Olympics: Semis Game Thread: Slovakia vs Finland

[mattihp]

Nope! Without Ramsay we would be nowhere near the semifinal.

Yes you would. Your pp with the teeny would have destroyed Finland last time around.

 

[Antiillafire]

Slovakia's problem is old and outdated. Listens to the name Ramsay.

Partly, but I won’t completely fault him. He made some bad decisions roster wise. His usage of Nemec has angered me. And him putting Jurco and Pospisil together. The powerplay, don’t even get me started on that

 

[Jussi]

Jalonen said there's various ways of winning games and this was one of them.

 

[Jakk123]

Slovakias story reminds me so much of Finlands journey to the top, so close so many times (1988,1994 etc) It kind of feels like a path you just have to go through, enough of these and soon you’re winning and a serious contender year in year out

How so? We have already been among the serious contenders in the past and right now we are not even remotely close to consistently being there again. Sure, even if we end up being 4th, this would be a great tournament for us, but it still doesn't mean much in the bigger picture.

 

[vlady]

Yeah I meant like nhl teams not wanting these guys so they should just give up and move to Europe which would have guaranteed them a spot in the instance NHL pulls out. For Slovaks I mean Jaros, Sekera, Panik, etc. Even Halak, as evident by Canucks fans opinion of him.

I don't think Panik, Sekera and Halak would improve this team. They are all spent force. The hunger is not there any more. Maybe Jaros could be a bit of help, but even that is questionable.

If Halak was available, maybe Rybar wouldn't even make this team, yet he has probably been our MVP (with Slaf, of course)

 

[kendoman]

Really ugly way to win. Slovakia was really good and maybe the better team today. Finland played an ugly but a winning game.

 

[Raimo Sillanpää]

VMP

Feels almost embarrassing to see the Finns reach the final with that kind of play. Awful. This team just lacks the heart and soul of previous Jalonen teams were every win felt totally deserved and some losses felt unjust, not this time, had a bit of a similar feeling against the Swiss too.

The Finns will get slaughtered in the final, and I'm not looking forward to it.

Every coin has two sides. The catenaccio of Maldini-Baresi-Costacurta-Donadoni and boring 1-0 wins for Milan and Italy for a decade
Or absolutely perfect defence owning the opposition and raising the bar for excellence.

1-0 can be a dominant win. Defending to win, even Canada does it. Salt Lake City, Finland seemed to dominate Canada but couldn’t get a decent chance -> Canada defended perfectly forcing to the edges and suffocating the center. They played the same way in Sochi, strong defence is a valid tactic

 

[BullLund]

Giving up an early lead to a Finland team coached by Jalonen is a nightmare.

 

[lawrence]

Slovakia's problem is old and outdated. Listens to the name Ramsay.

not really.

fins got the 1st goal and just trapped all the way through.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Yeah, I don't understand how working your ass off defensively because your coach clearly told you that's the game plan is "lack of heart". Pretty pathetic coach potato take if you asked me.

Probably the only real fault of Finns today was not to score on PP.

 

[Antiillafire]

I don't think Panik, Sekera and Halak would improve this team. They are all spent force. The hunger is not there any more. Maybe Jaros could be a bit of help, but even that is questionable.

If Halak was available, maybe Rybar wouldn't even make this team, yet he has probably been our MVP (with Slaf, of course)

And the hunger is there with Cajkovsky, Rosandic, Marincin, Hudacek?? All 4 of which can’t skate for modern game. Sekera would easily be our best dman, and Panik always plays well in NT. Jaros would help as well.

 

[elMatador]

That's harsh. Especially when team scores 0 goals.

As a Bruins fan I was happy while he was on the Leafs. Defensively he just sucks, every game a giveaway machine.
I just don's see what Ramsay sees in Marincin. Yeah, he killed that 5 on 3 PK today but that was rather a crappy play by Finns than him being useful.

 

[FiLe]

Jalonen said there's various ways of winning games and this was one of them.

Almost an echo of something he said after the game vs. Latvia.

 

[tuniak]

We let the Fins win as payment for developing our prospects . Jokes aside, well played from both teams and good luck in finals.

 

[SoundAndFury]

As a Bruins fan I was happy while he was on the Leafs. Defensively he just sucks, every game a giveaway machine.

That's exactly how it seems, you are just singling the guy out because you don't like him. His team scored 0 goals and by your reaction, it would seem he scored on his own net himself while in reality, you could blame 3 other people for that goal.

I mean hate him all you want but pinning this loss on him is textbook scape-goating.

 

[lawrence]

Yeah I meant like nhl teams not wanting these guys so they should just give up and move to Europe which would have guaranteed them a spot in the instance NHL pulls out. For Slovaks I mean Jaros, Sekera, Panik, etc. Even Halak, as evident by Canucks fans opinion of him.

if you ask me in hindsight of course sending nhlers wouldn’t have been a problem, practicality all the men hockey players didn’t miss a game. I know 6 Russian players arrived positive but was good To go by their 1st game. The whinny Finnish captain also made it in time for,their game. no athletes missed their events because of quarantine.

that said if nhlers went, so would have Americans and fins too, so I don’t know if Slovakia would have had enough to beat USA or even a Finland with nhlers….

 

[vlady]

And the hunger is there with Cajkovsky, Rosandic, Marincin, Hudacek?? All 4 of which can’t skate for modern game. Sekera would easily be our best dman, and Panik always plays well in NT. Jaros would help as well.

All of them contributed one way or another to our semifinal presence.

The other thing is that the decision that NHL player would not come to the Olympics came AFTER the season started. So unless these "selfish" players had a crystal ball, they had no way of knowing that they should break their NHL contracts to play at the Olympics.

 

[Matti_A]

Every coin has two sides. The catenaccio of Maldini-Baresi-Costacurta-Donadoni and boring 1-0 wins for Milan and Italy for a decade
Or absolutely perfect defence owning the opposition and raising the bar for excellence.

1-0 can be a dominant win. Defending to win, even Canada does it. Salt Lake City, Finland seemed to dominate Canada but couldn’t get a decent chance -> Canada defended perfectly forcing to the edges and suffocating the center. They played the same way in Sochi, strong defence is a valid tactic

You might win playing like this but the margins are way too small, a few bounces go the other way and you are caught with your pants down and you are scrambling to change your game strategy.

And it's frankly unwatchable, this game caused me a lot of agita, winning a gold like this feels almost tainted.

It's a different story if you are the clear underdog, then it's understandable. The finns had no business playing like this.

 

[elMatador]

That's exactly how it seems, you are just singling the guy out because you don't like him. His team scored 0 goals and by your reaction, it would seem he scored on his own net himself while in reality, you could blame 3 other people for that goal.

I mean hate him all you want but pinning this loss on him is textbook scape-goating.

I have seen enough of him since his Oilers days to know what to expect from him. I didn't like his roster selection as I didn't like Dano's. Both have been a masive liability. Instead of them there could have been 2 different players who might have not taken a slash across the face or shit his pants every single time when there is a quick rush to defend.

 

[BullLund]

You might win playing like this but the margins are way too small, a few bounces go the other way and you are caught with your pants down and you are scrambling to change your game strategy.

And it's frankly unwatchable, this game caused me a lot of agita, winning a gold like this feels almost tainted.

It's a different story if you are the clear underdog, then it's understandable. The finns had no business playing like this.

The thing about Jalonen though is that he's capable of changing his strategy. If Slovakia had evened it up, I don't think he would've been caught "pants down", he would've just told his players to get back to work.

I think he just felt like Slovakia's goal-scoring potential wasn't too impressive, and he's obviously very confident in Säteri. A one-goal lead was all he needed to win, and he was right.

I agree though that it's extremely ugly and boring to watch. But we also have to acknowledge that there's not that much talent in this team, to provide a show for the fans. A lot of the dependable vets from past Jalonen teams are getting older, there's no youth whatsoever in this team and a handful of guys are already in their late 30's.

 

[SoundAndFury]

You might win playing like this but the margins are way too small, a few bounces go the other way and you are caught with your pants down and you are scrambling to change your game strategy.

If only the most successful coach in Finnish history would know these ways of ensuring the victory you talk about... Well, one can dream of non-tainted golds but alas. The tainted ones will have to do

 

[Antiillafire]

That's exactly how it seems, you are just singling the guy out because you don't like him. His team scored 0 goals and by your reaction, it would seem he scored on his own net himself while in reality, you could blame 3 other people for that goal.

I mean hate him all you want but pinning this loss on him is textbook scape-goating.

Marincin, Cajkovsky, Rosandic, Hudacek, Jurco, Pospisil. Unfortunately, the Finn’s have much more quality. Cajkovsky, was so bad, I would consider scratching him tomorrow. Daloga would probably be better.

Dano was good. At keeping the bench warm that is. Yet, somehow I could see him scoring tying goal if he played

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Finland a top 2 team like predicted before the tournament.

 

[Lartsaman]

An ugly game. Do whatever it takes to win.

I almost expected that Slovakia would beat us after so many years, but it did´nt went that way this time.

 

[RageQuit77]

*arranging a private shrine for Jalonen to the corner of my living room*

Ugly, yes! Effective, hell yeah!

The didact, architect, and the artist, at the peak of, and in total control of his art.

GG Slovaks! No shame!