WJC: Finland WJC Discussion
- Thread starter Zamuz
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They have a better team than in ages, but still its an underdog team like it always is with Finland in any competition..
Eye of Ra
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BusQuets
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- Jul 16, 2010
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I'd remove the "much much" btw Finland totally owned Russia in a small tournament few weeks ago even they missed Mikael Granlund.
Yeah, pretty much no player from that russian team is expected to make the WJC though. And the finns were beaten badly by the swedes who also missed some of their best players (Zibanejad, Brodin, Rakell etc). But the WJC is played on small ice, Granlund will be back and the tempo will go up. Maybe that fits the finish team better, you never know.
Yakupov from Finland?
Both Russia and Sweden has better team imo but Finland is the dark horse of the tournament.
Juzmo
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- Nov 17, 2009
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Coaching and the goaltending are the biggest question marks. Raimo Helminen has never been head coach anywhere before and there's no clear number one in the net. I would be happy with a quaterfinal spot.
Do you know that feeling when you're waiting for the tournament and thinking that Granlund couldn't come up to all these expectations?
Well, he can. One time when I was younger I actually had that crazy feeling. But I've learned my lesson. Granlund always is just as ****ing good as you thought him to be.
Well, he can. One time when I was younger I actually had that crazy feeling. But I've learned my lesson. Granlund always is just as ****ing good as you thought him to be.
It’s questionable whether Finland will have a better team than last year. Last year’s team had solid goaltending, good defensive core and overall better depth players. Every player on that team could be relied on in difficult situations.
The 4 nations tournament game in Vaasa between Finland and Sweden was played in a relatively small rink (28m x 58m), so in a way that game showed what some of the Finnish players could do in a small rink against a tough opponent; not a whole lot.
My guess is that Kuznetsov will be the top offensive player in the upcoming WJC’s, not Granlund.
The 4 nations tournament game in Vaasa between Finland and Sweden was played in a relatively small rink (28m x 58m), so in a way that game showed what some of the Finnish players could do in a small rink against a tough opponent; not a whole lot.
My guess is that Kuznetsov will be the top offensive player in the upcoming WJC’s, not Granlund.
HockeySauce
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- Jan 26, 2011
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Players you listed:
1992s - 6
1993s - 3
1994s - 4
1995s - 1
Very talented team, but much too young to be a medal favourite.
Could be but then if it was it would be only in points, Granlund is much more important to Finland than Kuznetsov to Russia, there are many players similar to Kuznetsov but still Russia lacks a superb playmaker, playmakers are the ones that makes your line much better and creates the scoring chances. Sure these individual snipers have 1 on 1 talent but it's not enough the further the tournament goes.
IceHockeyDude
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Considering Finland's depth, anything but a medal would be a huge disappointment. Defence is young but highly talented. Finland, Canada, Russia, Sweden, USA.. any of those teams can be on medals.
Kuznetsov’s individual talent was probably the biggest reason why Russia won the previous WJC’s. In the quarter final against Finland he scored two important goals late in the game and in the final against Canada he had 3 primary assists in the 3rd period. One word: Clutch. At this level of competition Kuznetsov has the ability to create a good amount of scoring chances for both himself and his teammates. Granlund might end up being a more important player for his team, but that's a topic for another discussion.
Anything more than a quarterfinal-spot would be great imo, i can´t see that happening though. Finland is in the same group as Canada, USA and the czechs. A third place spot in that group would be my guess, the czechs could be an underdog though. Then Finland faces either Sweden or Russia in the quarters, and thats where it probably ends.
It's normal for Finnish fans to think that they have the best team. Russians think the same, as do Canadians and so on. This really is going to be a very talented Finnish team, unfrotunately for the Fins, this is the same year that the Russians will bring their most talented team in many years.
Where Fins have Granlund, Russia will have Kuznetsov, Grigorenko and Yakupov, who I would consider to be approx. the same talent level. They're just at different age at this point.
As someone who watches Kuznetsov almost every game, I have to say that you couldn't be more wrong about him. He's foremost a playmaker with dangling ability, who can control the puck and skate into the zone or play it through a pass. Most of his goals are breakaways or through his own plays, few of them are sniper efforts.
Anyway I could go on and on why this is going to be a very close comepetition between these countries, but this is about Finland. And I'm happy to see them bring an amazing team.
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