GDT: 2018 WJC • Game 21 • QF1: CZE (4) - FIN (3) F/SO

[Hockeyisl1fe]

I didn't like Juolevi's game - I expected him to dominate this year in his D+2 tournament, I thought Joki was better. Valimaki showed skill but also seemed lost quite often. Heiskanen showed he has the tools, but I expected more offence. I doubt he gets another crack at this, he seems like he's not far from being an NHL player.

Tolvanen's shot is as ridiculous as advertised, bad puck luck today.

Juolevi was quite dominant today.

 

[Snippit]

I didn't like Juolevi's game - I expected him to dominate this year in his D+2 tournament, I thought Joki was better. Valimaki showed skill but also seemed lost quite often. Heiskanen showed he has the tools, but I expected more offence. I doubt he gets another crack at this, he seems like he's not far from being an NHL player.

Tolvanen's shot is as ridiculous as advertised, bad puck luck today.

Can't say anybody agrees with you on Juolevi.

I was disappointed with the rest as well though.

 

[letsgrowcactus]

Tolvanen was great. His line was a constant threat the whole game. Kořenář made some great saves.
As a FLA fan I'm somewhat disappointed in Hepponiemi. Didn't look bad per say but expected much more of him given his WHL numbers.

 

[Critical13]

Finland's defence wasn't best.
It was only bunch overhyped useless sack of ****s'.
Yeah best defence only in my ass.

[MOD]

The reality is that defence should have been more dominant. I was impressed with the forwards, a lot of those kids are a lot better than advertised. Like I said, Vesalainen, Hepo, and Tolvanen were world class offensively in terms of passing and generating scoring chances. They just hit a hot goaltender.

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

Bummer. It's one of those things, if the tournament lasted for a few games more you got the sense that our best games were ahead of us, but that's the nature of the beast.

 

[Rob]

Oh well. Still better than 9th

 

[Esko6]

Not too suprised by the outcome but what the hell happened to finnish goaltending?

Well, they had a good backup who was not given any games even though Luukkonen looked average in every game.

 

[Mestaruus]

Embarrassing is too strong a word IMO, but we did get outplayed badly. I liked our drive though, didn't give up even when the Finns were toying with us. Kořenář was great and we were very opportunistic with the few good moments we got.
Just hoping now that we can survive the semis without an embarrasing 6-0 or 7-0 result.

Czech deserve the win as goaltending and coaching (pulled goalie out early) is part of the game.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Tolvanen for sure isn't overrated. He created more than 3 elite scoring chances and he hit a crossbar himself. There's too many 'if' situations in this game that if gone right, Finland would have easily won by more than 3 goals. He didn't score at an elite level for whatever reason, but Puljujärvi didn't score one goal despite being the most dominant forward of his respective WJC showing a few years back.
It's looking like most hyped prospects for Finland never pan out in the WJC.

Now I am not saying that CZE didn't deserve this win. No. Korenar beat Luukkonen. With his eyes closed.

World juniors mean nothing. All the best players are in the NHL.

 

[JustaFinnishGuy]

[MOD]
The reality is that defence should have been more dominant. I was impressed with the forwards, a lot of those kids are a lot better than advertised. Like I said, Vesalainen, Hepo, and Tolvanen were world class offensively in terms of passing and generating scoring chances. They just hit a hot goaltender.

Everything we did offensively was through our defense for the whole tourney.
[MOD] In actual defense, yes they have been pretty bad considering how they were excpected to perform.

 

[Tuoppi]

Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Jerry Turkulainen could have scored from those places.

 

[JustaFinnishGuy]

Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Jerry Turkulainen could have scored from those places.

We will never know.
No use crying about it anymore.

 

[Mestaruus]

Heponiemi should've been 1 of the SO shooters. That's a name I forgot. I know it wasn't his best game but I still would've put him to shoot over Juolevi/Kuokkanen.

 

[Couchcaptain]

Tolvanen has really good shot, but hardly call it excellent. Not even close to Pate's level.

I agree. It's good shot, but not even in the same ballpark as Laine's shot. Its a muffin compared to Laine. Tolvanen was overall a huge disappointment in this tournament. Vesalainen and Räsänen were both a lot better.

 

[Critical13]

Can't say anybody agrees with you on Juolevi.

I was disappointed with the rest as well though.

Maybe it's a matter of expectations - I followed the Knights very closely and saw them live as often as I could while Marner (and Juloevi) were there. I thought he was the steal of the draft, especially with the WJC he had the year prior.

This year he was D+2 and I expected him to be the best defenceman in the tournament, bar only Dahlin (maybe). He's having a good season against men, and I thought he would dominate, but he didn't. He had a fine game in relation to the other defencemen on the ice tonight, but I still expected a lot more.

 

[Hockeyisl1fe]

[MOD]

The reality is that defence should have been more dominant. I was impressed with the forwards, a lot of those kids are a lot better than advertised. Like I said, Vesalainen, Hepo, and Tolvanen were world class offensively in terms of passing and generating scoring chances. They just hit a hot goaltender.

Heponiemi was barely noticeable. The defence was as advertised, although I was dissappointed in Heiskanen.

 

[Past Considerations]

Tolvanen for sure isn't overrated. He created more than 3 elite scoring chances and he hit a crossbar himself. There's too many 'if' situations in this game that if gone right, Finland would have easily won by more than 3 goals. He didn't score at an elite level for whatever reason, but Puljujärvi didn't score one goal despite being the most dominant forward of his respective WJC showing a few years back.
It's looking like most hyped prospects for Finland never pan out in the WJC.

Umm, you're mixing up Puljujarvi's 2015's underwhelming and 2016's dominant tournament.

 

[Pixie]

Honestly i feel sorry for the Finns. We had some individualities that saved us, but the Finns were a better team. Mixed feelings

 

[Snippit]

Maybe it's a matter of expectations - I followed the Knights very closely and saw them live as often as I could while Marner (and Juloevi) were there. I thought he was the steal of the draft, especially with the WJC he had the year prior.

This year he was D+2 and I expected him to be the best defenceman in the tournament, bar only Dahlin (maybe). He's having a good season against men, and I thought he would dominate, but he didn't. He had a fine game in relation to the other defencemen on the ice tonight, but I still expected a lot more.

He actually has been one of the best defenceman in the tournament.

Like he did dominate tonight...he tilted the ice whenever he was out there. Button remarked on it several times as well.

 

[Hostile Offer]

I can't believe we lost that game after dominating so much. You just gotta score more with that amount of chances. The Czech goalie was great, hats off to him, but we also suffered from poor finishing and bad luck. Despite getting outplayed throughout the game, the Czechs battled well and deserved to tie it up. It's a tough pill to swallow for me since we were undoubtedly the better team but all the respect to the Czechs for fighting back and winning it.

As for Luukkonen, I didn't have a lot of trust on him even at the start of the tournament but he was just bad all the way through. I don't want to bash the guy but he never looked like a winning goalie out there, he has a lot of work to do to prove he's worth his draft position.

 

[gretskidoo]

Finland's defence wasn't best.
It was only bunch overhyped useless sack of ****s'.
Yeah best defence only in my ass.

So you're saying they didn't have at least 3 defensemen better than Dahlin?

 

[JustaFinnishGuy]

So you're saying they didn't have at least 3 defensemen better than Dahlin?

Who the f*** has said such a thing? Lol you better quote someone real fast.

 

[Mestaruus]

Honestly i feel sorry for the Finns. We had some individualities that saved us, but the Finns were a better team. Mixed feelings

You shouldn't be. Finland has beaten teams at men's level with the same method AKA good goaltending so many times so... Grats to the Czechs. Hopefully your team can win 1 of the remaining 2 last games and medal.

 

[Rexor]

A bit of a larceny but I'll take it. Zadina is the most impressive not-yet-drafted WJC player from the Czech Republic that I can remember. Maybe the most impactful one since Reichel/Jágr/Holík days.

Finnish fans shouldn't be feeling too bad about this. Their team is obviously full of very talented prospects which is what matters the most at this level.

 

[addu]

Mixed feelings.. I am happy that we are in semis after so many years.. but it had to be after this embarrassing performance...
Feel bad for the Finns, the better team lost today
At least I hope the Czechs won't be afraid of playing good hockey which they can when the pressure should be all gone in semis

Same here, mixed feelings. I was really happy looking at the Finnish team tonight, it looked at least all good, besides their finishing.

But at least now I can root for Czechia full heartedly. Good game, really entertaining and even I think Finns were on the top of the game mostly, tonight that didn't matter.
Congratulations on the win, well deserved and happy to see you on semis this year!

/edit. typo