GDT: Quarter-final • Jan. 2 • Finland 8, Slovakia 5

[Panopticon]

Bottoms up!

Aaah. So people were misspelling it intentionally just so they could drink... should've guessed.

To sum it up. Slovaks could have easily won that game if not for the terrible play by Aaltonen and even more hideous call by the ref. And will be waiting for the suspension to Mikael Granlund for that childish and stupid kick on the player laying down on the ice.

Maybe you shouldn't be in charge of the summaries... They're not supposed to be misleading.

 

[slovakiasnextone]

Why is Sami Aitakulli's name always spelt wrong?

Because he couldn´t have been serious with his performance tonight

 

[SPMaximus]

To sum it up. Slovaks could have easily won that game if not for the terrible play by Aaltonen and even more hideous call by the ref. And will be waiting for the suspension to Mikael Granlund for that childish and stupid kick on the player laying down on the ice.

 

[SoupyFIN]

Aaah. So people were misspelling it intentionally just so they could drink... should've guessed.

What, finns drinking alcohol? Never.

 

[wikiwikiwiki]

What a horrible call

+1..

 

[Bojovnik]

To sum it up. Slovaks could have easily won that game if not for the terrible play by Aaltonen and even more hideous call by the ref. And will be waiting for the suspension to Mikael Granlund for that childish and stupid kick on the player laying down on the ice.

Come on now, the Aaltonen call was bad, and I have some gripes with some non calls in the lead up to the third and fourth goals, but I don't think we could have "easily" won that game. We were only within two goals of them in the third period. Sure, we may have got some luck if Toman hadn't been denied by Aittokallio's one good save of the night, but we still would have had to score twice more to win, and despite what their fans may think about their performance, I always felt that if they wanted to, Finland could have taken it up fourth or fifth gear and have taken it up a notch if they went behind.

I didn't like that our players started to act rather petulantly towards the end of the game, but then again they are kids, and I think both sets of fans are agreed that it was a brutal call. It's neither players "fault" in a way, as it wasn't the best of hits by Chovan, but Aaltonen did nothing to help himself by turning in that way, but the refs called it as they did, and whilst I'm angry (well, not angry, more disappointed), and I do think it stopped what could have been a very interesting ending, it wasn't that call which lost us the game.

For me, I'm happy that we're not in the relegation round more than anything, and our guys left everything on the ice.

 

[FiLe]

Bottoms up!

Apart from these, there's also been "Aitakikolo", "Aitokapalo", "Aattokikuli", "Aittakuolio", "Aitakaluli", "Aitonkallipallio", "Atitikolaolli", "Aitokalli-whatever-his-name-is-o" ...ow, my liver.

 

[Dynamo81]

Glad to see the Fins in the Semi's, always said that first game by them was no indication of how they will go. Good to see the bounce back.

Slovaks surprised me winning against the Swiss and even today, after 6 from 7 relegation rounds in last 7 years it is good to see them with a top 6 finish.

 

[Mestaruus]

Raipe, don't even think about putting Gibson in goalie against Sweden... If he makes that mistake we've lost the game. Aittokallio will let 0-1 goals against Sweden, i'm sure of it.

 

[kitsumo]

Come on now, the Aaltonen call was bad, and I have some gripes with some non calls in the lead up to the third and fourth goals, but I don't think we could have "easily" won that game. We were only within two goals of them in the third period. Sure, we may have got some luck if Toman hadn't been denied by Aittokallio's one good save of the night, but we still would have had to score twice more to win, and despite what their fans may think about their performance, I always felt that if they wanted to, Finland could have taken it up fourth or fifth gear and have taken it up a notch if they went behind.

I didn't like that our players started to act rather petulantly towards the end of the game, but then again they are kids, and I think both sets of fans are agreed that it was a brutal call. It's neither players "fault" in a way, as it wasn't the best of hits by Chovan, but Aaltonen did nothing to help himself by turning in that way, but the refs called it as they did, and whilst I'm angry (well, not angry, more disappointed), and I do think it stopped what could have been a very interesting ending, it wasn't that call which lost us the game.

For me, I'm happy that we're not in the relegation round more than anything, and our guys left everything on the ice.

Well given that the easily part wasn't quite accurate but Slovaks started the third period way better than Finland, scoring a goal and outshooting Finland. I was stoked by that come back from Slovaks after Finland clearly dominating the first two periods. It's a shame that we couldn't see how it would have ended without that call. I've seen those moves like Aaltonen's in NHL and the rough calls by referees and I just hate it.

 

[Christien]

Any video highlights of the game?

 

[Jack DiBiase]

U guys know Tomi Kallio? Yes? Ok, nice, so if you want to spell Aittokallio right, just practice to write "Aitto" and after that remember that Finnish player "Kallio" and add his last name next to "Aitto".

Sami Atomikallio?

 

[FiLe]

Sure, we may have got some luck if Toman hadn't been denied by Aittokallio's one good save of the night, but we still would have had to score twice more to win, and despite what their fans may think about their performance, I always felt that if they wanted to, Finland could have taken it up fourth or fifth gear and have taken it up a notch if they went behind.

After reading posts like these, and more I think about this game by myself, more and more I start seeing it as deserved result after all. I mean, it's not like the Finns got help from refs in the actual scoring. And considering the game was 6-4 at the time, it had really been blown wide open a long time before that. Sure, Finland used that chance to bury it for good, and while many of us Finns think (me included) that our guys really hadn't looked like a team who deserve to win it, Slovakia had looked like one even less. Realize this, fellow Finns, and there's your reality check.

A Pyrrhic victory perhaps, but not an unfair one, considering the winner was the team that admittedly sucked, but still sucked less than the other guy.

 

[Jussi]

Pulkkinen is just too greedy. It's sometimes a good thing, but can cripple the PP. Especially when MiG seems to have a desperate desire to feed Pulkkinen's greed all the time.

That plan would work if we had players in front of the goal. But one MaG won't do the trick.

According to Seppänen, no one on the team knows how to screen a goalie properly. He plans to expose this in his next column (should come out soon).

 

[SoupyFIN]

Apart from these, there's also been "Aitakikolo", "Aitokapalo", "Aattokikuli", "Aittakuolio", "Aitakaluli", "Aitonkallipallio", "Atitikolaolli", "Aitokalli-whatever-his-name-is-o" ...ow, my liver.

Ye, I just didn't feel like going through all the 35 pages. It would have taken over 9000 hours.

Sami Atomikallio?

Stop it, my liver hurts.

 

[slovakiasnextone]

After reading posts like these, and more I think about this game by myself, more and more I start seeing it as deserved result after all. I mean, it's not like the Finns got help from refs in the actual scoring. And considering the game was 6-4 at the time, it had really been blown wide open a long time before that. Sure, Finland used that chance to bury it for good, and while many of us Finns think (me included) that our guys really hadn't looked like a team who deserve to win it, Slovakia had looked like one even less. Realize this, fellow Finns, and there's your reality check.

A Pyrrhic victory perhaps, but not an unfair one, considering the winner was the team that admittedly sucked, but still sucked less than the other guy.

I think this is a bit unfair on our boys to say that they sucked or sucked more than the Finns in this game, because they actually came out there and for the most part they gave it their 100%. Maybe it would be more fair to say tha the Slvoak team sucks in general if you want to use such words as with a few exceptions their skill level just isn´t that high as the Finnish one is. So it wasn´t a case like the Finns who actually had elite level talent that just didn´t perform, instead there was a bunch of kids in Slovak jersey that were actually playing better than they usually do and if they somehow had managed to come back to the game in the 3rd if there wasn´t for that penalty and won it -can t know whether it would have happened, so I guess it makes no sense to wonder, but if it somehow did I personally would feel like the win was well deserved win for those boys. Don´t really like this whole deserved win idea , I mean the number of games I recall that Slovakia has been the "better team" and still lost and on the other hand on the "undeserved" wins for example against Sweden at the OG or against US at 2009 WJC. Nowadays in hockey it happens very often that the team who isn´t the better team on ice wins and it doesn´t mean that all those wins are undeserved.

I dunno whether you have seen this team before, but this was a real good performance from the Slovak team, especially for example compared to the game against Sweden where we just waited in neutral/D zone right for the Swedes to come with absolutely no intention of playing an offensive game right form the very first minutes of that game.

 

[FiLe]

I think this is a bit unfair on our boys to say that they sucked or sucked more than the Finns in this game, because they actually came out there and for the most part they gave it their 100%.

I apologize, I never wanted to insult the mentality of a player giving it all to their jersey. That does not, however, mean that they would be good enough to win it as a team. I mean, look at the numbers. I couldn't honestly go in front of a mirror after a game where my team allowed eight in and say "boy, we were good today". I wouldn't do that even after allowing six.


[Next part not aimed at anyone in particular.]
I guess I can't just stop here without acknowledging that huge "what if" hanging around concerning the result without that one call. But still, the refs didn't bury Slovakia. Finland buried Slovakia by sinking two more in. The refs didn't kill Slovakia's "comeback drive" either, considering there was none to be seen at the time. It was very even-out, coast-to-coast hockey with both teams a bit on the nervous side when the puck was in their own end. Also, the refs didn't really even screw their chance for one, since that call didn't come at the very end of the game, there was still little less than nine minutes of play left! If that team really would've been good enough to win it, they'd used some disclipined team play to kill that penalty and then, with 3:40 still left in the clock, go on full-charge mode to get those missing two to force an overtime. Killing a major penalty is a mean feat, but nothing that really finds its way into any ballads. And I've seen some royal comebacks in less than half the time that would have been available.

Nope, instead of what was described above, we saw the team that was leading in scoring by two at the time get two more onto the scoreboard and call it a day. I don't think that a team that needs to rely solely on flukes or reffing can do that either.

So maybe I exaggerated or generalized a bit when I said both teams "sucked". Was it a flawless or near-flawless victory for the Finns? No. But was it a victory that came after a lucky pounce or something similar? Again, the answer is no. In the end, plain and simple, Finland won that game by being good enough to take it. And therefore, while I do feel bad for the Slovakian fans, I certainly don't share the sentiments of some Finnish ones. The aftertaste is not as bad as some of us make it seem to be.

 

[dudyst]

Bad zebras? who care...are you watched Wing Hawks game or winter classic? Zebras was not worst than usual

 

[dudyst]

What if? f it....congratulations and destroy the opposition suomi!

 

[llwyd]

for the reffing. I don't know if I've ever felt this awkward after a game we won. I don't think we deserved it. Or at least the other team would've deserved a fair fighting chance. The only good thing about today's game is we play against SWE tomorrow. But oh boy if we show up like this tomorrow. Respect to the SVK and best of luck to the next game.

What??? Is this a beauty contest now? The most important game of the tournament and we WON it. That's it. Were we at our best, no, did Slovakia play well, yeah, I guess. It's over now and we won. Or maybe we could just present Slovakia with semifinal place, posthumously? Höh.

 

[MMANumminen]

What Slovakia? We play against Swedes in semi's tonight!

Special thanks for referee for making the W sure. Not that it had anything to do which team won the game. It was bad call sure but why so serious. It's not like we lost a game on purpose or something.Slovakia was pinned to a bridge the whole game and they used their few scoring chances well. Besides Äitikallio we played well.

How many shots Pulu had? He slapped the puck almost everytime he got it. Good that one went in.

I am pretty sure I have been playing NHL12 on ps3 with Donskoi. He is the prototype of puck hog, played well though. Imagine a line Pulu-Donskoi-Armia

And in your face MG critics. The kid is leading scoring how about that. Sure he has given more giveaways than usual but afterall he's been our best player hands down.

Good entertaining game, Slovakia no shame you fought well and showed skill

 

[Panteras]

Did Atukazuluwarrior do his fist-pumping today?

 

[Rupert Giles]

Congrats Finland! Good to see you guys in the semis. I am predicting that it will go to OT tonight (in the semis)

 

[Arktos]

Did Atukazuluwarrior do his fist-pumping today?

Aitakuntakintellio was pissed after the game and went straight to the bench after final whistle whitout even a slightest celebration.

 

[Spawnisen]

I'm sorry for the bad goals for the Slovaks but I'm happy we won it, so in a bad way