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GDT: Finland (2) vs. Latvia (1) • Relegation Round • Jan. 2

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FinnHockeyFan said:
Teemu Pulkkinen had also his shot when he was draft eligible prospect and look what he's now.
Tolvanen isn't like Laine ( no-one isn't) but if he can be a mix of Jeff Skinner and Vladimir Tarasenko it's OK.
Click to expand...
Pulu dominates the A, hes fringe could still break in NHL

Tolvanen clearly ahead of vesalainen imo
 
All in all, quite a good performance by the Latvian team. Let's not kid ourselves, we won't save a place in Elite, but it's clearly possible to draw a bigger upset and win the second game..

In the same time, for the point of reference, USA and Russia had much more pressure than the Finns did at any point of the game (didn't see the game vs CAN).
 
So Finland barely wins vs Latvia on a flukey lucky bounce goal.

Still a garbage effort and an awful team but at least they didn't ruin it for the next year's group.
 
Remember when Pulju went pointless despite all his chances 2 years ago? My theory is that the whole team is just sacrificing this year's oish% and oisv% so that next year they can be unsustainably high, preserving average stats over 2 years.
 
Can any Latvian hfboarder to tell me how Latvia is able to do games against Finland really close and low-scoring games in IIHF men's world-championships and world juniors.
 
ijuka said:
So Finland barely wins vs Latvia on a flukey lucky bounce goal.

Still a garbage effort and an awful team but at least they didn't ruin it for the next year's group.
Click to expand...

Yeah, and how many of these guys may have some sudden flu/health/injury issues, 'force majeure' family meetings and Aunt's weddings, etc. for excusing themselves out from the privilege to join to a team again next year, based on their experiences from this tournament? It's not highly probable there are lot of guys in this group who'll be learning how to sit on a benches of NHL teams either.

...and nobody could actually blame them for rejecting the privilege and honor! :D

(yes. It's not over yet either. Pessimist in me predicts 3 games scenario).
 
FiLe said:
from: FiLe
to: Kevin Cheveldayoff ([email protected]); Ron Francis ([email protected]); Peter Chiarelli ([email protected])
Subject: A request


Dear sirs, other people whom this may concern,

I humbly ask that...
Click to expand...

to: File
from: Kevin Cheveldayoff ([email protected])
cc: Ron Francis ([email protected]); Peter Chiarelli ([email protected])

lol

to: File
from: Ron Francis ([email protected])
cc: Peter Chiarelli ([email protected]);Kevin Cheveldayoff ([email protected])

lol

to: File
from: Peter Chiarelli ([email protected])
cc:Kevin Cheveldayoff ([email protected]); Ron Francis ([email protected])

Dear File,
thank you for your suggestion. Unfortunately Jesse has a previously agreed engagement with the practise rink manager and is earning his keep as a bench warmer at Rogers Place. We will consider your proposal once we have crushed his confidence and smothered his developement by throwing him in a league he is not quite ready for. Maybe get back to me in two year's time?

Petey
 
QnebO said:
The junior series in NA are overrated. At least our kids there are playing like scrubs.. outside tolvanen and björkqvist. Juolevi SHOULD be better but he doesnt play well..

Palmu having 20 goals in his league already? Wouldnt score 5 in mestis(fel2) season. Seen this game and two tape delays as base for this rant.
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This exactly. Palmu, Kuokkanen and Nättinen have all been absolutely rubbish. And Juolevi and Saarijärvi not that great either. I have for many years already thought that of course the absolute superstars in the North American junior leagues are excellent players. But you need to be a 2,0 ppg forward or a 1,5 ppg defenceman to really be that kind of a superstar player. So especially offensive role players under that class are absolutely average in top class tournaments like WJC U20. So the absolute top class is of course very good in North American junior leagues, but there's not really that many of that class players, and the classes below that are really very average and definitely not better than the average players in the major European top class junior leagues.

So players like Nättinen, Palmu and even Kuokkanen are still absolutely garbage in an offensive role in the national team, as they are not even close to being 2,0 ppg players. Kuokkanen and Palmu are somewhere close to 1,5 ppg, but it just simply means that they don't have enough of offensive talent to have a big offensive role in a junior national team that plays against the absolutely best junior teams in the world. Playing in somekind of an offensive role in men's Liiga (FEL) and getting some goals and points there is usually a guarantee for a player to manage relatively well in an offensive role in the junior national teams.

This paragraph added afterwards:
I have to still make a correction that the 2,0 ppg (forwards) or 1,5 ppg (defencemen) definitions seem to apply only when talking about the Canadian junior leagues (OHL, WHL and QMJHL). The USA based junior leagues seem to be more defensively strong leagues, so there already 1,5 ppg for a forward is absolute top class.

I honestly think that it is not that good for Finnish hockey that very young junior players go to North American leagues to play. It would be much better to stay in Finland and try to gain a secure role in a FEL-team, if they are skilled enough for that. They will learn much more about top class hockey than playing in North American junior leagues.

I base my opinion on the fact that no true Finnish star players have become from taking the North American junior's route with their development.
 
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FEL2 is a good place too for u18 kid

Whats with the KHL kid in jokerit? He wasnt eligble anymore?
 
It's commonly encountered misunderstanding a lot of people in NA see and consider FEL somehow equivalent to their OHLs, WHLs etc. FEL is men's (and quite international) league, not Farm or Junior cloning facility.

I agree, solid home-made FEL & affiliates junior/junior reservists/junior hangaround/Top Mestis prospect youth roster would probably perform better then this, even with some NA "reinforcements".

At least this tournament heavily support this conclusion.
 
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