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WJC: 2022 Team Finland roster talk

Hirvonen Lambert Simontaival
Viro Niemelä

Järventie Räty Suni
Rajaniemi Puutio

Salminen Helenius Tuomaala
Malinen Jurmo

Liukas Virolainen Jämsen

Extra players
Kemell ( 13th forward )
Vilen ( 7th dman )

Goalies
Blomqvist ( clear number 1 )
Markkanen ( plays when Blomqvist isn't playing )
Leinonen ( getting experience for 2023 U20 WJC's witch are Leinonen's main U20 WJC's )


Other possible names depending injuries etc.
Otto Salin
Viljami Marjala
Ville Koivunen
Leevi Meriläinen
Oliver Kapanen
Viljami Juusola
Christoffer Sedoff
Ville Ottavainen
Verner Miettinen
Niko Huuhtanen
Aku Koskenvuo
Jani Lampinen
Rasmus Ruusunen
 
My updated U20 WJC roster after U18 WJC's.

1st line Koivunen Räty Tuomaala
Heimosalmi Viro

2nd line Simontaival Lambert Hirvonen
Jurmo Rafkin.

3rd line Salminen Helenius Järventie
Puutio Rajaniemi

4th line Liukas Miettinen Suni

13 Forward Joakim Kemell
7th Defencman Aleksi Malinen

Goalies
Blomqvist
Markkanen
Leinonen
 
ChicagoBullsFan said:
My updated U20 WJC roster after U18 WJC's.

1st line Koivunen Räty Tuomaala
Heimosalmi Viro

2nd line Simontaival Lambert Hirvonen
Jurmo Rafkin.

3rd line Salminen Helenius Järventie
Puutio Rajaniemi

4th line Liukas Miettinen Suni

13 Forward Joakim Kemell
7th Defencman Aleksi Malinen

Goalies
Blomqvist
Markkanen
Leinonen
Click to expand...


Where has niemala gone?
 
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Lineup can be quite strong next tournament, the development of Raty and Lambert over the summer will have a big impact on how well this team can truly do though.
 
ChicagoBullsFan said:
My updated U20 WJC roster after U18 WJC's.

1st line Koivunen Räty Tuomaala
Heimosalmi Viro

2nd line Simontaival Lambert Hirvonen
Jurmo Rafkin.

3rd line Salminen Helenius Järventie
Puutio Rajaniemi

4th line Liukas Miettinen Suni

13 Forward Joakim Kemell
7th Defencman Aleksi Malinen

Goalies
Blomqvist
Markkanen
Leinonen
Click to expand...

Looks pretty good. Niemelä missing and I think Kemell will make the team. And I would probably make adjustments for the 2nd line as they all are quite small players.
 
Hirvonen, Räty and Tuomaala looked good in the first, Räty seems a bit faster. Also liked physicality of Finns in early going specially from Liukas
 
Lots of penalties in the 2nd. Liked Niemelä despite couple mistakes turnover on the Swiss goal and offensive zone penalty. Never understood the limited offensive upside talk during his draft year eversince I started following him from U16 national team onwards I thought he had a lot of offensive abilities. Really great mobility on blue line good vision and passing abilities and gets shots through defence. Supreme powerplay quarterback of this Finnish age group.
 
Good game cheered up monday. Pretty good performances from across the board, Koskelas didnt get to play much and neither did Kapanen and Suni or get much done anyway. In honesty easy game Blomqvist didnt really need to make a save. Whenever Tuomaala plays in national team he is automatically usually the man of the match and I think again today. From unheralded guys I liked Liukas game too.
 
Finland vs Czech in 15 minutes stream; https://fiha.broadcastarena.com/4a65946d-4635-47a2-af56-dd03d5caab4a

Looks like Rajaniemi, Niemelä and Rafkin replaced by Määttä, Viro and Heimosalmi who was brought up from U19 squad

Goalie:
31 Leevi Meriläinen
Backup:
1 Juho Markkanen
1:
19 Juuso Mäenpää – 22 Roni Hirvonen – 29 Kasper Simontaival
6 Eemil Viro – 15 Aleksi Heimosalmi
2:
24 Ville Koivunen – 20 Samuel Helenius – 28 Brad Lambert
5 Valtteri Koskela – 4 Ville Ottavainen
3:
16 Aatu Jämsen – 23 Aatu Räty – 27 Samu Tuomaala
25 Rami Määttä – 10 Kasper Puutio
4:
26 Eetu Liukas – 11 Oliver Kapanen – 21 Oliver Suni
2 Karri Aho – 14 Christoffer Sedoff


Czech lineup: Leijonat Tulospalvelu
 
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Team travelling to the Plymouth tournament:

Maalivahdit:
1 Korhonen Rasmus, Ässät Pori
30 Blomqvist Joel, Kärpät Oulu
31 Meriläinen Leevi, Kärpät Oulu
Puolustajat:
3 Rafkin Ruben, TPS Turku
4 Ottavainen Ville, JYP Jyväskylä
6 Viro Eemil, TPS Turku
7 Niemelä Topi, Kärpät Oulu
10 Puutio Kasper, KalPa Kuopio
12 Rajaniemi Matias, Pelicans Lahti
15 Heimosalmi Aleksi, Ässät Pori
25 Määttä Rami, Ässät Pori

Hyökkääjät:
9 Väisänen Kalle, TPS Turku
11 Kapanen Oliver, KalPa Kuopio
17 Koskela Santeri, JYP Jyväskylä
18 Päivärinta Sami, Lukko Rauma
19 Mäenpää Juuso, KalPa Kuopio
20 Helenius Samuel, JYP Jyväskylä
21 Suni Oliver, Lukko Rauma
22 Hirvonen Roni, HIFK Helsinki
23 Räty Aatu, Kärpät Oulu
24 Koivunen Ville, Kärpät Oulu
26 Liukas Eetu, TPS Turku
27 Tuomaala Samu, Kärpät Oulu
28 Lambert Brad, JYP Jyväskylä
29 Simontaival Kasper, KalPa Kuopio

From the U20 team playing against the Swiss and the Czech team, players who got cut where:
Markkanen, Aho, Sedoff, Koskela, Salminen and Jämsen. From the younger team (U19) they brought Päivärinta and Väisänen instead of Salminen and Jämsen.
Other notable players who didnt participate in the camp at all for different reasons: Järventie, Jurmo, Marjala, Niemi.
 
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I thought Jämsen played really well, comes down to roles, I suppose. Would've taken him over Suni though.

Salminen must be injured since he didn't play at all.
 
Nice start to the Summer showcase with a 5-2 victory against Sweden, Räty with 4 goals and Lambert 1, Hirvonen with 2 assists.
Next game against USA White today 1 PM EDT which converts to 8 PM Finnish time.
 
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Everything less than a medal... Or no, let's be honest here, even if it can seem a bit cocky. Everything less than a gold will be a disappointment this time.
That should be the only goal and we should expect that from this years potential roster with this organization. If the most important players can be injury free that is.

You have top elite talent in Niemelä, Aatu Räty, Kemell and Lambert. You have such great depth in a potential leader like Hirvonen, in a PP sniper like Tuomaala, a role playing center like Helenius, a speedy Viro, a speedy Heimosalmi, mobile Malinen, point producer like Simontaival, Puutio, Järventie (even if I´m not a fan) etc.
You have potential surprisers with some kind of talent in a creator like Mäenpää. Like a shut down D in Rami Määttä. A somewhat stagnant Suni. Under the radar Jämsen. Well rounded Kapanen. Perhaps a powerforwarding beast in Liukas in a fourth line. You guys get the point.
The thing is, I feel like there will be more options than before and with Pennanen leading this team? Gold.

The only question is if Blomqvist, Meeriläinen or someone else are gold medal winning goalies. I hope and believe so.
 
MattiasSnall said:
Team travelling to the Plymouth tournament:

Maalivahdit:
1 Korhonen Rasmus, Ässät Pori
30 Blomqvist Joel, Kärpät Oulu
31 Meriläinen Leevi, Kärpät Oulu
Puolustajat:
3 Rafkin Ruben, TPS Turku
4 Ottavainen Ville, JYP Jyväskylä
6 Viro Eemil, TPS Turku
7 Niemelä Topi, Kärpät Oulu
10 Puutio Kasper, KalPa Kuopio
12 Rajaniemi Matias, Pelicans Lahti
15 Heimosalmi Aleksi, Ässät Pori
25 Määttä Rami, Ässät Pori

Hyökkääjät:
9 Väisänen Kalle, TPS Turku
11 Kapanen Oliver, KalPa Kuopio
17 Koskela Santeri, JYP Jyväskylä
18 Päivärinta Sami, Lukko Rauma
19 Mäenpää Juuso, KalPa Kuopio
20 Helenius Samuel, JYP Jyväskylä
21 Suni Oliver, Lukko Rauma
22 Hirvonen Roni, HIFK Helsinki
23 Räty Aatu, Kärpät Oulu
24 Koivunen Ville, Kärpät Oulu
26 Liukas Eetu, TPS Turku
27 Tuomaala Samu, Kärpät Oulu
28 Lambert Brad, JYP Jyväskylä
29 Simontaival Kasper, KalPa Kuopio

From the U20 team playing against the Swiss and the Czech team, players who got cut where:
Markkanen, Aho, Sedoff, Koskela, Salminen and Jämsen. From the younger team (U19) they brought Päivärinta and Väisänen instead of Salminen and Jämsen.
Other notable players who didnt participate in the camp at all for different reasons: Järventie, Jurmo, Marjala, Niemi.
Click to expand...

Do you know why Marjala wasn’t there?
 
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SergeConstantin74 said:
Do you know why Marjala wasn’t there?
Click to expand...
No clue, but since he is playing in NA and wasnt in the last U18 WJC because of that Pennanen might not have seen enough of him to chose him, therefore just choosing more ”safe” or proven players to this first camp.

But he is without a doubt a player that atleast should get a chance to show his worth and should be able to compete for a spot in the final roster for the upcoming WJC, even though the team is going to be stacked, especially upfront.
 
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My guess:

Hirvonen-Räty-Simontaival

Viro- Niemelä

Järventie-Lambert-Tuomaala
My thoughts here are that Lambert should ooze with his speed and have good shooters on his wings. Question mark is Järventie. He should be hungry, complete disaster last year, not even sure about him this year.

Malinen-Puutio

Koivunen-Kapanen-Kemell

Rami Määttä-Heimosalmi


Salminen-Helenius-Liukas

Goalies: Blomqvist, Meriläinen and Noa Vali or Emil Vinni.

Tons of options outside this potential lineup and it's actually more difficult than usual to decide the roster for a young Finnish team. Hard task for the coach this year.
Other mentionable players: Jurmo, Suni, Jämsen (haven't seen him enough, if Kemell isn't ready yet...), Jiri Pärssinen, Ottavainen, Rajaniemi, Rafkin, Sedoff, Mäenpää, Suomi (has potential even if he was horrible at the WJC-18´s), Vilén (same as Suomi), Marjala, Väisänen, Joel Määttä, Karnaranta etc. Lots of depth on D, not as much on the offense.
 
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Based on the 5 games I've seen so far:

Blomqvist
Meriläinen
X

Viro-Niemelä
Määttä-Puutio
Rajaniemi-Heimosalmi
X-Rafkin

Defense and goalies should be pretty much locked already.

All of them have played well. Puutio, Viro and Niemelä have all played PK so I don't think they will pick some big defensive defenseman because of that.

8th spot probably goes to Sedoff, Vilen or Malinen. Ottavainen has been decent but he is another righty and doesn't really play in either special team so I'd take a left handed guy instead.

Both Meriläinen and Blomqvist have looked fantastic and made some great saves. 3rd spot should probably go to Koskenvuo.

Hirvonen - Räty - Simontaival
X - Helenius - Tuomaala
X - Kapanen - Lambert
Liukas - X - X

LW is a weak spot. Koivunen doesn't look ready to play at this level yet, just too weak physically and a bit too slow, there is still time to improve but not looking good so far. Koskela and Mäenpää are just depth players and should not play top9 roles like they have in this WJSS tournament. Some other options are Marjala, Jämsen and Järventie. Hirvonen has looked much better at LW than he did at center.

Centers look very solid Räty, Helenius and Kapanen are all good two way players who can play on both special teams. Last spot will probably go to Salminen or Päivärinta.

RW looks a lot stronger than LW. Simontaival, Tuomaala and Lambert all have potential to be very good players at the WJC's. Väisänen has been decent but he's a bit too slow. Suni and Kemell are other options.

Only concern I have is the powerplay, absolutely terrible in all games, no idea how they can't get it to work with so much talent. The roles don't make much sense to me

PP units have been

Hirvonen(netfront)-Simontaival(middle)-Räty(right circle)
Puutio(shooter)-Niemelä(point)

Lambert(netfront)-Helenius(middle)-Koivunen(right circle)
Kapanen(shooter)-Heimosalmi(point)
 
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Stellar display from this team in this preseason tournament in Plymouth, 4-2 victory in the last game against USA Blue to make it 5 out of 6 wins.
5 Players who impressed me the most:
Aatu Räty
Roni Hirvonen
Topi Niemelä
Leevi Meriläinen
Aleksi Heimosalmi
Aatu had the most points in the tournament with 14 (6+8) with Roni Hirvonen coming in second with 10 (8+2) and the most goals among all players.
Topi Niemelä had most points among defensemen with 6 (2+4).

This will largely be the group representing Finland at the 2022 WJC, with some other players probably joining the team, most likely some of these players:
Roby Järventie
Samu Salminen
Viljami Marjala
Aatu Jämsen
Joakim Kemell
Joni Jurmo
Christoffer Sedoff
Topias Vilén
Aleksi Malinen

All in all promising showing and something they can build on towards the upcoming WJC.
 
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I would go with this

Roni Hirvonen - Aatu Räty - Kasper Simontaival
Roby Järventie - Brad Lambert - Joakim Kemell
Samu Salminen - Samuel Helenius - Samu Tuomaala
Eetu Liukas - Oliver Kapanen - Aatu Jämsen
Juuso Mäenpää
Oliver Suni

Eemil Viro - Topi Niemelä
Aleksi Malinen - Kasper Puutio
Matias Rajaniemi - Aleksi Heimosalmi
Ville Ottavainen
Ruben Rafkin

Joel Blomqvist
Leevi Meriläinen
Aku Koskenvuo
 
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