GDT: 2022 World Juniors Championship Part Deux

[FinnishDevil]

Poor Czechia.

 

[FinnishDevil]

Heres hoping we can make hockey look boring and upset the more skilled Canada. First 10 is gonna be big.

 

[Eggtimer]

Islanders prospect looks good for Canada . Big dude that can shoot. Was MVP of Memorial Cup too. Could be worse , he could be a Rangers prospect. Islanders have Jack shit really for prospects .

 

[TheUnseenHand]

How the hell is that a powerplay? That play was dead as soon as the Canadian player touched the puck with a high stick on top of the net.

 

[Eggtimer]

Wowza .. Finnish PM is hot. 36 years old ?! She got in a little shit for partying .

 

[FinnishDevil]

I dont hate this. Canada was dominant the first 12~ minutes but since then I'd say its been pretty close 50-50 game besides the powerplays of course. We've had our chances and Jatkola is making some big saves.

Get one of those chances in and its a whole new game in the 3rd.

 

[FinnishDevil]

Theres one! @Guttersniped favorite Heimosalmi strikes from the point.

 

[FinnishDevil]

Now its a new game.

 

[Guttersniped]

Theres one! @Guttersniped favorite Heimosalmi strikes from the point.

He’s also @Its Always Sundstrom ‘s Ham and Salami, we share custody.

 

[Guttersniped]

pretty damn even:

 

[FinnishDevil]

The main board thread is truly hilarious to read from both sides and even neutral parties.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

****

What a ridiculous goal saving play. Geez.

 

[Guttersniped]

Ah, well, ho hum the Canadians won.

Kent Johnson has been horrifically snake bit so good for him. (If this holds.)

 

[FinnishDevil]

My favorite teams across different leagues and tournaments have definitely found interesting ways to lose championships, but this one might be very near the top.

 

[Devs3cups]

What a frantic ending, damn!

Great tournament for Johnson and Luke, 2 Michigan guys.

 

[Guadana]

Heres hoping we can make hockey look boring and upset the more skilled Canada. First 10 is gonna be big.

That was a good game. Rooted for Finland. I liked positional game and forecheck. Canada were better in personal level, Finland missed a lot of passes and shots, but game overall was great. I think Finland deserved to be named second hockey country in the last few years. Better than Sweden, Russia and USA.
Hope Finland will develope development programm and will add more training programs for stick skills. Tactical level of training is great. I think both defensively and offensively.

 

[devilsfan35]

Chase Stillman though…sigh

 

[Eggtimer]

Chase Stillman though…sigh

I know … I don’t want to make it a positional vs BAP argument but we had just taken Luke and LHD was already a strength , so I can understand going with a forward with the later pick - Stillman .
There is also the entire Jarry shitting the bed against the Islanders thing , which cost us the ability to draft someone like Wallstedt or Lysell or Ceulemans or Lambos.
Then we pass on Zellweger Stankoven Hamandsalami Raty Knies over Stillman … ok I pissed myself off now .

 

[FinnishDevil]

That was a good game. Rooted for Finland. I liked positional game and forecheck. Canada were better in personal level, Finland missed a lot of passes and shots, but game overall was great. I think Finland deserved to be named second hockey country in the last few years. Better than Sweden, Russia and USA.
Hope Finland will develope development programm and will add more training programs for stick skills. Tactical level of training is great. I think both defensively and offensively.

I can see that, but we dont really have anything to bargain with. Last time there was a best on best tournament was in 2016 and we scored 2 goals the whole tournament. That was a weird time and age for our hockey since our last golden generation had just retired, our current generation (Koivu, Filppula, Jokinen etc) were on their last legs and our new generation were too young (Aho, Laine, Barkov etc)

I dont think winning WC or OG should count for too much when its not best on best. Like its great and all, but it doesnt really tell the story of how good the nation actually is. Anyone can bring up stats how this and this lineup would be better than RUS, SWE or USA but right now they're just as proven as the Finns are.

For a long time our coaching in the juniors was very team orientated. It was the "everyone plays" kinda coaching and didnt really focus on individual talents, but nowadays we actually produce more skilled players than ever. The coaching has changed, not to say theres nothing to improve but there was a time that Lauri Korpikoski was a diamond in the rough for us. He was a pure grinder two-way forward and thats all we produced year in and year out. Nowadays theres players in every WJC team and draft class that you can see that these kids are gonna make it in the NHL.

One thing I think were missing compared to 10-20 years ago is goalies. Its funny cause thats all we ever had, but many of our top goalie coaches ended up going to the KHL the last decade or so. Funny to see how that changes now and if Finnish goalie coaches stick to Finland more now or get hired in SHL/NLA etc. Colorado has a Finnish goalie coach who came from the KHL. Think Vancouver just hired one for their AHL team who had previously been with SKA. As long as we can keep them in our juniors or Liiga, the better.

 

[Guadana]

I can see that, but we dont really have anything to bargain with. Last time there was a best on best tournament was in 2016 and we scored 2 goals the whole tournament. That was a weird time and age for our hockey since our last golden generation had just retired, our current generation (Koivu, Filppula, Jokinen etc) were on their last legs and our new generation were too young (Aho, Laine, Barkov etc)

I dont think winning WC or OG should count for too much when its not best on best. Like its great and all, but it doesnt really tell the story of how good the nation actually is. Anyone can bring up stats how this and this lineup would be better than RUS, SWE or USA but right now they're just as proven as the Finns are.

For a long time our coaching in the juniors was very team orientated. It was the "everyone plays" kinda coaching and didnt really focus on individual talents, but nowadays we actually produce more skilled players than ever. The coaching has changed, not to say theres nothing to improve but there was a time that Lauri Korpikoski was a diamond in the rough for us. He was a pure grinder two-way forward and thats all we produced year in and year out. Nowadays theres players in every WJC team and draft class that you can see that these kids are gonna make it in the NHL.

One thing I think were missing compared to 10-20 years ago is goalies. Its funny cause thats all we ever had, but many of our top goalie coaches ended up going to the KHL the last decade or so. Funny to see how that changes now and if Finnish goalie coaches stick to Finland more now or get hired in SHL/NLA etc. Colorado has a Finnish goalie coach who came from the KHL. Think Vancouver just hired one for their AHL team who had previously been with SKA. As long as we can keep them in our juniors or Liiga, the better.

You won world championship with KHL/Euro/junior guys against pretty competent opponents. OG were not best vs best, but it was best outside NHL. Plus junior levels. I know we want some perfect circumstance, but now we live in the world of business/politics/covid/sanctions. And some hockey players just can’t find motivation because modern world is little bit depreciated because of info noise. Finland as the system won what they won. We don’t have another circumstances. There are a lot of talents in Russia, but they can’t do anything against Finland as the system.

And I think Finland looked better as team than Canada. I saw a lot of Canada positional mistakes, not so many effort etc Im not a fan of Lambert. But I would say he could help, especially in OT.

 

[FinnishDevil]

You won world championship with KHL/Euro/junior guys against pretty competent opponents. OG were not best vs best, but it was best outside NHL. Plus junior levels. I know we want some perfect circumstance, but now we live in the world of business/politics/covid/sanctions. And some hockey players just can’t find motivation because modern world is little bit depreciated because of info noise. Finland as the system won what they won. We don’t have another circumstances. There are a lot of talents in Russia, but they can’t do anything against Finland as the system.

And I think Finland looked better as team than Canada. I saw a lot of Canada positional mistakes, not so many effort etc Im not a fan of Lambert. But I would say he could help, especially in OT.

Yeah, I get what you mean. In terms of what we have, yeah theres probably no one better than Finland or Canada the last 5 years or so. But I still dont think I would take us over any team in a best vs best tournament, cause we simply dont have anything to compare our best lineups to. Thats just the sad part.

I think the Finnish system is great and players buy into it. Our coaching is top notch when it comes to tournament based coaching, but I just want to see how the system holds up against McDavid, Makar, Crosby, Mackinnon etc. Until then I have a hard time admitting that were better.

 

[My3Sons]

Yeah, I get what you mean. In terms of what we have, yeah theres probably no one better than Finland or Canada the last 5 years or so. But I still dont think I would take us over any team in a best vs best tournament, cause we simply dont have anything to compare our best lineups to. Thats just the sad part.

I think the Finnish system is great and players buy into it. Our coaching is top notch when it comes to tournament based coaching, but I just want to see how the system holds up against McDavid, Makar, Crosby, Mackinnon etc. Until then I have a hard time admitting that were better.

In a short tournament anything can happen and probably boils down to whose goalie plays out of his mind. Still, watching the NHL it's hard to say any team has more talent top to bottom than the Canadian team but the gap is closing at least. Maybe Finland doesn't have Connor McDavid but they have good quality depth at every position as does the US and Sweden and Russia. Canada's other truly dominant centers are aging and the next generation doesn't have a player quite as good as McDavid is now so we will see what happens. Heck, if Stutzle and Seider and a few others develop well Germany may jump into the top ranks in the next few years. They are probably close to catching Switzerland at this point.

 

[Guadana]

Yeah, I get what you mean. In terms of what we have, yeah theres probably no one better than Finland or Canada the last 5 years or so. But I still dont think I would take us over any team in a best vs best tournament, cause we simply dont have anything to compare our best lineups to. Thats just the sad part.

I think the Finnish system is great and players buy into it. Our coaching is top notch when it comes to tournament based coaching, but I just want to see how the system holds up against McDavid, Makar, Crosby, Mackinnon etc. Until then I have a hard time admitting that were better.

I coukd agree but I can't. Because top 20 people isn't the whole picture of the system. On the different levels. And on the other hand, Canadian goalies aren't top 3. Just imagine that in some short tournament Canadien goalie will fvck up and missed three goals from 7 shots(I belive devils fans can feel something here) and Canada went from the tournament without medal. It doesn't rank their system bad overall.
On the other hand Finland won a lot on the different levels against different teams. To be named second in the moment of time.

Hope world will find a way to coming in peace and we will see some top hockey adult tournamen. Its hard to imagine that for me, but Im a human and I want to believe.

 

[My3Sons]

I coukd agree but I can't. Because top 20 people isn't the whole picture of the system. On the different levels. And on the other hand, Canadian goalies aren't top 3. Just imagine that in some short tournament Canadien goalie will fvck up and missed three goals from 7 shots(I belive devils fans can feel something here) and Canada went from the tournament without medal. It doesn't rank their system bad overall.
On the other hand Finland won a lot on the different levels against different teams. To be named second in the moment of time.

Hope world will find a way to coming in peace and we will see some real hockey. Its hard to imagine that for me, but Im a human and I want to believe.

Peace will happen at some point. An armistice or at least a cease fire with diplomacy taking over. Hopefully soon. Modern warfare is very expensive and as long as the west provides material to Ukraine it will be an economic drain on Russia which will give incentive to resolve things without further bloodshed. Stay safe in the meantime. We understand the conflict is not your decision and while we in the west take our freedom of speech for granted I know it can be different in different parts of the world which, along with the language barrier, may impact your ability to communicate on the subject. Hockey with Russia will eventually be played again. I am confident of that.

 

[Classic Devil]

Peace will happen at some point. An armistice or at least a cease fire with diplomacy taking over. Hopefully soon. Modern warfare is very expensive and as long as the west provides material to Ukraine it will be an economic drain on Russia which will give incentive to resolve things without further bloodshed. Stay safe in the meantime. We understand the conflict is not your decision and while we in the west take our freedom of speech for granted I know it can be different in different parts of the world which, along with the language barrier, may impact your ability to communicate on the subject. Hockey with Russia will eventually be played again. I am confident of that.

I wouldn't count on it. "Eventually" could be a very long time.