WC: May 6 GDT - Sweden vs. Finland

[mattihp]

One thing i hope is that because of one fluke goal they dont change goalies. Lehtonen imo is better than Norrena.

Except for the big crap goal... Lehtonen was the man today. A real ice man, so cold that the swedish forwards seemed to have alot of respect for him.

 

[Shack]

One thing i hope is that because of one fluke goal they dont change goalies. Lehtonen imo is better than Norrena.

Agreed, Lehtonen was solid whole game. That was unfortunate goal, but sometime it happens. Way better than Norrena in this tournament. If they change goalies because of that goal they might also change all forwards because of zero goals.

 

[Ciccarelli]

Hmm, it's interesting that this loss may end up being good thing after all..I mean if or at this point when we're going to be third in our group, we will likely face USA in the next game. I'll rather take USA than Slovakia against our lousy D.

Fake edit: By "we" im talking about team Finland.

 

[mattihp]

Right now I think that even Pihlström should play in the next game.

Kallio has to go... And Pyörälä shouldn't play centre.

What was up with Kontiola btw? injured?

 

[mattihp]

Hmm, it's interesting that this loss may end up being good thing after all..I mean if or at this point when we're going to be third in our group, we will likely face USA in the next game. I'll rather take USA than Slovakia against our lousy D.

Fake edit: By "we" im talking about team Finland.

I don't know.. against the US we usually go either way...

 

[hdw]

Backlund looking like Lundqvist.

Nah, that'd be quite a stretch.

But Lundqvist is looking against Buffalo, and Nylander is looking even better

 

[Jokerit Wasp]

yep the goal was terrible but...

Lehtonen conceded 1 from 21

Finnish forwards scored 0 from 37....

 

[Phenomenon]

With that amount of scoring chances it is easy to say what we are lacking: quality shots and killer instinct. Most of the shots were really weak or missed the net totally. We are still missing a center for Peltonen and Lehtinen. Viuhkola does not have what it takes for a big role like this against "big countries".

Good thing was that at least Ruutu - Koivu - Kallio trio seemed to find a good chemistry, but T. Ruutu should have scored at least once from those passes. 4th line was also great.

I liked the aggressiveness, but still I would have expected taking a bit more risks to boost the offense in the 3rd period.

Too bad that Kärppä's gift became the GWG. He played otherwise well.

 

[mattihp]

With that amount of scoring chances it is easy to say what we are lacking: quality shots and killer instinct. Most of the shots were really weak or missed the net totally. We are still missing a center for Peltonen and Lehtinen. Viuhkola does not have what it takes for a big role like this against "big countries".

Good thing was that at least Ruutu - Koivu - Kallio trio seemed to find a good chemistry, but T. Ruutu should have scored at least once from those passes. 4th line was also great.

I liked the aggressiveness, but still I would have expected taking a bit more risks to boost the offense in the 3rd period.

Too bad that Kärppä's gift became the GWG. He played otherwise well.

Tuomo had a lot of bad luck... Some of those shots were bound to hit the back of the net. I think he should at least be tried as the top centre if Kontiola is nowhere to be found.


Peltonen - Ruutu - Lehtinen
Hentunen - Kapanen - Pärssinen
Pyörälä - Koivu - Bergenheim
Ruutu - Kontiola? - Pihlström

 

[Phenomenon]

Right now I think that even Pihlström should play in the next game.

Kallio has to go... And Pyörälä shouldn't play centre.

What was up with Kontiola btw? injured?

Kallio played well IMO and i.e. gave Ruutu two excellent passes into a wide open places.

Kontiola was on the bench as a 13/14th forward with Bergenheim. EW wanted to create a pure role line and therefore there was no place him (defense is not Konna's strength). Bergenheim has not shown anything special so far. Pyörälä's line was very good and Sweden had none scoring chances when they were on the ice.

Pärssinen has to go.

 

[Ciccarelli]

Peltonen - Ruutu - Lehtinen
Miettinen - Kapanen - Pärssinen
Pyörälä - Koivu - Hentunen
Ruutu - Viuhkola/whoever - Pihlström

IMO Ruutu and Koivu shouldn't be seperated, they were pretty "effective" today (didn't score though). It's right though that we should find first line center fast, there's just not plenty of chances anymore...

 

[mattihp]

Kallio played well IMO and i.e. gave Ruutu two excellent passes into a wide open places.

Kontiola was on the bench as a 13/14th forward with Bergenheim. EW wanted to create a pure role line and therefore there was no place him (defense is not Konna's strength). Bergenheim has not shown anything special so far. Pyörälä's line was very good and Sweden had none scoring chances when they were on the ice.

Pärssinen has to go.

Kallio is far too slow to play that type of play though. He is not on this level anymore and it shows.

Bergenheim has the biggest heart of all these players excluding Jere, and I'd expect big things to happen with Sean anytime.

And as much as I like Viuhkola... He slowed down that first line and at some points it hurt the team big IMO.

Konna back on that line? He looked fine there IMO.

 

[Shack]

Kallio is far too slow to play that type of play though. He is not on this level anymore and it shows.

Bergenheim has the biggest heart of all these players excluding Jere, and I'd expect big things to happen with Sean anytime.

And as much as I like Viuhkola... He slowed down that first line and at some points it hurt the team big IMO.

Konna back on that line? He looked fine there IMO.

T. Ruutu - Koivu - Lehtinen
Hentunen - Kontiola - Peltonen
J. Ruutu - Viuhkola - Pihlström
Kallio - Kapanen - Pärssinen

xtras: Bergenheim, Pyörälä

I weel like we are wasting Hentunen on that line with Kapanen and Pärssinen. Pärssinen is no where near his level a few years back and Kapanen is only usable on faceoffs.

We are out of time tough. So we have to go with the same lines like in game against Sweden. We can still change forwards from the 4th line.

 

[Phenomenon]

I don't know.. against the US we usually go either way...

In WHC tournaments the last time Finland has lost to USA was in 2001. Before that the last loss in from 1991.

 

[FinnswissX]

With that amount of scoring chances it is easy to say what we are lacking: quality shots and killer instinct. Most of the shots were really weak or missed the net totally. We are still missing a center for Peltonen and Lehtinen. Viuhkola does not have what it takes for a big role like this against "big countries".

This is a very old and well known problem of the finnish icehockey in general. Concerning their skating skills, the passing skills, the technical skills, they can keep up with almost every one, also the "big nations", but not in exploiting their scoring changes.

In front of the netminder theirs shots are too harmless, either beside the goal or directly on the body of the goalie. In don't know how this can be changed, may be they should emphasize already by the juniors the shooting training and the face to face training against the goalie.

I don't know how the killer instinct or the shots quality can be trained and improved.

 

[Phenomenon]

I don't know how the killer instinct or the shots quality can be trained and improved.

Maybe they should hire a certain car collector from Anaheim as a consultant?

 

[edd1e]

In WHC tournaments the last time Finland has lost to USA was in 2001. Before that the last loss in from 1991.

Well, i guess we should be happy that it's not year 2011, then?

 

[mattihp]

Maybe they should hire a certain car collector from Anaheim as a consultant?

Or Jari.

 

[Jokerit Wasp]

Well, i guess we should be happy that it's not year 2011, then?

Unless USA beats Canada...

 

[Matti_A]

Hmm, it's interesting that this loss may end up being good thing after all..I mean if or at this point when we're going to be third in our group, we will likely face USA in the next game. I'll rather take USA than Slovakia against our lousy D.

Fake edit: By "we" im talking about team Finland.

No offence dude, but you need to change your avatar and flag asap.


Lions and sheeps today:

3 lions:

J.Ruutu: Our best player out there imo.

2 lions:

T.Ruutu: Great game again, created lot's of chances with his linemates.
Koivu: I like Mikko. That line is playing great.

1 lion:

Kallio: Yes, Tomi actually played a good game today, and this is coming from a Kallio-hater.
Nummelin: Nummelin is having another great tournament. It must be spring-time.

1 sheep:

Lehtonen: Great game, but he ultimately cost us the game.
Peltonen: Ville better start acting like a captain. No more sloppy clearing attempts.
Pärssinen: Who?
Saravo: Had a graet first game but hasn't been able to keep his play up for the rest of the tournament.

2 sheeps:

Kukkonen: You just simply have to bury one of your chances mate.
Berg: Ugh. Need I say more. At least he didn't take his mandatory 5+20 min penalty for checking from behind.

3 sheeps:

-


As a side-note, it is nice to see that the class of 83 (Lehtonen, Koivu, Ruutu..) are really starting to take over with the oncoming generation shift and all.
Except for Joni of course. A shame that he chose to stay home and enjoy his mom's meatballs instead of doing the right thing and suiting up for team Finland.

 

[psycho_dad*]

As a side-note, it is nice to see that the class of 83 (Lehtonen, Koivu, Ruutu..) are really starting to take over with the oncoming generation shift and all.
Except for Joni of course. A shame that he chose to stay home and enjoy his mom's meatballs instead of doing the right thing and suiting up for team Finland.

Yeah it's especially cool when you think about the next world cup and olympics, since Teemu,Saku, Ville and Jere are still going very strong, Salo has even raised his game and Timonen is as good as ever. Olli Jokinen is in his prime, and these youngsters (-83's) are starting to kick major butt and becoming game breakers, also J.Jokinen is shaping up to be an offensive threat of sorts. We have never had more than two capable offensive lines, if even that. Next time around in a BIG tournament there should be one damn impressive team Finland.

 

[illone84]

Yeah it's especially cool when you think about the next world cup and olympics, since Teemu,Saku, Ville and Jere are still going very strong, Salo has even raised his game and Timonen is as good as ever. Olli Jokinen is in his prime, and these youngsters (-83's) are starting to kick major butt and becoming game breakers, also J.Jokinen is shaping up to be an offensive threat of sorts. We have never had more than two capable offensive lines, if even that. Next time around in a BIG tournament there should be one damn impressive team Finland.

ya I could see Finland doing really well in the next world cup if they even have one in 2008, especially if Kipper plays.
But most likely there wont be a world cup in 2008 so we are going to have to
wait until 2010, we might not have Selanne then.

Anyways, back to this sweden finland game, T Ruutu was a powerhouse
I am really starting to like his game,
but I'm a bit dissapointed that Finland could not beat a Swedish team with
only one current NHL'ER (A STEEN), it shows that Sweden can always win,
Finland outshot them and played better but couldnt score.

I think Sweden will beat Russia tomorrow.

 

[LeafsrGods*]

Can you swedes or other hockey fans tell me who was the best defensemen today in this game, and the best Swede forward, and defensemen in this game?

 

[psycho_dad*]

Can you swedes or other hockey fans tell me who was the best defensemen today in this game, and the best Swede forward, and defensemen in this game?

Lasse Kukkonen was the best defenseman, despite missing like 4 scoring chances. Best swedish defenseman, I'd have to say Jönsson. Best swede forward...well none of them were good today, they did not create too many scoring chances. I'd say that Jörgen Jönsson was the best swedish forward, since he was playing a very defensive role and won lots of faceoffs and they managed to somehow keep finland from scoring. There really wasn't much swedish offense in this game at all, so the best defensive forward comes to mind. He also had the best swedish scoring chance of the game, their only breakaway.

 

[Jokerit Wasp]

Yeah it's especially cool when you think about the next world cup and olympics, since Teemu,Saku, Ville and Jere are still going very strong, Salo has even raised his game and Timonen is as good as ever. Olli Jokinen is in his prime, and these youngsters (-83's) are starting to kick major butt and becoming game breakers, also J.Jokinen is shaping up to be an offensive threat of sorts. We have never had more than two capable offensive lines, if even that. Next time around in a BIG tournament there should be one damn impressive team Finland.

Not so far this tournament