GDT: Group B • Dec. 26 • Finland 1, Canada 8 • Part II

[GM17*]

Had Stone not finished of those 2 set-ups from behind the net beautifully ESPECIALLY that big 3rd goal that was the turning point after the fins got back into it and started skating, Hub would not of had those assists. The 3rd goal he went to the net and like so many goals scored later by Canada i.e. Hubby's was meaningless by then. But Stone's first 2 goals were HUGE.

How about both are great? FACT: Huberdeau DID get those assists FACT: Stone DID get those goals There's nothing more to it than that. Analyse what happened instead of just making up random hypotheticals

 

[tony d]

Great game last night. The Fins have always been a tough opponent for Canada, hope this domination continues for the rest of the tournament.

 

[Jussi]

Teemu Pulkkinen... Did not shoot the puck at the net when he had chances. Opted to pass the puck to waste instead.

Only positive goes to Mikael Granlund who created chances on the ice but did not have a shooter worth his salt.

The whole line tried to pass the puck in to the the goal, everyone lacked straightforwardness. On the other hand, unlike the other lines, they were able to make and connect with those passes.

 

[Lennu]

Didn't noticed it was holy slapper Pulkkinen's slap shot which broke Smith-Pelley's left foot. Shame, I liked watching this guy play.

 

[Ihmeilja]

Ok, few late comments of the game. I think, there's like 60 pages text about the thread... great.

Both, Finnish coaches and players failed badly in this, althought it was no surprise, while Helminen is just starting his coaching career. I predicted 9-2 win for Canada.
Defence didn't show that type of play what is needed. It looked like they were not ready for this game, lots of mistakes, lots of lazy plays and they really were not ready for the game.
Young d:s looked weaker, than the 92 borns's. Hakanpää surprised with his offensive game, but didnt't have a very good game defencively.
I think young D:s should play with elder D:s. Hovinen should be really weak both O & D. I think Määttä could have worked well with Hakanpää in this first game.

At offence Mi Granlund had a weak game by any means aswell as his brother. Pulkkinen played ok. Mi Granlund showed something couple of times towards the end of the game, but he seemingly had lack of selfconfidence from the start.
Donkoi had a great game... Armia played lazy. Salomäki didn't show much.

Well, what can I say, now we have 2 pairings at D and Armia is needing a playmaker and a guy who works hard. Pulkkinen and Mi Granlund should stay together.

Canada had a great game and Huberdeau was brobaply the best player in the game.
Significant was the way Canada controlled the puck. Finns trying to play a puck-control-game, but Canada was doing that.
Finns were not ready, lack of hitting and lack of battling for the puck.

 

[ToBBa]

Great game last night. The Fins have always been a tough opponent for Canada, hope this domination continues for the rest of the tournament.

Really? IMO Canada has always been the toughest opponent for Finland and Finland has always been pretty bad against you.

 

[ThinMcWhistle]

Really? IMO Canada has always been the toughest opponent for Finland and Finland has always been pretty bad against you.

Finland ALWAYS chokes against Canada. If you are a betting man, ALWAYS place bet on Canada when the two meet.

If Canada had been the opponent against us in the WC last spring instead of Sweden, we would definitely have lost that game.

 

[MintyFresh88]

Just killing myself laughing at people suggesting Huberdeau wouldn't get any assists if Stone didn't finish, are you serious? Stone doesn't even have a chance to score if Huberdeau doesn't get him the puck...what a pathetic argument.

 

[TMONT]

Just killing myself laughing at people suggesting Huberdeau wouldn't get any assists if Stone didn't finish, are you serious? Stone doesn't even have a chance to score if Huberdeau doesn't get him the puck...what a pathetic argument.

So you're laughing at outlandish statements and then making new ones yourself??

Can we not just give credit to both players? They both played a great game.

 

[Aaaaaaaaaaaaa]

Finland ALWAYS chokes against Canada. If you are a betting man, ALWAYS place bet on Canada when the two meet.

If Canada had been the opponent against us in the WC last spring instead of Sweden, we would definitely have lost that game.

Really? This is a classic case of two sides seeing things from completely differeing points of view.

I agree with the Canadian poster who says that Finland usually plays us very tough. I am more concerned about Finland than I usually am about Sweden or the Czechs. In round-robin, I even worry more about Finland than Russia. Russians always show up for the finals, though.

I think that's why Canadian fans were so excited about the victory yesterday. If we can defeat the Finns 8-1, we have a chance in this tournament.

I respect Finnish hockey a LOT. Yesterday was not what I would normally expect as an outcome in a game vs. Finland.

 

[FinlandPanther]

So you're laughing at outlandish statements and then making new ones yourself??

Can we not just give credit to both players? They both played a great game.

I believe that was what he was implying. Huberdeau makes a great pass and Stone finishes. story of the night.

 

[Roulin]

Schiefele has to step it up. Im not seeing anywhere near the desire or puck poise that I saw when he played for the Jets against Toronto and was unlucky to only get 1 goal. The talent is there, but when the US and Russia show up with their strong teams we are going to need multiple sources of offence. Thats him.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Hay was matching Scheifele against Granlund whenever possible. Against this top-heavy Finnish team, quality of competition helps explain why Strome's line had more offensive opportunities than Scheifele's.

 

[Loffer]

At offence Mi Granlund had a weak game by any means aswell as his brother. Pulkkinen played ok. Mi Granlund showed something couple of times towards the end of the game, but he seemingly had lack of selfconfidence from the start.

I don't think he lacked self-confidence. He played his game but it's a small rink. nevertheless, 1st line created enough scoring chances but couldn't capitalize. The team is too yound and unexperienced in D, so what can you expect. I'm afraid it won't get much better against USA. granlund line may score a couple though.

 

[rick3652]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Hay was matching Scheifele against Granlund whenever possible. Against this top-heavy Finnish team, quality of competition helps explain why Strome's line had more offensive opportunities than Scheifele's.

No you are wrong. Hamilton was playing against Granlund line with DSP and Howden.

 

[Roulin]

No you are wrong. Hamilton was playing against Granlund line with DSP and Howden.

I know I saw Scheifele taking shifts against Granlund in the 3rd period. Maybe the matchups changed after DSP got hurt...

 

[Jesus Christ Horburn]

Schiefele has to step it up. Im not seeing anywhere near the desire or puck poise that I saw when he played for the Jets against Toronto and was unlucky to only get 1 goal. The talent is there, but when the US and Russia show up with their strong teams we are going to need multiple sources of offence. Thats him.

I'm almost certain he's nursing an injury. Forget the way he looked with the Colts and Jets, he doesn't even look the way he did during the Red/White scrimmages during selection camp. At that point, I'd say he was one of our best players, so good that he had the night off when the bubble players played against the CIS team.

After that was the practice at which he got hit and took a long time getting back up. My guess is that it was a mild injury that TC thought he could play through, but it's clearly affecting his game. Even as a Jets fan, I think he's Canada's worst forward out there - he's skating very slowly and gets knocked over every time he takes a hit.

 

[cenas*]

Really? This is a classic case of two sides seeing things from completely differeing points of view.

I agree with the Canadian poster who says that Finland usually plays us very tough. I am more concerned about Finland than I usually am about Sweden or the Czechs. In round-robin, I even worry more about Finland than Russia. Russians always show up for the finals, though.

I think that's why Canadian fans were so excited about the victory yesterday. If we can defeat the Finns 8-1, we have a chance in this tournament.

I respect Finnish hockey a LOT. Yesterday was not what I would normally expect as an outcome in a game vs. Finland.

Finland only wins (which is overcoming the odds pretty much always) when its the team with most hunger and spirit.. Canada usually matches the intensity so its a hard opponent, because we are always working with a talent and size deficit..

That 8-1 we were down on both and it showed..

 

[rick3652]

I know I saw Scheifele taking shifts against Granlund in the 3rd period. Maybe the matchups changed after DSP got hurt...

If he was on the ICE with Granlund it was just between lines changes. NO way they would play him against him. it would be either Jennier or Hamilton.

 

[llwyd]

I think this huge Canada phobia is largely a question of perception - on the men's level I would suspect that we have not done worse than expected against Canada as compared with other tough teams. I can easily recollect some Finnish wins in best on best tournaments and also in the World Championships, and when Canada has beaten us they have usually been a very good team and much better than us on paper.

Junior level is of course different: Canadian players simply tend to be much, much readier for top level due to huge competition there, and we can rarely match that unless we have an exceptionally talented team (this year's team is offensively quite exceptional in Finnish terms, but the defence is not good at all, and that means that our good offence is in danger of being wasted). Also it seems that on junior level our traditional strengths don't come through so clearly: the teams don't overperform so greatly as they tend to do later on.

 

[Nalens Oga]

Unfortuantely, Mikael Granlund won't be allowed to rove around as much in the NHL the way he does but if they had a few more of him then it would've been a better game, player of the game for me. His brother wasn't that good though but Granlund made passes out of nowhere.

Anyone else think that the big Finnish defender was better skating forward than he was in his own end? He wasn't quick enough but not an easy guy to play against either.

Btw, how many minutes did Pysyk get? I didn't even notice he was playing between the 1st and 3rd. Also a shame that they didnt' include Bulmer on the squad, might have liked him over one or two guys and it would've given you another bruiser like Smith-Pelley (offensively, Bulmer can probably match DSP at this point anyways).

 

[Ryker]

Ok, few late comments of the game. I think, there's like 60 pages text about the thread... great.

Both, Finnish coaches and players failed badly in this, althought it was no surprise, while Helminen is just starting his coaching career. I predicted 9-2 win for Canada.
Defence didn't show that type of play what is needed. It looked like they were not ready for this game, lots of mistakes, lots of lazy plays and they really were not ready for the game.
Young d:s looked weaker, than the 92 borns's. Hakanpää surprised with his offensive game, but didnt't have a very good game defencively.
I think young D:s should play with elder D:s. Hovinen should be really weak both O & D. I think Määttä could have worked well with Hakanpää in this first game.

At offence Mi Granlund had a weak game by any means aswell as his brother. Pulkkinen played ok. Mi Granlund showed something couple of times towards the end of the game, but he seemingly had lack of selfconfidence from the start.
Donkoi had a great game... Armia played lazy. Salomäki didn't show much.

Well, what can I say, now we have 2 pairings at D and Armia is needing a playmaker and a guy who works hard. Pulkkinen and Mi Granlund should stay together.

Canada had a great game and Huberdeau was brobaply the best player in the game.
Significant was the way Canada controlled the puck. Finns trying to play a puck-control-game, but Canada was doing that.
Finns were not ready, lack of hitting and lack of battling for the puck.

In regards to the bold part - really? I thought he was your best player on the ice, and Hakanpaa also made a great impression on me. Your first line played alright, though not great, but apart from them only Salomäki and Donkoi showed anything of value, it seemed. I was really disappointed in Armia's play, though, and hopefully his game improves as the tournament progresses.

 

[Ryker]

Btw, how many minutes did Pysyk get? I didn't even notice he was playing between the 1st and 3rd.

I'm not sure, and I didn't notice him much, either. Even when I did, he wasn't playing as well as I hoped, and he seems to be the odd one out at this point. On the other hand, Beaulieu and Oleksiak weren't that noticeable, either, but they seemed a bit better with the puck and in their defensive coverage. As an Oil Kings fan, I'm hoping Pysyk will in fact get into the 3rd defensive pairing, but seeing as his play is only decent, I think this will only happen if one of the above-mentioned two slip a bit. The top 4 are namely cemented in my opinion, and they do indeed play extremely well and deserve to be getting the minutes they are.

 

[Juxtaposer]

Stone reminds me of Dany Heatley

Me too. In a good way.

I know I saw Scheifele taking shifts against Granlund in the 3rd period. Maybe the matchups changed after DSP got hurt...

Nope, Freddie Hamilton had shut-down duties and I might add that he and his line were great... Shame DSP is out, because he, Hamilton, and Howden were a stellar third line and a nightmare to play against I'd imagine.