GDT: Pre-Competition • Dec. 21 • Slovakia vs. Finland • 0-3 final

[Systemfel]

2012 WJC PRE-COMPETITION
DECEMBER 21, 2011 • WINSPORT RINK A, CALGARY
3 AM CET
4 AM EET

Finland Roster
(Possible lineup)
11 Markus Granlund — 20 Mikael Granlund (C) — 6 Teemu Pulkkinen
27 Joonas Donskoi (A) — 22 Miikka Salomäki — 10 Joel Armia
15 Miro Aaltonen — 16 Aleksander Barkov — 9 Alexander Ruuttu
29 Otto Paajanen — 23 Petteri Halinen — 28 Mikael Kuronen
13 Markus Hännikäinen, 14 Roope Hämäläinen

2 Olli Määttä — 12 Ville Pokka
4 Konsta Mäkinen — 7 Jani Hakanpää (A)
3 Simo-Pekka Riikola — 5 Rasmus Ristolainen
8 Miro Hovinen — 26 Julius Nyqvist

30 Sami Aittokallio
31 Christopher Gibson
Scratched: 1 Richard Ullberg

Slovakia Roster
12 Richard Mráz — 29 Marko Daňo — 13 Tomáš Jurčo
17 Marek Tvrdoň — 10 Matej Hinďoš — 22 Miloš Bubela
27 Tomáš Matoušek — 16 Matej Bene — 23 Lukáš Cingel
24 Filip Vaško — 23 Matúš Chovan — 19 Vladimír Dolník
20 Martin Ďaloga

21 Martin Marinčin — 25 Martin Gernát
3 Adam JánošÃ­k — 14 Peter Čerešňák
11 Michal Čajkovský — 6 Peter Trška
7 Mário Kurali

1 Juraj Šimboch
30 Dominik Riečický
Scratched: 2 Richard Sabol​

Click to read more...

 

[Zamuz]

No streams i suppose?

4-1 Finland

 

[FiLe]

The Slovaks aren't televising it and neither is TSN, so I guess there's no point staying up...


Should be a pretty decisive win for Finland, unless Slovakia utilizes total shutdown defense mentality - which would probably be the smart thing, looking at their lineup.

 

[SPMaximus]

59 goals by #64

i hope there will at least be some form of live updates

 

[FiLe]

59 goals by #64

We don't have a player with that number in this tournament... it's #20.

Agree with the count though.

 

[QnebO]

Got to admit i dont know Slovakian team very well, but I'll still bet we'll win this one. Finland challenged Canada pretty well in the first pre-competition game.

Probably wont be streamed.. Unleses some canadian channel shows this. Heard that Slovak TV is not going to deliver, finnish network mtv3 starts broadcasting when the real games start.

 

[Muuri]

I hope Armia plays better and scores.

 

[Zamuz]

I hope Armia plays better and scores.

IMO Armia was one of our best forwards against Canada, might have had most shots of Finland too. People just have too high expectations on him, Donskoi and Salomäki had much worse game in that line. Sure Donskoi had some nice moves but every single of them ended to be a blocked shot or he lost the puck.

 

[Haite]

It's weird how much people's opinions about how some of the Finnish players played against Canada differ so much.

 

[Unkki]

Finnish lines in first message are not right, I believe that at least defence pairings will be same than in Canada-game. Like this:

Määttä - Pokka
Hakanpää - Mäkinen
Ristolainen - Riikola
Hovinen - Nyqvist

Waiting for a convincing 3-4 goal victory for us. Let's see what Ullberg shows in net, Gibson was good and Aittokallio ok too.

 

[SoupyFIN]

Let's see what Ullberg shows in net, Gibson was good and Aittokallio ok too.

Ullberg is playing? This should be interesting..

 

[Unkki]

I don't know if Ullberg plays, but I assume that he does, because two of three goalies played against Canada but not Ullberg. It would be logic and smart to put Ullberg in net. I mean, he deserves to prove what he can do. I don't know yet, who is nro. 1 goalkeeper for Finland, so I think that there is competition between these three and everyone has to get a chance.

 

[SoupyFIN]

I don't know if Ullberg plays, but I assume that he does, because two of three goalies played against Canada but not Ullberg. It would be logic and smart to put Ullberg in net. I mean, he deserves to prove what he can do. I don't know yet, who is nro. 1 goalkeeper for Finland, so I think that there is competition between these three and everyone has to get a chance.

This would make the most sense, but knowing the finnish coaching staff- expect the unexpected.

Guess I'll try to follow this game too when i wake up for the Sharks at around 5:30 am.

 

[FiLe]

I don't know if Ullberg plays, but I assume that he does, because two of three goalies played against Canada but not Ullberg.

If they've already decided that Ullberg's going to be the reserve, your assumptions might be wrong.

Not that I'd personally mind which one of them ends up in whichever role, we've got a pretty even trio after all.


And what comes to our 2nd line, I think they all were quite convincing invididually. But when compared to the natural-looking cohesive play the 1st had, that left something to be desired.

 

[zorz]

Ullberg is playing? This should be interesting..

Gibson's reaction?

 

[SoupyFIN]

Gibson's reaction?

 

[Krotak]

I just hope for improving chemistry and nobody gets hurt.

 

[fr9dd9]

yeah

lets do some damage finns, 7-1 i think

 

[Marre]

If they've already decided that Ullberg's going to be the reserve, your assumptions might be wrong.

Not that I'd personally mind which one of them ends up in whichever role, we've got a pretty even trio after all.

But why take Ullberg to the team at all, if they were sure beforehand he would be reserve and they wouldn't even play him in pre-games. I can only understand choosing him for two reasons. Either they thought they may have to play him or they took him to learn the ropes for the next year. In that case it would be very valuable for him to play little bit in this level and that could easily be done in pre-games. If they just needed the third goalie to hang around in case Aittokallio or Gibson would get hurt, they could have easily chose someone with much less extra package and easier to the team spirit.

Even if Ullberg being the reserve goalie is already clear, they really don't have to play Aittokallio and Gibson now to make sure, which one is the starter. There are many games in short time, so it may be best to use both goalies anyway. Just start with Aittokallio against Canada, Gibson against USA, make your decision and play your backup against Denmark and your starter rest of the games.

Anyway I do believe Aittokallio is intended starter, if for no other reason, than that he is the one using the helmet that was painted according the winning proposal in their competition. It would made sense to paint that helmet for their intended starter.

 

[FiLe]

But why take Ullberg to the team at all, if they were sure beforehand he would be reserve and they wouldn't even play him in pre-games.

Ehh... because these teams usually have three netminders with 'em?


I certainly can't claim to know what's going on inside Raipe & co's heads, and I'll be extra careful too to make any concrete predictions especially after posting those bogus lines for the last game.

Perhaps they'll let Ullberg play, perhaps they do not. It's just that this close to the tournament, the coaches should have most of the roles sorted out already. So I wasn't reacting exactly to the prospect of letting Ullberg play at all or not, but to the apparent assumption that he'd somehow still have a chance to steal a playing job, p'haps even become the starter. I mean, it's less than a week and one exhibition game to go. There's just no way they're still juggling with such a crucial question as the goalie roles this close to the beginning. If they are, it's simply bad management.

 

[Marre]

Ehh... because these teams usually have three netminders with 'em?

I'm quite sure they could have done other choices. Some even without being too obvious with it. No one would have bat an eye if they chose Iilahti. Even Perhonen or Tuohimaa would have been possible without much ado. For off-ice reasons Ullberg is riskier choice, so I just assume they had a good reason to choose him instead of someone else. Like counting on him being a possible starter for WJC 2013 or something.

 

[FiLe]

For off-ice reasons Ullberg is riskier choice, so I just assume they had a good reason to choose him instead of someone else.

I really hope you're not referring to the "incident". I must say that Ullberg would be about twelve different kinds of idiot to pull that stunt again, especially while representing the national team in a major tournament. That would be a career-ending move.

I reckon they picked Ullberg because he's actually been quite impressive recently. There's no rule that says your reserve has to be inferior to the playing tandem. Add those aspects to the fact that he's eligible next year like you mentioned as well, and I figure quite a few people would have popped a question or two if they'd picked someone else. I certainly would have.


Oh, and Tuohimaa is -91 born. Not eligible.

 

[Haite]

I wonder if there's a live boxscore or anything like that.

 

[fr9dd9]

I wonder if there's a live boxscore or anything like that.

yee me to

 

[traffic cone]

yee me to

The reason they let Ullberg play as well is that Sami Aittokallio is the clear number one goalie. Gibson and Ullberg battle for the backup spot.

So simple.