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Team Finland @ 2013 World Championships

FiLe

Mr. Know-It-Nothing
Oct 9, 2009
6,915
1,282
JerkeyLumme said:
I wonder what Jalonen and gang have done to piss everyone off so much?
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Nothing. It's not so much a motivation issue than it is an age-based one.

Most top teams have median ages of around 25 years. That means their players are mainly 20-30 years old. At this moment, it means players born from early to late eighties.

Russia and Sweden for example, have tons of stud-class players born during those years. We have very few. If you can get one Korpikoski to NHL and the rest are second-rate SM-leaguers, then it's EXACTLY the team you're going to have at this age and time.

Really. Jalonen is NOT to blame.
 
vanskillZ

vanskillZ

Registered User
Aug 11, 2011
52
3
Very interested to see what this SM-Liiga/KHL squad can do. Will they fail or rise to the challenge?
 

FiLe

Mr. Know-It-Nothing
Oct 9, 2009
6,915
1,282
One thing I'd recommend you guys to take a look at is how the groups are divided between Stockholm and Helsinki. I'd say we got the far easier one for once.


Let's compare, seed vs. seed...

Canada or Russia? - Both are tough, but I still rather have Russia. Especially since they won't apparently be having nearly all of their superstars.

Czechs or USA? - Not that the Yanks will be pushovers, but I still take USA, no question.

Switzerland or Slovakia? - Wash. The Swiss play a very tightly-knit game and will probably be b**ch to score against. The Slovaks have some good individuals, but won't be as organized.

Norway or Germany? - Germany. The Krauts can pull an upset if our guys are asleep, but Norway's just as organized and fit as the Swiss, if not even more so.

Denmark or Latvia? - Wash. Danes have far more upset potential, though.

Belarus or France? - France, please. Belarus' trap has always been a hard one for us. Even more so now when we're a little short on skill.

Slovenia or Austria? - Here's where I'd rather have Slovenia, but our guys really should go to themselves if they lose to Austria, Vanek or no Vanek.
 

Mestaruus

Registered User
Apr 11, 2011
4,829
1,730
Doesn't matter if it's Russia or Canada in group IMO. Finland has no chance vs either this time. So Canada and Russia will steamroll their groups and the excitement is about if Finland can place better than #4 to avoid Russia in the game of death. I also rather take USA, because WC means more for the Czechs than for USA so Czech would be tougher team to face in the game of death. I'd say this Czech-USA thing is the biggest difference between the groups. Everything else is almost irrelevant (okay rather avoid BLR over France :]).
 

FiLe

Mr. Know-It-Nothing
Oct 9, 2009
6,915
1,282
Mestaruus said:
Doesn't matter if it's Russia or Canada in group IMO. Finland has no chance vs either this time. So Canada and Russia will steamroll their groups and the excitement is about if Finland can place better than #4 to avoid Russia in the game of death. I also rather take USA, because WC means more for the Czechs than for USA so Czech would be tougher team to face in the game of death. I'd say this Czech-USA thing is the biggest difference between the groups. Everything else is almost irrelevant (okay rather avoid BLR over France :]).
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I'd say Germany - Norway and Latvia - Denmark also make a difference. The Norwegians can be really tough and disciplined SOBs especially in the early stages of the tournament. The only reason why they're not regulars in the final round yet is that they tend to run out of gas towards the later ones.

Also, Danes have better individuals than the Latvians and can therefore cause trouble for any defense prone to occasional mental lapses. Like ours.


And concerning the team overall, the amount of declinations and who's to blame... as much as I dislike the guy for occasional overt sensationalism, here's a good read by Juha Hiitelä: http://www.iltasanomat.fi/mmkiekko/art-1288561312529.html

Nails it, I might say.
 

Mestaruus

Registered User
Apr 11, 2011
4,829
1,730
Still gonna say Danes & Norwegians are even. Both have some positives and negatives however quite clueless which of their big names will be playing in the WC.

Well let's see about the Danes. Regin in Ottawa doing playoffs and so is Lars Eller in Montreal. Bödker from Phoenix free maybe? Frans Nielsen NY Islanders doing playoffs. I'm very clueless about both teams' Euro players so going to give up which is better. If Danes had some more of these names in I would've given the advantage to them though. Soo tie it is :P...
 

FiLe

Mr. Know-It-Nothing
Oct 9, 2009
6,915
1,282
Mestaruus said:
Still gonna say Danes & Norwegians are even. Both have some positives and negatives however quite clueless which of their big names will be playing in the WC.
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They are pretty close to each other. But that's irrelevant towards our Lions, since both play in Stockholm.

Regardless, I'm quite sated that we have Germany and Latvia in our own group instead of those two.
 

Mestaruus

Registered User
Apr 11, 2011
4,829
1,730
Actually remembered 1 of them was in our group. My bad.

So glad about Korpikoski joining and I thought he's one of those guys that almost always refuses. Now he completely redeemed himself and can potentially be a big hero. This certainly raises my interest level of the team 10 times.
 
toewsintangibles

toewsintangibles

Leadership analyst
Dec 23, 2012
1,541
123
Mestaruus said:
Actually remembered 1 of them was in our group. My bad.

So glad about Korpikoski joining and I thought he's one of those guys that almost always refuses. Now he completely redeemed himself and can potentially be a big hero. This certainly raises my interest level of the team 10 times.
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He will absolutely shame our "top wingers" like Salminen, Hagman, Haataja, Pesonen etc
 

Finnswiss

Registered User
Apr 28, 2013
151
119
Uff..... you Finns are very pessimistic about your team this year. But may be they will surprise us and reach even more than the quarterfinal.

You never know.... miracles can sometimes happen.
 

FiLe

Mr. Know-It-Nothing
Oct 9, 2009
6,915
1,282
Kettu said:
Korpikoski in Jormakka(?) out. At least we have somehow decent first line Korpikoski-Kontiola-Aaltonen(?)
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I suspect the (initial) top-six will be:

Pesonen - Kontiola - Aaltonen
Salminen - Viitaluoma - Korpikoski

Pessi and JMA were a good pair on EHT. JMA has past history with Konna as well. VV and Salminen were a staple together through the preliminaries.

Dismas said:
Uff..... you Finns are very pessimistic about your team this year.
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We're ALWAYS pessimistic. It's the secondary national sport.
 
Last edited:
Haite

Haite

x
Jun 27, 2011
3,961
2
I thought the joke was that pessimism is our secondary national sport. But yeah, Finnish baseball/pesäpallo is the national sport, ice hockey is the most popular and soccer has most hobbyists.
 

Finnpin

"internet"
Oct 10, 2005
11,735
10
Helsinki
I'm still waiting a "Finnish Baseball" getting a team and success in Helsinki region. It's labeled too much as a hillbilly sport.

:laugh: at MTV3 whoring these games again and it will grow...

and maybe so many NHLers said NO, as they don't want be part of Mr. Kummola's milking machine.
 

JJTT

Registered User
Jan 18, 2013
7,734
1,310
Oulu
Janne Pesonen – Petri Kontiola – Juhamatti Aaltonen
Sakari Salminen – Ville Viitaluoma – Juha-Pekka Haataja
Veli-Matti Savinainen РJarno KoskirantaРAntti Pihlstr̦m
Niklas Hagman РJuha-Pekka Hyțnen РMarko Anttila

extras: Miika Lahti & Pekka Jormakka

Sami Lepisț РJuuso Hietanen
Janne Jalasvaara – Ossi Väänänen
Tuukka Mäntylä – Teemu Laakso
Lasse Kukkonen – Ilari Melart

Lineup from todays practice per mtv3
 
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