MoeTheHobo
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- Jan 24, 2017
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WC: 2021 Finland Roster Talk
- Thread starter morkkis35
- Start date
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karhukissa
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- Apr 2, 2019
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I mean at this point you can't really be surprised, Jalonen is a certified goldfinger. We don't even need our best players which are playing in Europe. Best goalie of the tournament with few leading players in Määttä, Lundell and Ruotsalainen combined with meidän peli = success.
mattihp
Registered User
I don't think any one would call Määttä a leading player on this team. He has been good defensively and showed some glimpses of his old self in the game against Czechia.. But he really isn't a leading player.
karhukissa
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- Apr 2, 2019
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I have to strongly disagree. He is the leader of that defence which has been the best of this tournament, first couple of games was somewhat difficult but these past few games he's been amazing. Obviously nothing flashy but he definetly is a leader. Like last game the way he handled pressure, no mistakes and moving puck effortlessly.
I'll agree with karhukissa here that Määttä was amazing yesterday and he really impressed me. The calmness in the way he helped to clear the puck out from our own zone so many times was a very necessary thing that helped calming the entire team under pressure. A real leader on the ice yesterday. Olkinuora and Määttä were the 2 best players yesterday in my opinion, but the entire team was great.
I think that Jalonen (if he is still the coach then) will select Määttä to the Olympics. At least that's my feeling right now with a flavor of some recency bias ^^.
I think that Jalonen (if he is still the coach then) will select Määttä to the Olympics. At least that's my feeling right now with a flavor of some recency bias ^^.
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JabbaJabba
Registered User
Määttä and Ohtamaa have been the most important defencemen this year. I admire how Määttä is able to control the puck in tight spaces and make a safe pass. He also has done some moves in the offensive zone, though he hasn't been able to bury it in just yet. Very calm and reliable player.
A great performance by Finland yesterday. It was a bit worrying in the beginning of the game but Olkinuora was on his game and the team started playing better. I don't like how bad the team often looks in the beginning of periods. They need to be sharper. I still wish that the guys like Turunen, Ruohomaa etc. who looked better yesterday would score and get more confident. Finland's defensive game is superb, just need more out of the forwards.
Exciting game tomorrow and Germany isn't an easy opponent and they got stronger since Finland last faced them. Need to do what Finland did yesterday, take out their offensive weapons.
A great performance by Finland yesterday. It was a bit worrying in the beginning of the game but Olkinuora was on his game and the team started playing better. I don't like how bad the team often looks in the beginning of periods. They need to be sharper. I still wish that the guys like Turunen, Ruohomaa etc. who looked better yesterday would score and get more confident. Finland's defensive game is superb, just need more out of the forwards.
Exciting game tomorrow and Germany isn't an easy opponent and they got stronger since Finland last faced them. Need to do what Finland did yesterday, take out their offensive weapons.
The Germans are playing now with much euphoric an enthusaism. The Finns must to be caraful in the first 10 min.
Määttä is that one player from this team who will also make it to the olympic team.
Yeah, this. I guess his injuries have permanently impaired his speed and that's the reason why he is not a top-2 defender in the NHL, but he is such a calming influence in our defence, making good choices and moves time after time. Maybe not anything spectacular, but simply continuously sound and smart, putting down fires all over the place.
I think that his weakness, the skating speed doesn't show so much on the Euro sized rink. I believe that NA rink is longer north to south, thus requires that raw speed and also against the elite of the elite players in the NHL, those guys just pretty much are the fastest skaters. So perhaps those 2 factors make him look a bit worse in the NHL, but he seems very good now that he is used to the Euro size ice after a long time. Also Määttä is defensive D-man first and in Jalonen's system their strengths may be more visible.
Well, maybe baby Finland may be at their most boring ever ... but they do win the games that matters remember. Nothing else matters.
When Italy was real big in football (that's soccer for ya Yanks) years ago they won respect for their strikt discipline and nothin' else. Every game they - Italy - played back then ended in a 1-0 victory or a draw. And they won. The football factory - Italian style ... but me hopes that Finland jumps a little bit higher than that - coz hockey ain't football! 
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PanniniClaus
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- Oct 12, 2006
- 12,579
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Will they go Sateri and then Olkinoura? Of course they have to win but i am just curious what they will do.
Unlike the NA teams, the euro teams rarely rotate their goalies after round robin - unless the guy who won the starter job seriously mails it in. Olkinuora is the starter, and he'll be in net tomorrow as well.
And depend from Roster on paper! With Barkov, Rantanen, Aho, Hintz, Laine, Heiskanen, Ristolainen etc. i doubt the Finns playing the "Italien role" in hockey.When Italy was real big in football (that's soccer for ya Yanks) years ago they won respect for their strikt discipline and nothin' else. Every game they - Italy - played back then ended in a 1-0 victory or a draw. And they won. The football factory - Italian style ... but me hopes that Finland jumps a little bit higher than that - coz hockey ain't football!
I want to vomit. Some Swedish reporter wants their federation to hire Jukka Jalonen as Sweden's next head coach:
Melkoinen ehdotus Ruotsista! Jukka Jalonen halutaan päävalmentajaksi
J.Jalonen will never coach any other national team than Finland.
Melkoinen ehdotus Ruotsista! Jukka Jalonen halutaan päävalmentajaksi
J.Jalonen will never coach any other national team than Finland.
mattihp
Registered User
It's Mats Wennerholm. Except for casual swedish fans he is a big joke. I made big bucks on betting against his predictions for championships when I was younger.
It's still funny to hear a public Swedish figure to even suggest such a thing. Yeah I know about his failed predictions on Finland.
Maybe they want something back because they gave us Kurre. On the other hand nah, Kurre was probably never for them the caliber of a coach that would even be considered to be Sweden's head coach.
JabbaJabba
Registered User
Good thing that Olkinuora was on his game against Germany. Otherwise that game was probably Finland's worst performance in this tournament, especially considering the circumstances. They need to be much better against Canada if they want the gold. Hopefully they don't get cocky going into the final after winning it two years ago and beating Canada earlier this week. It's going to be a tough game and Canada will play rougher. Just play better, trust the system and score the necessary goals to win it.
Svedu
Registered User
- Apr 23, 2019
- 2,881
- 1,910
Määttä! What a stud! Fought back from cancer and perhaps never became that offensive talent but god damn, he was the best player on ice in this final. In the defense? No mistakes what so ever. So proud over you Olli, p*rkele!
Well, that was that.
Not a bad result for this team in the big picture. And if I can think of a silver lining here (no pun intended), I have to say I was a little concerned that if Jalonen somehow scores two golds in a row with these heavy underdog teams, he'll be tempted to drag half of this team and the 2019 edition to the olympics. Our defense worked and goaltending was good as usual, but it's obvious that far more serious firepower up front is needed if we wish to contend in a best-on-best. You can't just keep squeaking one-goal victories all the way to gold, at least not every time. With the material we had here, it was obviously the most viable strategy available, but if you have the choice of either stacking your team with NHL-level firepower or picking your euro familiars because they'll already know the system, I still like the former as the more-favorable-odds play.
This doesn't, however, mean that you should pick *any* NHLer simply because of their status - but if he's a willing team player ready to accept the role the coach proposes, then you pick him instead of your euro familiar even if you haven't coached him before.
Not a bad result for this team in the big picture. And if I can think of a silver lining here (no pun intended), I have to say I was a little concerned that if Jalonen somehow scores two golds in a row with these heavy underdog teams, he'll be tempted to drag half of this team and the 2019 edition to the olympics. Our defense worked and goaltending was good as usual, but it's obvious that far more serious firepower up front is needed if we wish to contend in a best-on-best. You can't just keep squeaking one-goal victories all the way to gold, at least not every time. With the material we had here, it was obviously the most viable strategy available, but if you have the choice of either stacking your team with NHL-level firepower or picking your euro familiars because they'll already know the system, I still like the former as the more-favorable-odds play.
This doesn't, however, mean that you should pick *any* NHLer simply because of their status - but if he's a willing team player ready to accept the role the coach proposes, then you pick him instead of your euro familiar even if you haven't coached him before.
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I feel similar way and I'll say that it's hard to criticize any players when we got to the final and almost got the gold. If it was 5on5 OT we would've won it, but I thought that Canada would win when I heard that it is 3on3. What a stupid rule. That OT went surprisingly well until that mistake by Kontiola.
In the future I'd like to wait for some more reinforcements from the NHL before stamping everyone's tournament passports, but it has to indeed be someone that actually can make the team better. It has to be a logical choice. This year it would've been hard to get anyone like that and J.Jalonen did the right thing in trusting his gut and locking the team up early.
Next year's WHC is Finland's home tournament so we'll get a pretty strong team. Might even be a super strong team. I think that some NHL & KHL players who don't have contract then might come regardless of their contract situations, especially if J.Jalonen is still coaching that 2022 WHC squad.
Waiting for 2022 doesn't make me too happy or excited though, because I'm afraid that in 2023 we might go back to having to build the team from some players who are borderline international level players. Some of our forwards in this 2021 weren't international level players. I'm pretty much talking about the forwards. Again it's hard to criticize anyone as they did their best, they gave their all. All of the forwards defended so well, but there were guys that were disappointments in the offensive end who didn't meet the expectations.
Turunen was better than the likes such as Karjalainen or Puustinen that were side lined and Turunen deserved to be in the active line up, but he did not do enough for what was expected of him. It also hurts me to say that I don't want to see Sallinen nor Kontiola again in a WHC team. All 3 of these guys become almost one trick ponies at this level. On European leagues they can be stars, but not in this tournament, plus they are older in 2023.
I guess my point is that I'm going to hate it if in 2023 our bench/taxi squad is so thin that we don't have anyone better to replace under performing players that are in the active line up, like the case Turunen. A strong point producer became a defensive forward because he didn't have what it took offensively at the WHC level. I also understand that you don't change a winning line up, but man, we could see early on that Turunen doesn't belong to this level as a point producer, but we didn't have a choice because he was the best we got for the last slot.
