GDT: Group H • May 4 • Belarus 0, Finland 1

[llwyd]

Actually quite ok for an opening game, we have even managed to lose these or win only after penalties, so a clean win is quite good. Too early to say anything much about the lines, we'll see soon enough what works and what doesn't.

 

[JabbaJabba]

Pretty good game, I was glad to see that Granlund looks better than in the playoffs. Also Joensuu and Lehtonen were good. I'm a bit dissapointed in Jokinen and Pesonen who just couldn't put the puck in.

 

[InjuredChoker]

Lol at all the Finnish fans throwing their team under the bus after one game, once again.

As Finnish we either A) praise them to heaven or B) curse them to hell. No middle ground.

And every young promising player is either next Selänne, Kurri, Koivu or total bust. No middle ground either.

 

[BalticWarrior]

As Finnish we either A) praise them to heaven or B) curse them to hell. No middle ground.

And every young promising player is either next Selänne, Kurri, Koivu or total bust. No middle ground either.

I think it`s like that for most fans in the world no matter what country you`re from and what sport you follow

 

[Eye of Ra]

How did Pillu play?

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

How did Pillu play?

Fast, physical, made a difference

 

[Mestaruus]

Though to me, Immonen looked just fine... as did the whole team. In fact, if a guy called Vitali Koval hadn't had a rather productive night at work, we'd be seeing a lot less witch hunts here right now.

We made Vitali Koval good. Mask men? And yes 1 more match is ok to be given, but if things wont get better, we have to start trying different things. It's important to give them some time, but haven't PIG got enough time in the practise games already? Would expect little bit better of them.

Not to mention this line was our worst in the defensive end. Belarus created most goal scoring opportunities when they were on the ice.

So again 1 game is ok to be given, but we can't give them too much time if things aren't going to start changing. There have been tournaments were Jalonen was blamed about not changing the lines before it's too late. That's a possibility again this year.

Jokinen-Koivu-Filppula
Granlund-Kapanen-Komarov
Pesonen-Immonen-Joensuu
Pyörälä-Kontiola-Pihlström

Above would be the lines if we don't see better of PIG in next game. Then adding a version where J.Jokinen is moved out of #1.

Komarov-Koivu-Filppula
Granlund-J.Jokinen-Joensuu
Pesonen-Kapanen-Tuppurainen
Pyörälä-Immonen/Kontiola-Pihlström

 

[QnebO]

It's important to give them some time, but haven't PIG got enough time in the practise games already? Would expect little bit better of them.

My opinion slightly different..

Im not worried about PIG a bit at the moment. I think they were good on their game, did really good offensive job, had lots of chances, just got a bit unlucky and were too fancy sometimes. Didint see immonen having any problems there. The goals will come.


Jokinen, instead, did have some problems to my eye. Even in basic stuff like taking the pass. He's the one who im following next game hoping he improves. Filppula can improve too, but he wasn't bad.

Koivu was good, just what you expect from him. But probably even he can still improve thought and shoot better, the first line also went too fancy.


Fourth line was not good. It has been important thing for Finland, now it was only moderate. Thats what I would probably change to next game.

 

[Mestaruus]

Fourth line was not good. It has been important thing for Finland, now it was only moderate. Thats what I would probably change to next game.

True. Just Pihlström was good. He continued where he left off in the last practise game against SWE (well EHT game). Kontiola had some good moves in the first minutes of the game too, but then we didn't hear much of him after that.

J.Jokinen as center in any line. I'd really like to try that. If we want to move Kontiola out of the lineup J.Jokinen should definately take a center position as he hasn't shined yet. This would give space to bring Tuppurainen in.

 

[Lapa]

I don't like Pyörälä.. He has been pretty useless in offensive zone. Yes, I know he is a 4th liner but still.

 

[FiLe]

We made Vitali Koval good. Mask men? And yes 1 more match is ok to be given, but if things wont get better, we have to start trying different things. It's important to give them some time, but haven't PIG got enough time in the practise games already? Would expect little bit better of them.

Jesus F. Christ with you...

Somebody said last night that HFBoards is all about the last 24 hours. I'm starting to see why.

First of all, all of our lines were good last night. They lacked finish, but other than that, none of them looked like they had players that were jarringly off the page. Some of them were a bit invisible but still didn't hamper down the general game. I can't even recall when was the last time we began a tournament with four lines that truly all seemed to be in harmony. Last year we had two. Year before that, one. Year before that... two. And despite this, by the end of each of those tour we had at least three that were able to contribute somewhat.

Now, we have all four from the get-go. In other words, the groundwork's been made all right. This is no time to start shuffling players. They don't have to work with tuning the basics, so they can concentrate on figuring out the minutiae like better scoring. It will come.

Luckily, the odds are our NT bench bosses are not the bright specimens populating these boards.

 

[espo*]

Hmmm.

Not an especially awe inspiring win by the Finns.


Maybe the pressure of winning it last year and having to back it up in their own backyard this year will weigh heavily on this team.

Something to think about..................especially if we have to play them.

 

[ThinMcWhistle]

Wow...

1 game down, and a win.. People are talking like we just got spanked by a div.1 country. Let's not forget that while losing to Germany last year we still won gold.

Slovakia match will show what this team is made of. Btw, Sweden only beat Norway 3-1, does that make them bad?

 

[FinRuutu]

Hmmm.

Not an especially awe inspiring win by the Finns.


Maybe the pressure of winning it last year and having to back it up in their own backyard this year will weigh heavily on this team.

Something to think about..................especially if we have to play them.

First game of the tournament has always been hard for Finland. No one can really make assumptions based on this but I wouldn't be worried about the level of Finland's play. We saw few glimpses of how good can team Finland's game be when it rolls.

I would worry if our team wouldn't have created scoring chances. Koval was absolutely rocking and had luck on his side.

You could concentrate to see the bad things:
-J.Jokinen and few others didn't produce like everybody has expected in the first game.
-Our team didn't win by 3-4 goals like everyone would have liked it to.

Or the good things:
-First period showed that Finland at it's best can be dominating team.
-Lehtonen was absolutely rock solid. As calm as they come.
-Koivu-Filppula clicked trough out the game.
-Granlund was great.
-Komarov played good game.
-Pihlström was better than expected.
-Joensuu had a good game.
-We won.


One game, one win. No real reasons to jump to any conclusions.

 

[mattihp]

I don't like Pyörälä.. He has been pretty useless in offensive zone. Yes, I know he is a 4th liner but still.

His balance, positioning and timing seemed off. I am guessing he was playing injured.

 

[Eisen]

Not even close if you check out lippupiste.fi. Though not catastrophic.
Cheap tickets are sold out and lots of plus 150-196€ tickets left for lower bowl.

Ridiculous prices for lower bowl.