to sincerely congratulate Finland on not only their spectacular tournament, but on their incredible year of international dominance. World U18 gold, World U20 gold, and fell just one goal short today of WHC gold. You guys should be so proud of your players, coaches and especially your hockey development program. Don't be down on any of your guys. I know they didn't look good today, but Canada played a near perfect shutdown game, learning heavily from their first game against Finland and the mistakes they made. It's very difficult to beat a team twice in the same international tournament and today was no different.

Your players really embody the strength and courage of your national symbol - the Lion. Over the years you guys always have the best "team" in these tournaments. What I'm referring to is your game strategy, your teamwork, willingness to block shots, etc. You guys are always the best in those areas, even if you don't have the best players. That's why I (and many other Canadians) ALWAYS cheer for Finland if Canada isn't playing or has been knocked out already. What you guys manage to accomplish with a population of only ~5.5 million people is unbelievable to me - I feel this fact is lost on a lot of people. Taking population into consideration, I honestly feel that you guys are the BEST hockey country in the world.

I feel like I'm rambling here, but honestly, I know the loss today sucks, but you Finns should keep your heads high. We are entering the best era of Finnish hockey ever and it's only just begun. Barkov, Määttä, Puljujärvi, Laine, Aho, Juolevi, etc... The future has never been brighter for your program, so sit back and enjoy the ride. Can't wait to see you guys again in September. Suomi! <3

Hmmm if ur down 1-0 ( pretty much all game ), by my math, you need to score two ( Sans SO ) to win...

 

[Scotty B]

Well, that was fun until the final. My thoughts:

-First of all, let's get this clear: better team won. Canada dominated, Finns did really well and had some chances - in fact the game was actually as tight as the final score implies. Congratulations.

-McDavid is a beast. His skating is a joy to watch. Even my fiancee commented on this.

-After all, Finland did better than I expected. Just look at the D corps on paper. Our top pairing was two AHL guys with a total of 4 games of NHL experience. Still they managed to play very good D as a team, but our defenders couldn't help our offense that much.

-About Laine as MVP: In my opinion he didn't do enough to earn it, but I bet IIHF factored in his age. From Team Finland Granlund and Koskinen would have been worthier candidates. Anyhow, it wasn't that big of a foul.


Extremely proud of our team, though. What bugs me the most is that for (most) Canadians this doesn't mean a thing. The players it does, naturally, but the Canadian media and common people don't see it valuable at all. Just another day in the office. (Well, winning 26 of those might get tiring...) What is the situation in Finland? 3.25 million people were watching the game. In a country of 5+ million inhabitants. That is over 60% of the population. I am not trying to turn this into a moral victory or claim that the outcome was flat out wrong: better team takes the gold, end of story. I just wanted to emphasize how important this tournament is in Finland.

We will rise next year, I hope (although Barkov & Jokinen might be too busy with SC playoffs then, Panthers are a rising force). The World Cup I only see as a joke, currently (U23 Team and Team Europe, what?!?!?), so I won't put much weight on that - although I will most likely watch every time Finland plays. Just my personal opinion, I'd like to keep it the way it was - WHC every year and Olympics as the ultimate test where all the best players will be present.

P.S. Thank you for your kind words StamCock2016. Made me feel a bit better.

Some Finn asked if there will be celebrations in Canada over this win? Not a snowflake's chance in hell...barely a blip on the Hockey radar...Still TSN covers the WC pretty good and it has the potential to become more popular here. But let's face facts...its a Eurocentric tourney to most Canucks ...And that's being kind...

Think of it this way...WC has been held in Canada ONE TIME in the past 100+ years....And don't counter with....well u guys almost never make a bid to hold it...

Truth be told, the NHL, Hockey Canada, the IIHF , yadda yadda are ALL heavily invested in maintaining the status quo....Is that the fault of Joe and Jane Q Public on this side of the Pond? OBVIOUSLY NOT...

It is what it is...And I don't see things changing ...

You have your Big annual tourney=WC...We have ours = WJC...And The World Cup? With a little tweaking, this has great potential imo...especially since it doesn't look like NHL are going to OG's anytime soon

 

[Scotty B]

It was the best Canadian team I've ever seen. arguably, better than the 1984 and 87 Canada Cup teams

Our 1976 Canada Cup Team was easily, EASILY the best Canadian team of all time, at least on paper...

Pretty much every old timer, North of the 49th parallel, could attest to that...

 

[Yakushev72]

Canada won the game behind the bench with much better coaching. They correctly assessed the weakness of Finland's offense in comparison to their defense, and concluded that they could afford a heavy forecheck of 3 or 4 players without having to worry about being made to pay with counterattacks. Finland had no offense, and they had no plan to deal with an all-out forecheck. Give them credit for desperately keeping pucks out of their net under extreme duress.

How is it that Russia can continue to lose to Finnish teams that have no offense and only a collapsing defensive style? Simple. Russian coaching is even worse than Finland's. And Finland believes they can beat Russia, while they believe that they can't beat Canada when it counts. Russia should have been in the GMG yesterday, but found a way to lose to a Finnish team that looked hapless the next day.

 

[TygeBrahe]

Tovarisch TygeBrahe,

I am also a huge fan of the Russian players, but I think you are slightly exaggerating here.

I understand when people say that Tretiak was better than Hasek, but Vasilevskiy... Give the guy at least 10 years, then we can discuss how high Vasilevskiy ranks all-time.

yes, i'm agree with you, let's give him 10 years to compare witj Hasek. But we talked about this year WC and I told that Russia has best goalies.

 

[TygeBrahe]

Canada won the game behind the bench with much better coaching. They correctly assessed the weakness of Finland's offense in comparison to their defense, and concluded that they could afford a heavy forecheck of 3 or 4 players without having to worry about being made to pay with counterattacks. Finland had no offense, and they had no plan to deal with an all-out forecheck. Give them credit for desperately keeping pucks out of their net under extreme duress.

How is it that Russia can continue to lose to Finnish teams that have no offense and only a collapsing defensive style? Simple. Russian coaching is even worse than Finland's. And Finland believes they can beat Russia, while they believe that they can't beat Canada when it counts. Russia should have been in the GMG yesterday, but found a way to lose to a Finnish team that looked hapless the next day.

Yes, Bykov, Bylaletdinov, Znarok - are really best coaches of Russia but they are too weak vs Canada coaches. They make so many errors so even in Russia nobody understands them.