WJC: 2022 Team Finland roster talk
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That team is easily a gold medal contender I would say
Finnish U20 defensemen in Liiga thus far this season, ranked by average ice time:
1. Topi Niemelä (Kärpät) 4gp 20:39
2. Joni Jurmo (Jukurit) 3gp 20:01
3. Ruben Rafkin (TPS) 5gp 17:59
4. Petteri Nurmi (HPK) 4gp 17:55
5. Eemi Viro (TPS) 5gp 17:45
6. Aleksi Heimosalmi (Ässät) 5gp 16:25
7. Kasper Puutio (KalPa) 4gp 15:08
8. Ville Ottavainen (JYP) 5gp 15:05
9. Hannes Häkkilä (Jukurit) 3gp 14:38
10. Jimi Suomi (TPS) 4gp 12:57
11. Topias Vilen (Pelicans) 4gp 12:42
12. Aleksi Malinen (JYP) 3gp 11:07
13. Rami Määttä (Ässät) 4gp 11:00
14. Matias Rajaniemi (Pelicans) 4gp 9:48
15. Karri Aho (Ilves) 1gp 1:28
Worth noting that Jurmo and Nurmi haven't played for Pennanen in U20 events this season.
1. Topi Niemelä (Kärpät) 4gp 20:39
2. Joni Jurmo (Jukurit) 3gp 20:01
3. Ruben Rafkin (TPS) 5gp 17:59
4. Petteri Nurmi (HPK) 4gp 17:55
5. Eemi Viro (TPS) 5gp 17:45
6. Aleksi Heimosalmi (Ässät) 5gp 16:25
7. Kasper Puutio (KalPa) 4gp 15:08
8. Ville Ottavainen (JYP) 5gp 15:05
9. Hannes Häkkilä (Jukurit) 3gp 14:38
10. Jimi Suomi (TPS) 4gp 12:57
11. Topias Vilen (Pelicans) 4gp 12:42
12. Aleksi Malinen (JYP) 3gp 11:07
13. Rami Määttä (Ässät) 4gp 11:00
14. Matias Rajaniemi (Pelicans) 4gp 9:48
15. Karri Aho (Ilves) 1gp 1:28
Worth noting that Jurmo and Nurmi haven't played for Pennanen in U20 events this season.
Svedu
Registered User
- Apr 23, 2019
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- 1,910
Okay, things have changed a bit since last time I wrote my predictions. Kemell is lightning it up and before I had him in my top9 but there is probably no discussion by now that he should get a lot of minutes. He's certainly earned it. Boy am I excited to see this kid this WJC´s. Koivunen has rised a bit for me as well.
Kemell, Lambert, Räty, Niemelä etc should be special for us. Then you have Khusnutdinov (the new Saku Koivu with better skating) , Michkov, Miroschnichenko, Askarov, Mukhamadullin, Chayka, Ponomaryov, Chibrikov, Kvochko, Ivantsov, Poltapov, Yurov, Svechkov, etc for Russia.
Eklund, Wallstedt, Rosén, Lysell, Edvinsson, Salomonsson, Lekkerimäki, Bystedt, Öhgren, Nybeck, Ljungman, Olausson etc for Sweden. Dvorsky, Slafkovsky, Nemec, Molnar, Strbak, Mesar, Myklukha, Jedlicka, Repcik, Chromiak for Slovakia. Jiricek, Svozil, Mysak, Novak for Czechia.
The level of European talent could be bigger than ever before? Slovakia will have young high end talent with quite the top6 and top4 depth. If Czechia and Slovakia would be together? I would actually consider them as favorites for gold together with Russia, Canada and Finland.
This years talent deserves a bit of writing
I´m not sure if Hirvonen should be a center or winger. But I trust him more as a center than Lambert after seeing how things have progressed so far this season, especially defensively. Wingers seem to be even better than than I thought was possible, at least one year ago. Someone of our potential RW´s should perhaps play as a LW because at RW we are absurdly stacked. Potential RW´s are Kemell, Simontaival, Tuomaala, Lambert etc. Pretty sick if you ask me. I have a feeling we will have a more stacked top9 than ever before at this level. This combined with Pennanen as our coach makes me hopeful and quite honestly? The gold is ours to win. Yes, Canada, Russia, Sweden and Slovakia etc are good but there are no excuses at this point, the bar should be high. Forward group- stacked. Almost 2016 level? Defense- good top 2 and good depth. Nothing special but should be solid. Goalies- Bit of our question mark because I thought Blomqvist would´ve been more established (stagnated?) at this point.
Well... My predictions then:
Koivunen-Räty-Kemell
Järventie(big question mark)-Hirvonen-Simontaival
Lambert-Helenius-Tuomaala
Salminen-Oliver Kapanen-Liukas (or Jämsen)
Liukas, Jämsen, Kapanen and Salminen are a close one fore me. Still believe Liukas could be a better and needed role player than Jämsen for this roster, we´ll see.
Mäenpää, is not a fourth line player for me and other years he would´ve probably been in my roster and this indicates that the level of this years roster is special.
Väisänen, Suni, Karvinen, Jani Nyman etc are other mentionable forwards.
Viro-Niemelä
Jurmo-Puutio
Malinen-Heimosalmi
Rajaniemi- Rafkin
Rami Määttä-
Vilén, Ottavainen, Jiri Pärssinen, Suomi.
The depth is perhaps a bit underrated. Rami Määttä could've been a good role player earlier or other years. Rajaniemi, Malinen and Jurmo are quite even but I´ve always been high on Malinen. So far Jurmos season indicates that he should go before Rajaniemi. But then again, I could see Rajaniemi get selected before others because of his defensive qualities, interesting to see what Pennanen prefers. I have a feeling he selects Rajaniemi and a bit more defending role players, perhaps even Määttä.
Regarding Heimosalmi, Rafkin or Ottavainen as the third right-handed D? I believe Heimosalmi has a lot more potential in the long run, but I can see Rafkin be a good third pair D as well, even Ottavainen. It's even for now.
Blomqvist
Meriläinen
Leinonen
Vinni (high on his potential and could be a good learning experience for him to be a third)
Koskenvuo (This guy has his moments but I get a insecure Korpisalo´ish vibe from him, not sold on him at this point)
Markkanen, Korhonen, Jatkola, Vuorio etc.
I haven't become smarter regarding our goalies this season. Things seem a bit uncertain at this point.
All in all, if our goalie-goalies can be above decent this tournament I expect us to be the favorites together with Russia and Canada.
Kemell, Lambert, Räty, Niemelä etc should be special for us. Then you have Khusnutdinov (the new Saku Koivu with better skating) , Michkov, Miroschnichenko, Askarov, Mukhamadullin, Chayka, Ponomaryov, Chibrikov, Kvochko, Ivantsov, Poltapov, Yurov, Svechkov, etc for Russia.
Eklund, Wallstedt, Rosén, Lysell, Edvinsson, Salomonsson, Lekkerimäki, Bystedt, Öhgren, Nybeck, Ljungman, Olausson etc for Sweden. Dvorsky, Slafkovsky, Nemec, Molnar, Strbak, Mesar, Myklukha, Jedlicka, Repcik, Chromiak for Slovakia. Jiricek, Svozil, Mysak, Novak for Czechia.
The level of European talent could be bigger than ever before? Slovakia will have young high end talent with quite the top6 and top4 depth. If Czechia and Slovakia would be together? I would actually consider them as favorites for gold together with Russia, Canada and Finland.
This years talent deserves a bit of writing
I´m not sure if Hirvonen should be a center or winger. But I trust him more as a center than Lambert after seeing how things have progressed so far this season, especially defensively. Wingers seem to be even better than than I thought was possible, at least one year ago. Someone of our potential RW´s should perhaps play as a LW because at RW we are absurdly stacked. Potential RW´s are Kemell, Simontaival, Tuomaala, Lambert etc. Pretty sick if you ask me. I have a feeling we will have a more stacked top9 than ever before at this level. This combined with Pennanen as our coach makes me hopeful and quite honestly? The gold is ours to win. Yes, Canada, Russia, Sweden and Slovakia etc are good but there are no excuses at this point, the bar should be high. Forward group- stacked. Almost 2016 level? Defense- good top 2 and good depth. Nothing special but should be solid. Goalies- Bit of our question mark because I thought Blomqvist would´ve been more established (stagnated?) at this point.
Well... My predictions then:
Koivunen-Räty-Kemell
Järventie(big question mark)-Hirvonen-Simontaival
Lambert-Helenius-Tuomaala
Salminen-Oliver Kapanen-Liukas (or Jämsen)
Liukas, Jämsen, Kapanen and Salminen are a close one fore me. Still believe Liukas could be a better and needed role player than Jämsen for this roster, we´ll see.
Mäenpää, is not a fourth line player for me and other years he would´ve probably been in my roster and this indicates that the level of this years roster is special.
Väisänen, Suni, Karvinen, Jani Nyman etc are other mentionable forwards.
Viro-Niemelä
Jurmo-Puutio
Malinen-Heimosalmi
Rajaniemi- Rafkin
Rami Määttä-
Vilén, Ottavainen, Jiri Pärssinen, Suomi.
The depth is perhaps a bit underrated. Rami Määttä could've been a good role player earlier or other years. Rajaniemi, Malinen and Jurmo are quite even but I´ve always been high on Malinen. So far Jurmos season indicates that he should go before Rajaniemi. But then again, I could see Rajaniemi get selected before others because of his defensive qualities, interesting to see what Pennanen prefers. I have a feeling he selects Rajaniemi and a bit more defending role players, perhaps even Määttä.
Regarding Heimosalmi, Rafkin or Ottavainen as the third right-handed D? I believe Heimosalmi has a lot more potential in the long run, but I can see Rafkin be a good third pair D as well, even Ottavainen. It's even for now.
Blomqvist
Meriläinen
Leinonen
Vinni (high on his potential and could be a good learning experience for him to be a third)
Koskenvuo (This guy has his moments but I get a insecure Korpisalo´ish vibe from him, not sold on him at this point)
Markkanen, Korhonen, Jatkola, Vuorio etc.
I haven't become smarter regarding our goalies this season. Things seem a bit uncertain at this point.
All in all, if our goalie-goalies can be above decent this tournament I expect us to be the favorites together with Russia and Canada.
Last edited:
Eye of Ra
Grandmaster General of the International boards
Svedu
Registered User
- Apr 23, 2019
- 2,881
- 1,910
There is always a chance but not likely. I believe Viro, Jurmo, Rajaniemi and Malinen are before him as left handed D´s. Perhaps even Määttä, Vilén and Suomi.
ChicagoBullsFan
Registered User
Eye of Ra
Grandmaster General of the International boards
He just made it to the upcoming 4 nations tournament.
Leijonat - U20-maajoukkueen haastajaryhmä kohtaa kolme kertaa Tshekin – Tässä joukkue Vierumäellä pelattaviin otteluihin
"
Meillä on monenlaista osaamista. On Joakim Kemelliä, joka pystyy tekemään tulosta, on Ruotsin SHL:ssä peliaikaa saanut Olli Nikupetteriä. On
hyviä pohjaketjujen pelaajia ja niin edelleen. Erityisesti puolustuksessa meillä on todella kova kilpailutilanne, Pennanen paaluttaa"
Can someone translete this? My finnish is rosty and you can never trust google translete.
Pennanen says: "There's a plenty of talent here. We have Joakim Kemell, who's a great scorer. We have Olli Nikupetteri, who's been getting good minutes in the Swedish league. We have good bottom-six players, and so forth. The competition for the spots in defense is especially tough."
Actually he made the ”challenger” roster that plays 3 times against the Czechs in Finland.
However, Nikupeteri made the roster for 4 nations tournament, can you give any insight on him? I’ve never even heard of him before this, is he a center or winger and is he more suitable for top6 or bottom6?
Eye of Ra
Grandmaster General of the International boards
He is a winger. For sure more suited for a bottom 6 role. He is working hard and is not afraid to go to dirty areas. Got some speed aswell. Not the most skilled player but has decent pair of hands. Luleå-fans are praising him.
LeafChief
Matthew Knies Enthusiast
Lambert not being on the Four Nations roster seems ridiculous. I understand he's not playing well in Liiga but at his own age group he's still dominant.
He made it through the back door after Kemell had to withdraw due to an injury.
Svedu
Registered User
- Apr 23, 2019
- 2,881
- 1,910
Well, let's just say I´m not so convinced anymore. Lots of these guys seem to been struck by something or just stopped training.
Helenius was utter shit today. His puck handling is below average. Can he even become a decent fourth line center in the NHL? Who knows, I'm not sure about that.
Hirvonen, did he even play? Nurmi, no more games for you even if those HPK fans insist on selecting you. Kapanen, just like Helenius looks a lot worse this year. What has happened to these guys?
I believe the Kärpät guys in Räty, Koivunen and Niemelä can step it up in the future but they were underwhelming like the whole team. Only decent one was Blomqvist. Could've been 6 or 7-1 to Russia.
I truly hope Pennanen selects guys like Kemell, Tuomaala and skilled guys when it matters, because the bottom line players weren't any good in any aspect of the game.
The defense was actually scary bad. Especially when you consider that most of these D´s will probably get selected. I hope Rami Määttä or Jurmo or anyone else can show that they are better than this. Awful performance and let's just be grateful this wasn't the actual WJC´s.
Helenius was utter shit today. His puck handling is below average. Can he even become a decent fourth line center in the NHL? Who knows, I'm not sure about that.
Hirvonen, did he even play? Nurmi, no more games for you even if those HPK fans insist on selecting you. Kapanen, just like Helenius looks a lot worse this year. What has happened to these guys?
I believe the Kärpät guys in Räty, Koivunen and Niemelä can step it up in the future but they were underwhelming like the whole team. Only decent one was Blomqvist. Could've been 6 or 7-1 to Russia.
I truly hope Pennanen selects guys like Kemell, Tuomaala and skilled guys when it matters, because the bottom line players weren't any good in any aspect of the game.
The defense was actually scary bad. Especially when you consider that most of these D´s will probably get selected. I hope Rami Määttä or Jurmo or anyone else can show that they are better than this. Awful performance and let's just be grateful this wasn't the actual WJC´s.
Last edited:
Eye of Ra
Grandmaster General of the International boards
Koivunen-Räty-Kemell
Järventie-Hirvonen-Simontaival
Lambert-Mäenpää-Tuomaala
Nikupeteri-Helenius-Jämsen
Salminen
Viro-Niemelä
Jurmo-Puutio
Rajaniemi-Rafkin
Ottavainen
Blomqvist
Markkanen
Korhonen
This is what i would go with. In my book a team that should battle for gold.
I know Mäenpää is small but he is doing good in Liiga, against men. So he should handle juniors.
Järventie-Hirvonen-Simontaival
Lambert-Mäenpää-Tuomaala
Nikupeteri-Helenius-Jämsen
Salminen
Viro-Niemelä
Jurmo-Puutio
Rajaniemi-Rafkin
Ottavainen
Blomqvist
Markkanen
Korhonen
This is what i would go with. In my book a team that should battle for gold.
I know Mäenpää is small but he is doing good in Liiga, against men. So he should handle juniors.
Pavel Buchnevich
"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
ChicagoBullsFan
Registered User
99%
Camp roster should be out next week.
Updated prediction:
Hirvonen-Räty-Simontaival
Koivunen-Helenius-Kemell
Mäenpää/Kapanen/Lambert/Tuomaala
Liukas-Salminen/Päivärinta-Väisänen
Mäenpää should make the team but the question is will he play LW or center. If he plays wing, then Kapanen is likely the third line center.
Viro-Niemelä
Rajaniemi-Puutio
Nurmi-Rafkin
Määttä-Ottavainen
Blomqvist
Meriläinen
Jatkola
No idea about Järventie, seems more likely he won't be playing.
A few remarks:
- Pennanen has mentioned Roby Järventie and Joel Määttä as players of interest from North America. I imagine Järventie will be part of the team if healthy and available.
- Samu Salminen was only an injury replacement to the challenger team that played against the Czechs, so it seems Pennanen doens't consider him as a strong candidate.
- Oliver Kapanen is injured and it's still somewhat unclear whether he recovers in time for the tournament.
ChicagoBullsFan
Registered User
Team Finland roster to WJC 2022.
Maalivahdit:
Joel Blomqvist, Kärpät
Juha Jatkola, KalPa
Leevi Meriläinen, Kingston (OHL)
Puolustajat:
Aleksi Heimosalmi, Ässät
Rami Määttä, Ässät
Topi Niemelä, Kärpät
Petteri Nurmi, HPK
Ville Ottavainen, JYP
Kasper Puutio, KalPa
Ruben Rafkin, TPS
Eemil Viro, TPS
Hyökkääjät:
Samuel Helenius, JYP
Roni Hirvonen, HIFK
Roby Järventie, Belleville (AHL)
Oliver Kapanen, KalPa
Joakim Kemell, JYP
Ville Koivunen, Kärpät
Brad Lambert, JYP
Juuso Mäenpää, KalPa
Joel Määttä, Univ. Of Vermont (NCAA)
Olli Nikupeteri, Luleå (SHL)
Sami Päivärinta, Lukko
Aatu Räty, Jukurit
Kasper Simontaival, KalPa
Kalle Väisänen, TPS
Maalivahdit:
Joel Blomqvist, Kärpät
Juha Jatkola, KalPa
Leevi Meriläinen, Kingston (OHL)
Puolustajat:
Aleksi Heimosalmi, Ässät
Rami Määttä, Ässät
Topi Niemelä, Kärpät
Petteri Nurmi, HPK
Ville Ottavainen, JYP
Kasper Puutio, KalPa
Ruben Rafkin, TPS
Eemil Viro, TPS
Hyökkääjät:
Samuel Helenius, JYP
Roni Hirvonen, HIFK
Roby Järventie, Belleville (AHL)
Oliver Kapanen, KalPa
Joakim Kemell, JYP
Ville Koivunen, Kärpät
Brad Lambert, JYP
Juuso Mäenpää, KalPa
Joel Määttä, Univ. Of Vermont (NCAA)
Olli Nikupeteri, Luleå (SHL)
Sami Päivärinta, Lukko
Aatu Räty, Jukurit
Kasper Simontaival, KalPa
Kalle Väisänen, TPS
Here's also an article with the team and schedule. It's Finnish sports page, but does the trick. Suomen joukkue nuorten MM-kisoihin julki! - Jääkiekon MM 2022
Any huge surprises? I'm actually a bit surprised how different it is compared to the "main" roster in four nations tournament in November.
Any huge surprises? I'm actually a bit surprised how different it is compared to the "main" roster in four nations tournament in November.
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