GDT: Pre-Competition • Dec. 19 • Canada vs. Finland • 3-1 final score

[habsrule4eva3089]

What did you guys think of Oleksiak? From the few shifts that I saw him he seemed solid out there. He had one really good shift in the second where he clobbered a couple of finns consecutively and took the puck away in the D zone.

 

[Minister of Offence]

Visentin really had trouble gobbling the puck up tonight, we'll see how Wedgewood does but Visentin should have been better.

Really struggled with angles and calmness early...got better as went on. Something to watch for.

 

[OttawaRoughRiderFan*]

The crowd was so ****ing quiet

Yes. The arena looked 80% full but sounded 20% full.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Not bad, made the most mistakes of all the dmen i thought.

How so? Harrington had that one pinch where he couldn't keep the puck in, which Armia stole off him, went in on a bit of a 2 on 1, and got a relatively harmless shot off. That's the only error I recall Harrington making. Otherwise, he played an efficient, safe game.

 

[Flames Fanatic]

Yes. The arena looked 80% full but sounded 20% full.

I was there and it was pretty quiet. A lot of families with kids. Our section was nice and rowdy, but that was about it. I'd also say far closer to 50-60% full, as the lower bowl was maybe 70%, and then the second level was less than half, and then the top rows were pretty much empty. Once the actual round robin games start, expect it to be a lot louder.

Pelly-Smith was really going all out on hits, Oleksiak too, but the latter wasn't exactly awe inspiring otherwise. Murray left me wondering why he's touted so highly.

For the Fins, the only player that really stood out in a positive light for me was Markus Granlund. Sure he didn't have a point like his brother, but he had some great chances, and read the ice very well, always seemed to be in the perfect position for a solid chance. Also quite impressed with his time on the PK.

Joel Armia stuck out in a bad way for the Fins. Not very impressed at all.

 

[airforceones25]

smithpelly23 Devante Smith-Pelly
"I dont miss empty nets often, but when I do...I prefer the world juniors" @n8THEggr8

Hahahaha

 

[melinko]

I was there and it was pretty quiet. A lot of families with kids. Our section was nice and rowdy, but that was about it. I'd also say far closer to 50-60% full, as the lower bowl was maybe 70%, and then the second level was less than half, and then the top rows were pretty much empty. Once the actual round robin games start, expect it to be a lot louder.

Pelly-Smith was really going all out on hits, Oleksiak too, but the latter wasn't exactly awe inspiring otherwise. Murray left me wondering why he's touted so highly.

For the Fins, the only player that really stood out in a positive light for me was Markus Granlund. Sure he didn't have a point like his brother, but he had some great chances, and read the ice very well, always seemed to be in the perfect position for a solid chance. Also quite impressed with his time on the PK.

Joel Armia stuck out in a bad way for the Fins. Not very impressed at all.

Armia's biggest problem seemed to be effort, it doesn't look like hes trying until he has the puck then once he has the puck if his dangle fails he appears to give up on the puck.

 

[Obvious Fabertism]

Rewatching the game now and I guess I'll give my opinions from watching the game almost entirely from a Finnish POV. Mi Granlund looks awesome so far, I can;t imagine anyone questioning his skating and speed anymore, looks like he is on another gear compared to a majority of the players on the ice, very defensive so far though which I love for his future in the NHL, great positioning and decision making which is what the Wild are all about. Markus looks solid as well, he seems very competitive with all of Canada's best out there but a slight step below, Pulki looks solid too, Finland's top line will need to be great if they want a shot at the championship game and in the first they looked up to par. Armia had no hands at all in the first which is semi understandable but at the same time his decision making was quite poor and not at all what I was expecting having not seen him play this year. Donskoi has looked pretty good with some good stickhandling and smart puck movement, if he keeps his play up he could help carry that second line and allow Armia to get some good chances to show if he really is NHL caliber. Barkov looks skilled but young, a lot of Finnish players look intimidated, especially the D, but if Finland wants to win the gold Barkov will need to play with confidence and have a bigger impact than he has so far through the first. Canada has looked skilled but a bit sloppy which is completely understandable for the first period of the first exhibition game, although its very similar to the tryout games where no one has really stood out unlike years past. On to period 2!

 

[QnebO]

Watching the first peroid now on the tsn (thank god it works in finland) and I see sime kind of sloppinese from both teams. I dont know if its the jet lag for the finns or what, but there just is some sloppines. Granlunds and pulkkinen very decent in first peroid, from what you can say in first peroid Granlund thought has been playing good but that's still just another everyday game for him, just chilling around throwing some backhanded saucers from slow speed, looking forward when he gets rid of jetlag and has hes A-game.


Armia needs to start skating faster and hitting everytinhg that moves and thats how he could get to in to the game. Hes the sloppiest player there is. Donskoi looks good, so Salomäki is fine. Overall, as this is the teams first peroid, im pretty happy. Gibson's fine too.

Smith pelly has like 4 hits on Mikael Granlund.. Canadians are taking him guarded pretty nice.
Barkov sees much better than i would ever have expected. Hes one of the best, has to start following Tappara games guess..



Looking the second peroid, I start to feel even better about this team.. Ok, the team lost the game but its really nicely on par with Canadians, no shame at all for them. Now if they just get better and better every game as a team and even individually, they have very good tournament ahead. You dont see finnish u20 teams on par this well with Canadian u20 team this way so often.

 

[RorschachWJK]

When did the Finnish team arrive there? I didn't see the game but based on the comments, it seems that their effort level wasn't where it should be. Perhaps they were still jet-lagged?

 

[QnebO]

When did the Finnish team arrive there? I didn't see the game but based on the comments, it seems that their effort level wasn't where it should be. Perhaps they were still jet-lagged?

You can watch it on here:

http://watch.tsn.ca/world-jr-champi...pre-competition-canada-vs-finland/#clip588209

I think they can play much better but it goes pretty nice, first they just blast from every shooting place but later on the game they start to get lots of controlled attacks and good chances, they could've scored couple when it comes to half of second peroid. They probably are jetlagged, armia looks like hes not giving a **** time by time.

E:
Would have liked to see more hitting. Make them pay high price when they look down to feets close to boards like they do, this allways is tournament where you're supposed to take hard runs at everything you possibly can and keep your own head up. They finish the checks but i'd like to see more"anger" on the hitting and going with more power to hits.

 

[Obvious Fabertism]

Absolutely loved Mikaels play in this game, haven't seen him this year outside of highlights but he was tremendous all game long. If this wasn't his A game then I don't know what to say because he looked like the most complete player on the ice by far to me. Donskoi I felt had a good game, showed a lot of talent and good puck decisions while having good positioning. Armia looked pretty bad with a few flashes of his skills now and again, some pretty stupid passes and turnovers though that would be incredibly costly during the real games. Barkov impressed me a lot as well for how young he is, not the best defensively but he every other part of his game looked solid with some pretty elite hands and vision. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up getting some good PP time during the tournament, he certainly looks like he would be dangerous. Finland's D looked way too intimidated with the exception of Maata who I thought played a very sound game despite also having a few mistakes, at least he looked confident with the puck and showed some good skills. I'm guessing the D will be better after a few practices and games against lesser opponents then the Canadians.

 

[QnebO]

Absolutely loved Mikaels play in this game, haven't seen him this year outside of highlights but he was tremendous all game long. If this wasn't his A game then I don't know what to say because he looked like the most complete player on the ice by far to me.

Def it wasnt a bad game for him, it was pretty good game but just on regullar level, sometimes when hes on fire then you really know hes on fire.

Liked how #4 Mäkinen has played so far

 

[thomast]

Absolutely loved Mikaels play in this game, haven't seen him this year outside of highlights but he was tremendous all game long. If this wasn't his A game then I don't know what to say because he looked like the most complete player on the ice by far to me. Donskoi I felt had a good game, showed a lot of talent and good puck decisions while having good positioning. Armia looked pretty bad with a few flashes of his skills now and again, some pretty stupid passes and turnovers though that would be incredibly costly during the real games. Barkov impressed me a lot as well for how young he is, not the best defensively but he every other part of his game looked solid with some pretty elite hands and vision. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up getting some good PP time during the tournament, he certainly looks like he would be dangerous. Finland's D looked way too intimidated with the exception of Maata who I thought played a very sound game despite also having a few mistakes, at least he looked confident with the puck and showed some good skills. I'm guessing the D will be better after a few practices and games against lesser opponents then the Canadians.

Barkov had his first official game in small ice . He looked solid defensively especially at PK he positioned well, worked hard at the D. Offensively he should be more Brave and need more confidence. Granlund had an ok game, didn't show his sniping ability only created chances. Granlund is one of the most Compete players at FEL. His two way game is criminally underrated.

 

[Muuri]

Watching the second period and Mi.Granlund just had a great shift. Nice deke, puck protection and Forsberg/M.Koivu type reverse hit on Gormley.

 

[QnebO]

Canadas last goal was from horrible mistake.. Actually good, so they can learn from it and it was kinda 2-1 game without that mistake. I liked this effort as a first game effort, very comfortable going against Checz and Slovaks. Will TSN show more games on demand?

 

[bebl]

OMG that Hovinen sucks...

 

[behemolari]

Barkov had his first official game in small ice . He looked solid defensively especially at PK he positioned well, worked hard at the D. Offensively he should be more Brave and need more confidence. Granlund had an ok game, didn't show his sniping ability only created chances. Granlund is one of the most Compete players at FEL. His two way game is criminally underrated.

normally on those plays he would snipe to kill. on exhibition games he's just having fun, doing dekes and saucer passes for practice ..honestly said he really has to, those passes were still fluttering.

 

[Finnpin]

OMG that Hovinen sucks...

So you are watching a re-run and commenting here like it's live.

 

[Haite]

for some reason he was just passing on plays he would normally put that killing sniper

"Normally" is not the word I'd use here. When Granlund snipes, he snipes and when he doesn't he doesn't. He scored half of his this season's goals in SM-liiga by scoring 8 goals in the last seven games.

 

[Statsy]

Will TSN show more games on demand?

Yes, they will likely be putting all the games they broadcast in their on demand archive throughout the tournament.

 

[QnebO]

normally on those plays he would snipe to kill. on exhibition games he's just having fun, doing dekes and saucer passes for practice ..honestly said he really has to, those passes were still fluttering.

One guy who could influence and act like this came to my mind:

Helminen, dont force him to just throw some saucers, he can shoot too, hes not next Raipe!

 

[Unkki]

Hovinen was really bad, so now IMO he will be sent out, not Nyqvist. So slow and ****** player in this competition.

Finland's best defense-pair was probably Ristolainen - Riikola. Ristolainen was great with his passing game, I think that every pass he gave, found own player. Riikola was good too. Pokka was horrific in own zone, Määttä showed nothing special but was good in front of own goal. Hakanpää played pretty good, but that third goal was his fault. Mäkinen played pretty good too, but he's pretty soft, so that's why he plays with Hakanpää.

 

[zorz]

Yes, they will likely be putting all the games they broadcast in their on demand archive throughout the tournament.

How long do they keep games available there?

 

[QnebO]

Hovinen was really bad, so now IMO he will be sent out, not Nyqvist. So slow and ****** player in this competition.

Finland's best defense-pair was propably Ristolainen - Riikola. Ristolainen was great with his passing game, I think that every pass he gave, found own player. Riikola was good too. Pokka was horrific in own zone, Määttä showed nothing special but was good in front of own goal. Hakanpää played pretty good, but that third goal was his fault. Mäkinen played pretty good too, but he's pretty soft, so that's why he plays with Hakanpää.

Mäkinen was really good imo, didint hesitate, was even pretty rough in front of the net. Positive suprise. Hakanpää was pretty solid, that one big mistake, but he brings the size that D def needs.

I think Mäkinen and Määttä are the best based on this game defensively. We dont have a another Vatanen this time looks like, thought määttä supported attacks couple of times but really didin't make rushes himself with stickhandling and coast to coasting like Vatanen. I dont know if hes even supposed to, I never have seen him playing but been hearing about hes offensive side. Well, we dont need so skilled offensive D-mens this year with this skilled forwards.