WC: 2017 Team Finland

[Nebster]

It is true that France have been underestimated and that the results haven't been that bad for Finland, even if Finland don't have a very good team this year.

However, they are playing quite slow and defensive. The results doesn't lie but they don't show the entire picture either. They outshot Slovenia but still the last two goals before the empty net goal were thanks to an individual effort by Aho and then a lucky shot that somehow sneaked through. Even Norway didn't struggle as much with Slovenia as Finland did.

Losing a three goal lead within minutes isn't "narrowly" losing out, it is a collapse. If Finland had won that game it wouldn't have been a success really after losing the lead.

There is a difference between results and how things actually went down. Pretty sure though that Finland can step up their game and hopefully they will start playing a more fast-paced hockey since it has been too slow.

 

[ijuka]

Well, it's still not a complete disaster, of course. YET.

However, they must win vs both Norway and Switzerland. They should never be in a situation like this at this point in the pools.

And you say that losing to the Czechs in OT is the norm - I disagree, especially considering how crappy Czechs have been. Taking them to OT is a Norway tier result now.


And when you look at the tournament history and games against equivalent opponents, Norway's completely outperformed Finland in this tournament, and that one's not even arguable at all. Norway has better results than Finland in this tournament so far.


And you think that this is the norm? Considering that Finland struggled mightily against both Belarus as well as Slovenia, why exactly should we consider the matches vs Norway and Switzerland to be a walk in the park and something that we have no need to worry about? Losing one game to either even in OT sends Finland home.

 

[FiLe]

I don't expect the game vs. Norway will be easy. Neither will the game vs. Switzerland. In fact, it will very much be these two games that will determine if the tournament will be a success or a flop.

Right now we've pretty much performed to spec, but we need to win these two to keep up with that performance. Losing to one underdog in one tournament is acceptable. However, losing to two would definitely be an underachievement.

Losing a three goal lead within minutes isn't "narrowly" losing out, it is a collapse.

I disagree. Had Finland suddenly lost its grip of the game in the last ten minutes, that would've been a collapse. But we were trying to run out the clock for two whole periods - it was a result forty minutes in the making. We were actually lucky the Czechs didn't pot any goals earlier.

 

[Nebster]

Yeah okay. But still though, being so defensive isn't necessary.

 

[Loffer]

Whatever about the "results" which have been less than satisfactory. - I can bet with any of you that this shambles won't get past the QFs if they ever even reach that stage. Wouldn't hold my breath on that one either. Use your ****ing eyes! Look at that coach, his demeanor - listen to him. His monotonous voice, his facial expressions (or lack thereof) - his "tactical calmness", i.e. frozen and clueless way of leading and coaching. And the team then! Well put up shambles of ****.

I will change my nickname, the famous l'Offer to, say, "Universal Idiot" if I am wrong and this team reaches medal games. Okay. Grazie.

 

[Vaeltaja]

Czech win over Slovenia now makes it next to impossible for Finland to be relegated - so spot is (almost) secure in top level regardless of what Berry Hill and the lot manages to 'accomplish'.

Marjamäki has killed the emotions on the ice on the home sofas. The game has been horrible since the World Cup. Where's the gritty, hard working and skating and pain in the ass to play against team Finland? If that youngster can keep his job after this tournament then we are even more effed up.

There has been glimpses of the snore hockey prior to Marjamäki but during his tenure things have certainly gotten more boring. I'm very close to the point that i start wishing the team to lose just to get rid of the game style they are using - which is an abomination, i don't care if it wins in FEL or elsewhere but i would only watch it if some one paid me to do so.

 

[Bloomfield*]

Sweden with backstrom nylander on same line. Finland is done

 

[FiLe]

Czech win over Slovenia now makes it next to impossible for Finland to be relegated - so spot is (almost) secure in top level regardless of what Berry Hill and the lot manages to 'accomplish'.

There's no almost. We can't be bottom feeders in the group (and tournament) in any scenario. Slovenia can get to seven points by beating Belarus and France in regulation, but in that scenario Belarus' maximum is six points. And if Slovenia doesn't get three points from Belarus, they'll have less points than us in the end (not to mention we'd have the tie break). So at either BLR or SLO will be below us no matter what.

And in the final standings the ranking is determined by position in the group, so the worst team in the other group will be ranked below the 2nd worst team in our group. (In other words, the worst placed teams of both groups will be relegated.)

E: Wait. Of course it's possible that Denmark finishes last in the other group, and in that case their bacons would be saved by the fact that they're the hosts next year. And in that case Italy could possibly have seven points. So the teams that would relegate are the bottom feeder of our group and the team ranked 14th, no matter which group they were in. And the tie-break in that case would be determined by GD. But right now Italy has a -21 goal difference (with two games left), and ours is -1, so...

 

[illone84]

Sweden with backstrom nylander on same line. Finland is done

Will be a scary line. Nylander and half Finnish boy together. But yes, most likely scenario is that Finland will play Sweden in the qf and lose. Big deal. Sweden will have all the pressure on them with their all star line up, and Finland will have zero expectations.

 

[mattihp]

Will be a scary line. Nylander and half Finnish boy together. But yes, most likely scenario is that Finland will play Sweden in the qf and lose. Big deal. Sweden will have all the pressure on them with their all star line up, and Finland will have zero expectations.

Is Bäckström half-finnish?

 

[illone84]

Is Bäckström half-finnish?

Well, maybe I'm wrong, maybe his mom just happened to be born in Finland to Swedish parents. Or perhaps, she is Suomenruotsalainen.

"Nicklas' mother Catrin Bäckström (born in Finland) played handball in the Swedish and Finnish Elite League in the late 1970s and early 1980s."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicklas_Bäckström

 

[Bloomfield*]

Mika zibanejad is half finnish

 

[Lempo]

SÃ¥, when put together, en Finne. Igen.

 

[Jarey Curry]

Oh damn Backstrom is finnish but wait oh no Mr. Poolparty has born in sweden, he's definitely a suede swede. Let's make official trade between countries!

 

[illone84]

Oh damn Backstrom is finnish but wait oh no Mr. Poolparty has born in sweden, he's definitely a suede swede. Let's make official trade between countries!

No thanks. I'll take my chances on the kid that is 10 years younger and see how he pans out.

 

[Eye of Ra]

and so what if bäckström is half finnish.

a lot of swedish hockey players have finnish blood.

 

[FiLe]

E: Wait. Of course it's possible that Denmark finishes last in the other group, and in that case their bacons would be saved by the fact that they're the hosts next year. And in that case Italy could possibly have seven points. So the teams that would relegate are the bottom feeder of our group and the team ranked 14th, no matter which group they were in. And the tie-break in that case would be determined by GD. But right now Italy has a -21 goal difference (with two games left), and ours is -1, so...

And now, with France's win over Belarus, Finland is officially safe from relegation. Both Slovenia and Belarus will finish lower than us in this group.

---

As for the discussion about some Swedish players maybe having a Finnish ancestor or two, I gotta agree with the man immediately above: Who cares?

 

[teravaineSAROS]

and so what if bäckström is half finnish.

a lot of swedish hockey players have finnish blood.

Yea I don't get what the fuzz is about.

Unless the conversation is about who takes responsibility over whatever happened to Pääjärvi

 

[Caffeine]

Well, it's still not a complete disaster, of course. YET.

However, they must win vs both Norway and Switzerland. They should never be in a situation like this at this point in the pools.

And you say that losing to the Czechs in OT is the norm - I disagree, especially considering how crappy Czechs have been. Taking them to OT is a Norway tier result now.


And when you look at the tournament history and games against equivalent opponents, Norway's completely outperformed Finland in this tournament, and that one's not even arguable at all. Norway has better results than Finland in this tournament so far.


And you think that this is the norm? Considering that Finland struggled mightily against both Belarus as well as Slovenia, why exactly should we consider the matches vs Norway and Switzerland to be a walk in the park and something that we have no need to worry about? Losing one game to either even in OT sends Finland home.

I can't see Finland beating both Switzerland and Norway on regulation. However the schedule does favor Finland in game vs Switzerland. And actually also vs Norway since Finland has been resting for 2 days and Norway for 1 day. But even with this favorable schedule I can see this team to find a way to mess up everything.

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

http://www.leijonat.fi/maajoukkueet...nilla-surunauhat-lauantain-norja-pelissa.html

Team Finland's men's national team respects today's Norway game the memory of ex president the republic of Finland Mauno Koivisto.
Every player in Finland's team will wear black armband president Koivisto passed away last night he was 93 yrs old.

 

[Loffer]

RIP Koivisto; good riddance Berry Hill.

 

[FiLe]

One of the issues this team definitely has is that it doesn't create enough quality scoring chances. The first line can do that, but the remaining units honestly feel more like minute sinks. They can push the game to the corners, but the puck finding its way towards the goalie is far too intermittent.

It's part game plan, part material issue.

I'd like us to get another line that can create those chances. And we might actually have a player capable of doing that - Miro Aaltonen. It's almost sad to see how he's been sidelined. Marjamäki seems to have completely forgot how good he was in the EHT. And especially how good he was specifically down the middle. Now he got a couple of games on the wing and was then promptly benched.

I think Marjamäki's iffiness to put him down the middle is that he isn't an awfully solid faceoff guy. And perhaps something something defense. But I'd say it's time to risk those details to get more offense overall.

Another big issue is the PP, which has been... not good. They need more creativity in there somewhere. Aaltonen could supply that too.

Here's what I'd do:

Aho - Filppula - Rantanen
Savinainen - M.Aaltonen - Pihlström
Pyörälä - Kemppainen - Puljujärvi
Hännikäinen - Lajunen/Sallinen - Osala

And Aaltonen's issue with faceoffs? Have Savinainen draw them. Problem solved.

 

[BusQuets]

Kemppainen's level of play atm is not enough. He's too slow for everything as a center. Making Pyorala look 10x worse than he is.

 

[FiLe]

Kemppainen's level of play atm is not enough. He's too slow for everything as a center. Making Pyorala look 10x worse than he is.

He could be another centre to be benched in favor of giving Aaltonen a shot. But I'm a tad cynical about that, given his status as a Marjamäki familiar.

 

[Gaps]

I honestly can't believe the state of this team. JMA is engaged in a public pissing contest with Tami of all people and Lasse Kukkonen is dressed and sitting on the bench, but being used as a mascot because I suppose either the head coach or the team will fold without him. How did we get here, FFS?

It's hard not to remember what the players asked from Marjamäki before the World Cup: keep it simple. He refused to do that and now he's supposed to lead a team without any actual leading players. Marjamäki himself can't compensate for that loss, and now most of the players are underperforming and second-guessing themselves constantly.

You can't give a final verdict until the tournament is over, but at this stage I'd say that changes are required. Either Marjamäki himself is let go, OR he commits to changing his ways (like J. Jalonen did after the 2009-2010 season) and only the assistants are fired.