WC: 2015 — Team Finland

[QnebO]

Watch out Crosby.

Mäntylä will make Crosby respect team Finland too much. And he is the captain, so it will stick to whole team. And that's why Canada will be completely freezed when that legend skates on ice and we get the W.

 

[Periwinkle]

I'm guessing KJ saw the practice games, then the other teams' lineups, realized how thoroughly effed we are, and realized we have to check all the teams to death. Hence no Risto. I ain't even mad.

Let just hope Team Canada and the other teams view this as a nice beer-drinking vacation after a disappointing season.

 

[llwyd]

Ok, so we once again have the worst possible team ever and no-one will never even spit at the Lions again and everyone is beforehand ever so ashamed of our players that they could burst? Hmm, I somehow thought that this slot was taken already last year?

Yes, too bad that for some marginal choices we have gone for the past instead of the future, no, we will still most probably be very competitive in the tournament.

But anyway, pass the popcorn, let the negativity flow...

 

[QnebO]

Ok, so we once again have the worst possible team ever and no-one will never even spit at the Lions again and everyone is beforehand ever so ashamed of our players that they could burst? Hmm, I somehow thought that this slot was taken already last year?

Yes, too bad that for some marginal choices we have gone for the past instead of the future, no, we will still most probably be very competitive in the tournament.

But anyway, pass the popcorn, let the negativity flow...

We aren't mad because we could lose. We are mad because we aren't this bad hockey country, but that ****** makes wrong choises.

How can you ever be positive about this? Tell me how? I'm 100% optimist, and I hate pessimists.

If these guys battle, say silver, then we should blame KoJo for the fact we didin't get gold. And so on. Only way those choises are right is we win gold.

#wherespalola

 

[llwyd]

We aren't mad because we could lose. We are mad because we aren't this bad hockey country, but that ****** makes wrong choises.

How can you ever be positive about this? Tell me how? I'm 100% optimist, and I hate pessimists.

If these guys battle, say silver, then we should blame KoJo for the fact we didin't get gold. And so on. Only way those choises are right is we win gold.

#wherespalola

Äh, really, really marginal choices - it has been proven that year after year Finland outperforms expectations, so maybe we could once in a while give some credit to our coaches, maybe those professionals with actual responsibility for the results do know better than us backseat drivers with no responsibility whatsoever.

In any case, whoever the players, I will cheer for our team and do think that they will, once again, be a strong contender perennially underestimated by friend and foe alike.

 

[QnebO]

RR wasn't good enough for Erkka last year either. He also threw out Pokka and TT and filled the team with grinder wingers. I agree that a few games shouldn't determine the fate of any player, their entire season should be evaluated and taken into account while making these choices. I would trade Jokipakka, Ohtamaa, Mäntylä or Salmela for Ristolainen in a heartbeat. The only thing that is missing from this farce is that OJ and his 10 regular season points join the team based on status.

RR wasn't good enough for Erkka last year either. He also threw out Pokka and TT and filled the team with grinder wingers. I agree that a few games shouldn't determine the fate of any player, their entire season should be evaluated and taken into account while making these choices. I would trade Jokipakka, Ohtamaa, Mäntylä or Salmela for Ristolainen in a heartbeat. The only thing that is missing from this farce is that OJ and his 10 regular season points join the team based on status.

RR wasn't good enough last year. This year he was.. Last years team wasn't perfect but it didin't have this bad mistakes in selecting players. We're not taking Palola, two time scoring title winner and the best available, almost only real sniper with Pulkkinen that we even have. Aguess KoJo doese't think thats important.

OJ would be just fine. He'll grind well in bottom lines, he's not gonna be any problem if not an asset. Problem is we left real assets out of the team on purpose. At least he picked Donskoi.. probably he was doubting that most of he's choises

 

[rduck1]

It's a suboptimal lineup, with a bunch of bad calls. You can be upset about that, and I'm right there with you. However it doesn't mean the team is awful and will suck automatically. Like we saw last year, sometimes the coaches make really dumb-looking choices and it ends up paying off. Sometimes they know better. We have to let them make that case on the ice before judging too harshly.

 

[QnebO]

In any case, whatever the team I will cheer for our team and do think that they will, once again, be a strong contender perennially underestimated by friend and foe alike.

I will cheer them too, but this time, sadly, it feels that we are actually really likely to flop big time. I'm not saying this often. I haven't ever doubted a team this much during my time in Hfboards.

That said, they are tough guys and hopefully they'll just forget the coach and play hockey and bring us respectable hockey to watch.

 

[FiLe]

You know, while the Ristolainen cut is bizarre, compared to last year we actually have a far more balanced team overall. Add Rinne/Koskinen and we're good to go.

Slot-by-slot evaluation follows...

Defense, puckmovers: Lepistö, Hietanen, Lindell
Defense, in-between: Salmela, Mäntylä
Defense, stay-at-home: Ohtamaa, Jokipakka, Jaakola

Centers, pure skill: Kontiola
Centers, in-between: Barkov, Kemppainen, Immonen
Centers, defensive: Hytönen

Wingers, skill guys: J.Jokinen, Aaltonen, Donskoi, J.Pesonen
Wingers, in-between: Ruutu, Hartikainen, Louhivaara
Wingers, grinders: Komarov, Pihlström, H.Pesonen

Snubbing RR was the ONLY questionable move. Other than that this team makes far more sense than Erkka's royal brainfart last year. It is NOT a team built to win games by turtling up.

 

[JJTT]

Hopefully Marjamäki takes over after next year when his contract with Kärpät is up. At least he is not obsessed with finding the right roles for everyone like Erkka/KJ are.

 

[Sabane]

I'm very disappointed that we have guys like Ohtamaa, Mäntylä and Jaakola and KoJo dropped RR55 :/ Also surprised that Palola didn't make the team but nevertheless Team Finland looks OK. Probably 5th best roster on paper so semifinal spot would be good.

 

[Chileiceman]

Why was Sakari Salminen cut? Was he bad in pre-tournament. Him and Immonen would have had great chemistry.

 

[Dueling Banjos]

You play us (Slovenia) on 7th, gonna be an interesting match, hopefully we can do some damage with our first two lines (not that i expect miracle on ice):

Urbas-Kopitar-Mursak
Sabolic-Ticar-Jeglic

 

[JJTT]

Why was Sakari Salminen cut? Was he bad in pre-tournament. Him and Immonen would have had great chemistry.

No earthly idea. Was probably our best forward in the games he played.

 

[QnebO]

We need Canadian coach. He'll just pick the best players available, and these days we have some good players so we could do good. Does this thing even have any kind of logic? Do they have idea what is their system going to be? If they do it's good, but they weren't able to play any system in last games.. At least erkka had he's defensive system in place.

 

[Sabane]

No earthly idea. Was probably our best forward in the games he played.

Something to do with last year? Declined to play at WC so now he has no place for the NT? If he's not injured I can't imagine any real reason to leave him out of the games.

 

[BusQuets]

We need Canadian coach. He'll just pick the best players available, and these days we have some good players so we could do good. Does this thing even have any kind of logic? Do they have idea what is their system going to be? If they do it's good, but they weren't able to play any system in last games.. At least erkka had he's defensive system in place.

How has that worked for Canada in the WC?

 

[QnebO]

How has that worked for Canada in the WC?

How has our system worked? If the only real aim is gold, then not so well.. Perhaps you can only grind and defense so far. The championships have come, even for us, with offensive hockey. Of course gold teams are always solid both ways, but they have very good offense and leading scorers.

If KoJo has some system, then it might be fine. Strangely enough no one is talking about that system much.. does somebody know it?

 

[FiLe]

We need Canadian coach. He'll just pick the best players available, and these days we have some good players so we could do good. Does this thing even have any kind of logic? Do they have idea what is their system going to be? If they do it's good, but they weren't able to play any system in last games.. At least erkka had he's defensive system in place.

KJ has a system. The system IS the reason why our coaches don't pick the "best players available" - they pick the guys they think can execute the system best.

Ristolainen could not in these preliminary games, so by that logic it's justified. However, I personally still think they shouldn't have cut him, since our systems are never so complex that our players could not pick it up if given time. RR would probably have played better and better as the tournament progressed, just like he did at the WJCs.

So yeah, a mistake if you ask me. But let's not let that single mistake overshadow the whole. Because if you look at the team as a sum of its parts, you'll notice that Jalonen made all the right choices otherwise. There are no major oddities among our forward group, and even all of those d-men who ended up making it over Ristolainen are no slouches. No Marttilas or Korpikaris around.

 

[Sabane]

What is with the KHL. Our top3 (Salminen, Koskiranta, Enlund) were dropped out and we have Kontiola (1+10) and JMA (10+24) are going to play top6 minutes?! "JMA and Kontiola have a great chemistry between". How about Enlund and Koskiranta, 30+60, TOGETHER this season...

 

[BusQuets]

How has our system worked? If the only real aim is gold, then not so well.. Perhaps you can only grind and defense so far. The championships have come, even for us, with offensive hockey.

If KoJo has some system, then it might be fine. Strangely enough no one is talking about that system much.. does somebody know it?

Of course Jalonen has system, how can you even question that? Also you can't honestly believe Finland would be better if they take the best individual players. I'm surprised how big of a deal it is to some posters here that RR didn't make it. Sure the interest level would rise when you have young and promising players but at this point Ristolainen is not a game breaker at international level. If these games would be played on the small ice he would have probably made it in the team.

Mantyla don't have the same upside but he is less likely to make a mistake which results in a goal. Limiting costly mistakes in a short tournament is the most important thing.

 

[QnebO]

What is with the KHL. Our top3 (Salminen, Koskiranta, Enlund) were dropped out and we have Kontiola (1+10) and JMA (10+24) are going to play top6 minutes?! "JMA and Kontiola have a great chemistry between". How about Enlund and Koskiranta, 30+60, TOGETHER this season...

But maybe they don't fit the system.

Of course Jalonen has system, how can you even question that?

I was more asking, does anybody know how is the system so well you could explain sometinhg about it? I don't know his hockey very well and games before the tournament, his system didin't show at all, the game was mess in the kenraaliharjoitus.

Enough of this bs. Time to hope players know Kojo's system before the first game and that the team ends up playing well. Again we have dropped best snipers and scorers out for the sake of "system", that isn't even very clear.

 

[JJTT]

What is with the KHL. Our top3 (Salminen, Koskiranta, Enlund) were dropped out and we have Kontiola (1+10) and JMA (10+24) are going to play top6 minutes?! "JMA and Kontiola have a great chemistry between". How about Enlund and Koskiranta, 30+60, TOGETHER this season...

Both Enlund and Koskiranta declined the invite so it's kinda pointless to speculate.

Salminen being cut still baffles me though.

 

[FiLe]

How has our system worked? If the only real aim is gold, then not so well.. Perhaps you can only grind and defense so far. The championships have come, even for us, with offensive hockey. Of course gold teams are always solid both ways, but they have very good offense and leading scorers.

And if we didn't have a system, then what?

You see... if we just took all the best players available to us, we still wouldn't hold a candle to the rest of the top dogs. The system is in place to compensate that fact.

Unless you're Canada, Russia or Sweden on a very opportune year, you're going to need a system if you wanna be good. The key is not overdoing it, but finding a balance between letting the players be who they are and having them adhere to the common ground.

 

[BusQuets]

Both Enlund and Koskiranta declined the invite so it's kinda pointless to speculate.

Salminen being cut still baffles me though.

Salminen has always strike me as a guy who plays well against German but then kinda disappears against Russia.