PGT: WJC Semi Finals: Game 28 | Finland Advances over Switzerland 6-1

[kings11]

Kupari is looking like the most skilled forward in the tourney for real...

Kings fans can only hope!!

 

[Saekk]

Well, that was rather anticlimactic, but on a positive note, goalscoring was finally there and the boys only needed to play 1.5 periods.

 

[Stubu]

lol what kind of military salute was that

 

[MoeTheHobo]

Well, that was rather anticlimactic, but on a postive note, goalscoring was finally there and the boys only needed to play 1.5 periods.

*5 minutes

 

[llwyd]

Still, no need to be cocky like you are. Im not negative, but still, finals are the main thing.

Cocky? The USA is the clear favourite. But I just love us playing well and getting better during the tournament - and intensely dislike the typical Finnish attitude of being always so negative and pessimistic, so sue me.

 

[Stubu]

*5 minutes

it was 2-0 in 3 minutes

 

[Keeptdos]

Happy to see the true north win .

 

[Plub]

That went exactly as expected. The Swiss had no chance.

 

[Saekk]

*5 minutes

Eh, at least the Swiss still tried after that, when they couldn't get few fast ones, they had no drive anymore.

 

[CLW]

Well done Finland. Finally the setup play was executed perfectly, very impressive especially at the start. Kudos to the players and management for a job well done. More of the same pls.

 

[Roland of Gilead]

As I said, we lost the first game against USA. Really great team. Let's see what happens.

 

[Stubu]

That went exactly as expected. The Swiss had no chance.

Signed,
Sweden

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

Woohoo well played boys
Congrats to whole team for a win 6-1. No excuses.

 

[Genu]

Hoping they can carry this play to finals, US will be really tough team to beat

 

[Kevin Musto]

Kakko vs. Hughes incoming

 

[Apocalypse Dude]

Would have liked it to have been closer but way she goes. Congrats Finland, plz win gold

 

[TeddyBare]

Who is switzerlands best player?

Like who is the highest drafted, most highly touted prospect?

 

[Barry Amsterdam]

Who is switzerlands best player?

Like who is the highest drafted, most highly touted prospect?

Kurashev

 

[Hinterland]

Ahokas has got his team so well prepared for the game. Everyone seems to know their duty.

Would have been nice if this assclown Wohlwend did the same instead of just his usual barking. He messed up yet another tournament. Thanks for nothing!

Having said that, congrats. Well deserved victory!

 

[Hinterland]

Kurashev

Great player but he's not the highest drafted player of the team and I'm not yet sure if he's the most talented

 

[FinPanda]

To the final without Vesalainen, Nordgren, Heiskanen and Kotkaniemi.. who would've thought.

 

[Rcknrollkillnmachine]

Great effort from the guys! I hope they take gold but I have that Finnish pessimism at times despite I want to believe. Probably makes every hard earned win a surprise for me.

So.... is Ahokas a good coach now or still mediocre and fortunate going by that Swedish game?

 

[Monaakko]

Great effort from the guys! I hope they take gold but I have that Finnish pessimism at times despite I want to believe. Probably makes every hard earned win a surprise for me.

So.... is Ahokas a good coach now or still mediocre and fortunate going by that Swedish game?

My view of in-game coaching is that it consists of 3 areas. 1) Player deployment, 2) Systems implementation and 3) Individual player guidance.

1) Is pretty straightforward, who do you give ice time to and when (i.e. line construction, line matching, exploiting match-ups and ice-time distribution). Ahokas has done fairly well here after the first two games when he just rolled lines 1-2-3-4 without thinking and and had an ineffective Nyman in the top 6 as well as poorly constructed first line without anyone who could win back the puck.

2) I think they play the system he wants to play, i.e. puck control. The problem has been too slow of a transition leading to fewer chances off the rush (though this improved in the SF), and a lack of aggressiveness without the puck (this I think is intentional, I just don't like it). The special teams are bad so this is on him. Overall the problem over the course of the tournament has been a lack of offence both 5v5 and on the PP, mainly due to lack of (or slow) puck movement, puck support and subpar passing, as well as problems getting to the net for screens and rebounds (again this looked better in the SF, so good on him for addressing it). Defensively the team has been fine despite the odd turnover by Latvala or Honka. Overall the system as implemented is average to above average at this level 5v5 and bad for special teams.

3) This is where I think Ahokas fails the most in contrast to the two previous gold medal winning coaches (Kivi and Jalonen). They knew how to get the most out of their star players, whereas Ahokas hasn't managed to do the same.

My view is that he's an average coach. He responded fairly well to how the team performed (still need to rein in Heponiemis 2 min shifts and the PP isn't as good as it could be), but I don't think he's a great coach.

 

[behemolari]

Great effort from the guys! I hope they take gold but I have that Finnish pessimism at times despite I want to believe. Probably makes every hard earned win a surprise for me.

So.... is Ahokas a good coach now or still mediocre and fortunate going by that Swedish game?

it's not just pessimism, Finland has no business against USA as we saw already

 

[Hossa]

Great player but he's not the highest drafted player of the team and I'm not yet sure if he's the most talented

True, Gross went higher (and Geisser, had he played, also went 120th overall). But Kurashev looks like a much better prospect than Gross at this point, and so does Berni.

What will be interesting to see is who from this Swiss team gets drafted now. Runs like this at the WJC give players profile (Tomas Tatar comes to mind), and beyond Eggenberger, I also wonder if Bruschweiler, Moser and maybe Muller get a look as a result.