Team Finland in World Championships

[hifk88]

Antero Niittymäki

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/hockey/14521684.htm

"The Flyers were trying to locate Niittymaki, who is overseas with Finland at the World Championships in Latvia to tell him to return to the U.S. for surgery."


I hope he stays in Latvia, because Finland needs him if we wanna win the gold.....


Edit: So, he continues to play in Latvia like Pihinalle said.

link:http://www.kaleva.fi/cfscripts/kiekkok/index.cfm?m=story&id=569328&LOGGEDtunniste=0
'

 

[pihinalle]

Niittymäki plays against Czech. He's okay. Flyers can't even tell him what to do anymore.

 

[Paatos]

Niittymäki plays against Czech. He's okay. Flyers can't even tell him what to do anymore.

Phew. That's nice to hear.

 

[ThinMcWhistle]

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/hockey/14521684.htm

"The Flyers were trying to locate Niittymaki, who is overseas with Finland at the World Championships in Latvia to tell him to return to the U.S. for surgery."


I hope he stays in Latvia, because Finland needs him if we wanna win the gold.....


Edit: So, he continues to play in Latvia like Pihinalle said.

link:http://www.kaleva.fi/cfscripts/kiekkok/index.cfm?m=story&id=569328&LOGGEDtunniste=0
'

If we lost Niitty we'd be Finnish-ed.


I can't even imagine going back to Norrena at this point...
That's like driving a Lada, and then getting a Mercedes and then going back to the Lada.

 

[Finnpin]

Tommi Santala will now play in the games and in the 1st line:

Miettinen - Santala - Peltonen

This was great move by coaches...

 

[Caz]

Tommi Santala will now play in the games and in the 1st line:
Miettinen - Santala - Peltonen
This was great move by coaches...

Personally, I find the third line

JJokinen - MKoivu - TRuutu

even more interesting. All born
'83 and have played together
in the JWCs.

Also in my humble opinion
Bergenheim should be on the
second instead of Hentunen,
but let's see how this lineup
works tomorrow.

At least Erkka is not afraid of
trying different combinations.

 

[sleb]

Tommi Santala will now play in the games and in the 1st line:

Miettinen - Santala - Peltonen

This was great move by coaches...

Not so sure about that, since Santala wasn't very convincing in the preliminaries. He is cold for matchplay, and hasn't played with Miettinen since HPK years, and made his first appear with Peltonen just recently. That trio qualifies as 1st line only 'coz of Peltonen.

I really hope they prove me wrong.

2nd is stable, solid. No need for Bergenheim, he aint got the hands.

3rd is where we pour all hopes to. Let's just pray, this chance for T.Ruutu is the one he holds on to. He's been disappointing with his play, few checks here and there aren't even close to what he's expected to bring to the team.

4th? Keep it simple, stupid... I'd rather pick Ruutu-Hahl/Pirnes-Rita.

D is what it is, only one solid pairing we can count on. And that is, for how long...

 

[Hensta]

Jep. Santala's first game and right away in 1st line. Why on earth Erkka do not use Malmivaara? His better than Luoma!

Is Erkka waiting still someone? Laaksonen?

3rd line is our future 1st line. Hopefully guys play well on Friday.

 

[Matti_A]

Does anyone know why AJ Niemi and Tom Koivisto weren't even invited to team Finland's training camp?

They would have been among our top 4 d-men for sure in this tournament.

Please don't tell me Erkka chose not to invite them at all.

 

[Joe MacMillan]

Does anyone know why AJ Niemi and Tom Koivisto weren't even invited to team Finland's training camp?

They would have been among our top 4 d-men for sure in this tournament.

Please don't tell me Erkka chose not to invite them at all.

someone said on the finnish board that Niemi has a broken finger.

 

[Susanna]

Tommi Santala will now play in the games and in the 1st line:

Miettinen - Santala - Peltonen

This was great move by coaches...

I wish they would televise these games in the states!!!!! How has Peltonen's playing measured up to his performance in the olympics?

 

[ThinMcWhistle]

Now that Colorado has been booked for the first available tee-off, will Antti Laaksonen be added to the Finnish roster?

 

[Matti_A]

I wish they would televise these games in the states!!!!! How has Peltonen's playing measured up to his performance in the olympics?

In one word:poorly.

He hasn't really stepped up in a leading role that you could expect from a captain imo.

 

[edd1e]

In one word:poorly.

He hasn't really stepped up in a leading role that you could expect from a captain imo.

Just wait when the games get tough

 

[Finnpin]

Finnish tv YLE just interviewed Mike Keenan and he said Olli Jokinen will join the team!

I don't believe that it was a north american small talk

If Olli comes, we will party drunk at the TORI

 

[ThinMcWhistle]

Finnish tv YLE just interviewed Mike Keenan and he said Olli Jokinen will join the team!

I don't believe that it was a north american small talk

If Olli comes, we will party drunk at the TORI

 

[edd1e]

Olli Jokinen is just what we need, and he's coming!

 

[Piggish]

Westerlund just confirmed on Yle that Olli Jokinen is joining the team. His ankle injury has healed quicker than expected. He's the number one center Finland has been missing.

 

[pihinalle]

2nd is stable, solid. No need for Bergenheim, he aint got the hands.

Somebody made himself look stupid

 

[Panopticon]

Somebody made himself look stupid

Very true. Bergenheim has improved a lot and I'm glad Westerlund chose him.

 

[Finnpin]

Very true. Bergenheim has improved a lot and I'm glad Westerlund chose him.

Maybe my stats about Sean was wrong (Jääkiekkolehti: 97 kg) but he ain't that much. Maybe around 90kg. Though I have always liked Bergenheim's game. The dude can skate, he can hit, little bit of hands, and gives everything always! Perfect in Jarkko's line!

I'm so pissed atm...maybe I should go to Latvia with the other finnish boozers

 

[svea]

Niittymäki will not play in this tournament anymore. Norrena will take his place. Any talk of Finland being a serious medal contender can be forgotten after this. Instead they can look to improve on their last year's 7th place.

 

[Tume]

Niittymäki will not play in this tournament anymore. Norrena will take his place. Any talk of Finland being a serious medal contender can be forgotten after this. Instead they can look to improve on their last year's 7th place.

Que?

Finland is still easily a serious medal contender. There hasn´t been a clear-cut favourite in these championships yet.....everyone of the big 7 has chances to win.

I´d rank the teams like this now:

Group 1: Canada, Russia
Group 2: Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden
Group 3: USA, Switzerland, Belarus, Slovakia

So, Canada & Russia a notch above CZE/FIN/SWE....and those three a notch above the rest.

 

[Finnpin]

This is Norrena's huge chance! He can win us games if he's on fire but we really need more our PP working and offense scoring goals from the many chances they get.

I just don't see Norrena to win 3 straight against top medal favourite teams so no gold for us.

But let's see...

 

[Matti_A]

This is Norrena's huge chance! He can win us games if he's on fire but we really need more our PP working and offense scoring goals from the many chances they get.

I just don't see Norrena to win 3 straight against top medal favourite teams so no gold for us.

But let's see...

We can all hope Ikken plays like he did in that Sweden game in the Karjala Cup last year, because that's what it's gonna take for team Finland to have a chance at a medal.

Personally I can't see him winnig us more than perhaps the qf.

If we face Sweden with Norrena in goal were dead. Norrena+Sweden+Important game = Total disaster