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WJC: 2017 Finland Roster Talk

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This was actually better game from Finland than their win over Czech from last year. Rautakorpi knows how this team is going to win gold if they are ever gonna win it. Smothering the opponent. How many goal scoring chances did Czech have? 2 or 3? And this was the 1st game. Offensive game will get better no doubt but it's good sign that the defensive game is already like it was 2014. Patience.
 
Three years ago the top U17 eligible talent in Finland was as following:

GK - Veini Vehviläinen
D - Olli Juolevi
D - Vili Saarijärvi
D - Veeti Vainio
D - Ville Järvinen
F - Patrik Laine
F - Sebastian Aho
F - Julius Nättinen
F - Jesse Puljujärvi
F - Aleksi Saarela
F - Jonne Tammela
F - Petrus Palmu

These 12 guys carried the age group in the past and now we are missing 7 of them. Injuries have more or less derailed Järvinen's, Tammela's, Vainio's and Saarela's careers, and Laine, Aho and Puljujärvi are in the NHL.

Välimäki, Heiskanen, Kuokkanen, Vesalainen and Tolvanen are very good young players, but in a perfect world we would have much better veteran talent to surround them.
 
Merya said:
On the other hand I'm pissed that Edm didn't release Puljujärvi to play (while being benched!). However the other perspective is, that there's a unique opportunity to put on the usually Canadian jacket of "our best didn't play" excuse. :D
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Great thing you reminded us about this! Based on the first game's performances, that excuse will probably have some use after this tournament.

"Finnish Optimism". :laugh:

And honestly, not allowing Puljujärvi play is ******* idiotic decision for EDM. And...

Team Finland and Finnish hockey organisations have put some assets to him too. More then it seems to be a value of 4th overall pick's "how-to-sit" -course.
 
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Borgström should absolutely be the teams 1C after that showing. Nättinen looked mediocre at best. Although Borgström does have some defensive flaws, I believe those can be covered by the D-corps and Rautakorpi's system. He is the key offensive player if Finland wants a medal this year
 
agent082 said:
I hope they shuffle lines. Some of the combinations didn't have much chemistry.
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That's true.
Palmu Nättinen Tolvanen was horrible.

Nättinen isn't 1st line center and so long when Tolvanen plays with him it's wasting Tolvanen's shooting and goal-scoring ability.
Everyone knows what happen to Kasperi Kapanen in 2015 so it can happen to Tolvanen as well if Rautakorpi won't put him together with Räsänen or Borgström.
 
FinnHockeyFan said:
That's true.
Palmu Nättinen Tolvanen was horrible.

Nättinen isn't 1st line center and so long when Tolvanen plays with him it's wasting Tolvanen's shooting and goal-scoring ability.
Everyone knows what happen to Kasperi Kapanen in 2015 so it can happen to Tolvanen as well if Rautakorpi won't put him together with Räsänen or Borgström.
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Who should be the 1st center?

Aleksi Saarela?
 
I'd like to say that I hope that this (possible win) would boost their confidence. I mean I hope the team don't have a mindset that they've already won it against Denmark.

Although many ***** and [MOD] appeared, Vehviläinen was solid yesterday. He bounced the puck a couple of times as he normally does but didn't give up an easy goal. That's a positive. So maybe he'll get a start tonight. You could already kinda see it before the game when Rautakorpi was asked about the preparation, that they weren't being overly confident or chill before the puck drop. At least he didn't feel like mentioning it if that was the actual case.

I liked Borgström yesterday. He looked like a #1 centre and was driving offence and winning battles as it seemed very easy for him. Kind of looked like Barkov with a little different mixture. Highly skilled but doesn't make a big deal about it. You can tell Borgy's IQ and skills are very high level. On the flip side I agree that Nättinen isn't a #1 centre at this point for that team. I just feel like he doesn't quite have that killer instinct (or as you'd call it "it") required to lead the pack.
 
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Gsus said:
Vehviläinen was solid yesterday. He bounced the puck a couple of times as he normally does but didn't give up an easy goal. That's a positive. So maybe he'll get a start tonight.
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Do you play Vehviläinen on a back to back and risk fatigue/injury or do you play Kaarlehto and if he puts in a good performance have a goalie controversy on your hands?
I would play Kaarlehto and play a rested Vehviläinen against Sweden.
 
I only watched the first 15 minutes or so but the signs are not bad.

Veivi Vehviläinen is as good as goalkeeper as any in this tournament. Finland has significant coaching advantage oover other nations which haven't yet even been used. No Puljujärvi to take over games with his 0+0 heroics I think in the big picture is a good sign for the team which didn't look half that bad individually.

Northern American madness has infiltrated the Finnish Ice Hockey Federation on the other hand but there is a whole group stage to recover from the long, all-changing flight to the Americas.
 
Tulipunaruusu said:
I only watched the first 15 minutes or so but the signs are not bad.

Veivi Vehviläinen is as good as goalkeeper as any in this tournament. Finland has significant coaching advantage oover other nations which haven't yet even been used. No Puljujärvi to take over games with his 0+0 heroics I think in the big picture is a good sign for the team which didn't look half that bad individually.

Northern American madness has infiltrated the Finnish Ice Hockey Federation on the other hand but there is a whole group stage to recover from the long, all-changing flight to the Americas.
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Last time i checked Pulju was the MVP and had the most points in last years WJC, but sure, we don't need his heroics....:sarcasm: Btw. glad to see that french baquette who Columbus picked ahead of Pulju managed to get a point!! Nice job!!
 
Tulipunaruusu said:
I only watched the first 15 minutes or so but the signs are not bad.

Veivi Vehviläinen is as good as goalkeeper as any in this tournament. Finland has significant coaching advantage oover other nations which haven't yet even been used. No Puljujärvi to take over games with his 0+0 heroics I think in the big picture is a good sign for the team which didn't look half that bad individually.

Northern American madness has infiltrated the Finnish Ice Hockey Federation on the other hand but there is a whole group stage to recover from the long, all-changing flight to the Americas.
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Puljus 0+0 performance last year helped us quite a bit.
Could you even try in your posts?
 
Last year Puljujärvi was utilized in a meidän peli playbook, besides two of the finest Finnish rookies in ages. The previous year was more of the same what Puljujärvi's lone goal Oilers campaign has shown. Despite that Purvy is more of a junior games specialist I think it is the better decision for all involved for him to sit this one out.
 
Dear Tulipunaruusu. We know about your deep irrational love for Pulju, but do you really think he wouldn't do good for The Team's offense, creativity... and even to it's leadership (a thing that doesn't necessarily come to mind first)?

One doesn't have to be IQ 200 wizard to say that his WJC performance would be something else then 0+0 if allowed to play. Instead it's surely 0+0 off-the-ice, also for Oilers.
 
Se829ne said:
Dear Tulipunaruusu. We know about your deep irrational love for Pulju, but do you really think he wouldn't do good for The Team's offense, creativity... and even to it's leadership (a thing that doesn't necessarily come to mind first)?
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I would rather have someone like Teräväinen, Laine or Aho leading the charge while utilizing others heavily. I still see no immediate consern for lack of offence with this roster so bringing in pure hype would not necessarily help.

Puljujärvi is not someone who could even succesfully communicate with the large number of English-speaking geezers in Kärpät locker room so now you suggest he would be the right character to lead young Finnish geezers forwards... I think it takes bit different approach mentally but what do I know... I am only the Puljujärvi expert around here.

Rarely it is a question of material rather than approach. [MOD]
 
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Tulipunaruusu said:
I would rather have someone like Teräväinen, Laine or Aho leading the charge while utilizing others heavily. I still see no immediate consern for lack of offence with this roster so bringing in pure hype would not necessarily help.

Puljujärvi is not someone who could even succesfully communicate with the large number of English-speaking geezers in Kärpät locker room so now you suggest he would be the right character to lead young Finnish geezers forwards... I think it takes bit different approach mentally but what do I know... I am only the Puljujärvi expert around here.

Rarely it is a question of material rather than approach. [MOD]
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Lol. XD

I'm enormously more concerned now about lack of Pulju's presence (and example set) on-the-ice, then I'm concerned about his capacity to communicate in foreign languages with multitude of foreign geezers in The WJC Team Finland's locker room.

What hype? Where? On the Bench of Oilers?
 
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Not being a homer.

Why is olli juolevi on the 2nd pair on finland? Makes little sense no?
 
I watched the game only a moment ago and based on comments here, I expected much worse. I don't think that Finland played that bad game and especially defensively the display was really strong.

Of course, offensive game needs to improve a lot but it should be easier to build when the own end works properly.
 
Quethas said:
I watched the game only a moment ago and based on comments here, I expected much worse. I don't think that Finland played that bad game and especially defensively the display was really strong.

Of course, offensive game needs to improve a lot but it should be easier to build when the own end works properly.
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yea people just hyperbole things really. Some of the comments in the game thread were absuuurdly premature, writing Vaakanainen and Kuokkanen off after just a game :laugh:
 
Quethas said:
I watched the game only a moment ago and based on comments here, I expected much worse. I don't think that Finland played that bad game and especially defensively the display was really strong.

Of course, offensive game needs to improve a lot but it should be easier to build when the own end works properly.
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As, expected the defensemen were mostly excellent on breakouts and positioning, but bad on board battles and in front of the net. The biggest problem was the disconnect between the forwards and defensemen, no real 5-man-unit play. Lack of strength was noticeable on the other end of the ice too, not enough net front presence and too much perimeter play.

So some of the defensive fundamentals were very good, some were lacking. Offensively I think line juggling would be beneficial.
 
Lol. Rautakorpi has no idea what to do in the small ice. At least Ahokas had some success there, why not keep him as the coach.
 
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