Few things Finland needs to improve on:
- Communication in their own end, too much hasty decisions with the puck when they should've controlled it. That leads to turnovers that they cannot afford to give. Its amazing Canada didnt score more than 2.
- Defenders need to shoot the puck on target. We like to pass it back for the D jumping in on the rush and they just cant shoot it wide (there was like 4-5 of these in this game). This has been Finlands problem for as long as i can remember, our defenders shoot but never manage to hit the net. Missed shots, again, lead to turnovers.
- Armia. We simply need more from him. He didnt play a terrible game, but to me he seems abit sloppy and too confident. Like when he circled around our own goal and tried to move up ice but they canadien player lift his stick and then Armia took a hooking penalty - completely avoidable situation. This has been his problem all season long in the FEL. But IMO, he can dominate these juniors. The size, skill and even speed are there, but he needs to go mad and ****ing dominate.
Good things:
- Gibson played solid game and should be our n.1 goalie. If that was a question mark above our heads, i think Gibson showed that we have nothing to worry about.
- Granlund's played well and the chemistry is there no matter where they play it seems, very promising. Pulkkinen needs to get that shot off faster though. Mikael will find him with his passes, but Teemu has to score with quick shots he doesnt have time to load that slap shot.
- Our defense is very young, but i thought they didnt have much problems to keep up with the speed and physicality, just some easy mistakes. If they tighten it up we can be good.
Overall it was promising game IMO, we can even win the gold if we improve on the little things and cut down mistakes in our own end.