U18: 2017 U18 WJC Semifinal Finland vs Russia game talk.

[Jussi]

Misty! 2-1 Finland!

 

[Huokaus]

UTUNEEEEEEN WINS IT!

Thanks Russia for a very entertaining game. We both had our chances, could have gone either way

 

[joe89]

Finland's OT specialists these days.

 

[Hfbsux]

Kupari made the play happened, very good game by the Finns' 2000s.

 

[jepjepjoo]

Finland is dominating juniors

 

[Asiantuntija]

Kupari made the play happened, very good game by the Finns' 2000s.

Exactly. That was huge play by him, right from the beginning when he take puck away from Russia till the moment he passed it to the blue-line.. He plays very well in both ways.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

This is 3rd time in row Finland is in the finals. Hoping to see Sweden in the finals.

 

[FinPanda]

Three in a row, now lets get the gold.

Utunen what a shot!

 

[Ny rillataan]

Is it just me watching the game through blue-and-white colored glasses, or did Finland have a lot of takeaways throughout especially in their own zone?

 

[FinPanda]

This was close because of Zhukov, he played amazing game.

 

[thomast]

Team russia looked bit nervous at OT. Finland won because they were more confident with the puck rather than do shaky simple plays. Pretty suprised about that because normally russian players oozes confidence.

 

[Hfbsux]

Is it just me watching the game through blue-and-white colored glasses, or did Finland have a lot of takeaways throughout especially in their own zone?

Did they ever! Their work on the board was something else. Seems like every player on the team is a beast at protecting the puck and winning battles.

 

[Yakushev72]

The better team definitely won! Coaching is everything at U18, and you could really see the difference in this game. Russia has some good players, but they lack coherent strategy and tactics to give the kids a reasonable chance to win. They could do at least as well if they just fired all the coaches and allowed the kids to coach themselves! Good luck to Finland in the Finals.

 

[DaJackal]

Very good and enjoyable game even though small amount of goals! This draft class may not have elite Finns (except from maybe Heiskanen, but that remains to be seen) but it is crazy deep.

Kudos to Russia, they played well. Their goalie was good, I almost felt a bit sad about that GWG.

 

[llwyd]

Weird game in the sense that Finns had really many flashy individual plays and Russians relied more on disciplined defence and counterattacks plus a really great goalie (there's a prospect I would say). I don't mind this role reversal at all...

 

[Kshahdoo]

The worst thing about it, Tretyak now will probably not fire Golubovich, because "it's a good result", especially if they win the bronze.

 

[Legend Leinonen]

Ylönen scores and he looks just like his dad

I thought he looked nothing like his dad. Thankfully doesn't play like his dad either.

Juha:

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

The better team definitely won! Coaching is everything at U18, and you could really see the difference in this game. Russia has some good players, but they lack coherent strategy and tactics to give the kids a reasonable chance to win. They could do at least as well if they just fired all the coaches and allowed the kids to coach themselves! Good luck to Finland in the Finals.

Or then Russia's hockey association should bring Bragin in U18 team .
That Utunen's overtime goal wasn't Zhukov's goal that and shot was real cannon blast and Zhukov didn't have any chance to save that.

Russia defended their zone in 3rd period really well.
This was really close game which could have gone the other way.

Good luck for Bronze game Team Russia and thanks for very entertaining game.

 

[FinPanda]

1996 group - U18 10-0 QF loss to Sweden, then WJC U20 gold in 2016
1997 group - U18 silver
1998 group - U18 gold
1999 group - U18 gold/silver

 

[MaxV]

Good game, can't be too disappointed with performance from Russia.

They showed creativity offensively, just lacked finishing.

The issue with this team is that they rely on top line way too much and Finns did a great job of shutting them down (had some chances).

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

Been watching the Finland team closely at the tournament. Is it just me or all of these players could easily go in the first round: Heiskanen, Vesalainen, Vaakanainen, Rasanen, Tolvanen and Valimaki. Also loved Kotkaniemi and Ikonen's play and am now wondering if Ikonen is close from being 1st rounders. Should be a really, really strong draft for the Finns!

Heiskanen,Tolvanen,Vesalainen,Vaakanainen and Valimaki are all likely 1st rounders.
Then there's Ikonen and Jokiharju and even they have chance to go late 1st round or at least early 2nd round.

Räsänen is big d-man but he has some flaws in his games.
Especially skating, hand-eye coordination and also he's a bit soft of a player with his size. I see him go somewhere in rounds 2-6 in NHL draft.

 

[FiLe]

Let's add one thing to the record...

1996 group - U18 10-0 QF loss to Sweden, then WJC U20 gold in 2016
1997 group - U18 silver, then WJC U20 relegation series in 2017
1998 group - U18 gold
1999 group - U18 gold/silver

Of course, there's been some overlap between these age groups. But this kinda shows the impact of competent coaching on junior level. It's especially not a flattering record to Rauli Urama.

 

[FinPanda]

Urama with the U20 relegation series team and U18 10-0 team..

Good add.

 

[Mestaruus]

Like others said, got to love the type of coaches Finnish hockey association is hiring for U18. Really just the right type of up and coming young elite coaches.

This year's coach Nieminen's one principle was that the guys are not afraid of mistakes and players won't immediately be punished if they did some mistakes and you could really see it in the energy etc that the players brought every game. Total opposite to the coaching of our U20 team and the fiasco with Rautakorpi & Urama.

 

[illone84]

Like others said, got to love the type of coaches Finnish hockey association is hiring for U18. Really just the right type of up and coming young elite coaches.

This year's coach Nieminen's one principle was that the guys are not afraid of mistakes and players won't immediately be punished if they did some mistakes and you could really see it in the energy etc that the players brought every game. Total opposite to the coaching of our U20 team and the fiasco with Rautakorpi & Urama.

Indeed. Rautakorpi did not emphasize creativity whatsoever. No autonomy to the players until it was too late (post "player/coach" meetings before Rautakorpi got canned, if I recall correctly).
The 2017 U20 team was afraid to make mistakes and it really showed. They didn't have much confidence.

Hats off to Nieminen. Looking good. Also, I can't wait for the 2018 WJC and what Jussi Ahokas can do with his team.