GDT: Group B • Dec. 30 • Slovakia vs. Finland

[rduck1]

Saarela has been amazing tonight(and in this tournament overall). Man of the match so far IMO.

 

[FinPanda]

Saarela has been amazing tonight(and in this tournament overall). Man of the match so far IMO.

Agreed. Best player for the Finns after Kids Line.

Btw is there any Canadians watching the game?

 

[Gaps]

Juolevi is going to be something else. Top 10 pick for sure.

He's the best dman on this team, so far at least. Lacks strength, but you can tell he's going to be a great player.

 

[Keke]

Beautiful pass from Saarijärvi in that Hintz goal using the board. Such a smooth and smart player

 

[rduck1]

Agreed. Best player for the Finns after Kids Line.

I would go as far as to say alongside instead of after. In those moments where the team looks demoralized, he's always one of the guys that keeps going, plus he'd have at least three more assists if Nättinen could shoot one-timers .

 

[kelsier]

Controlled the whole period and Finland had enough chances to score at least figve. Kalapudas has had at least 2-3 chances to net it, Nättinen as well. Hintz, meh. One thing that couldn't pass an eye test was Kapanen, he just seems to have trouble with the vision. Making really odd decisions. Had 2 on 1 while 3rd Finn was runnin down the middle without marking. Kapanen decides to wait until a defender passes the blue line and pass it down instead into the middle. Hockey IQ is one thing you can't teach and he seems to be lacking it severely.

On the bright side there's the kid line. How far will that lead though!
Finland cannot lose this however atleast.

 

[perstakli]

Since its a short tournament, only a few games, it just means a great team could have one or two bad days and become the 4th place team... and the team that won the other group gets to face them... instead of getting an ACTUAL advantage by getting a by to the semis, having to play one less game, more rest... thats better

Well, the lottery then is who has to go to the group with 4 top-7 teams in it - which will mean no playoffs for the unlucky team that ends up losing 4-3 on shootouts to another top-7 team. For Canada or Sweden it probably doesn't matter, but for Czechs or Finland it certainly does.

Really, you'd prefer playoffs with one top-7 team out (picked pretty much by random single games between them) rather than playoffs with all the top-7 teams and a team of kids from a smaller hockey nation, most of whom will play the most important game of their careers, looking to upset a big nation?

 

[perstakli]

Beautiful pass from Saarijärvi in that Hintz goal using the board. Such a smooth and smart player

Saarijärvi has had a good game so far after the somewhat disappointing first two games. Looks like he's getting comfortable in his role which should be good for us in the coming games!

 

[Canadian Finn]

Agreed. Best player for the Finns after Kids Line.

Btw is there any Canadians watching the game?

Sure is

 

[Minttu]

Our game is getting better. Still worried about the defence though. Really liking these new lines.

 

[rduck1]

Controlled the whole period and Finland had enough chances to score at least figve. Kalapudas has had at least 2-3 chances to net it, Nättinen as well. Hintz, meh. One thing that couldn't pass an eye test was Kapanen, he just seems to have trouble with the vision. Making really odd decisions. Had 2 on 1 while 3rd Finn was runnin down the middle without marking. Kapanen decides to wait until a defender passes the blue line and pass it down instead into the middle. Hockey IQ is one thing you can't teach and he seems to be lacking it severely.

On the bright side there's the kid line. How far will that lead though!
Finland cannot lose this however atleast.

IMO Kapanen has been good tonight. That 2-on-1 play was a bit off, but he doesn't have eyes on his back. Looked like the other man was pretty well marked there so he went for the second wave, which I think was smart, but it got delayed by a good hustle from the Slovak player. Other than that, he's been very involved in a lot of those long cycles that create lots of chances and keep the flow of the game firmly under control.

 

[trovah]

Can anyone explain what players play in the "kids line"? And how old are they?

 

[Keke]

Can anyone explain what players play in the "kids line"? And how old are they?

Patrik Laine (1998) - Sebastian Aho (1997) - Jesse Puljujärvi (1998)

 

[rduck1]

Can anyone explain what players play in the "kids line"? And how old are they?

Laine-Aho-Puljujärvi. Laine and Puljujärvi are draft-eligible 'wonderkids' that have been talked about for years, and Aho was taken in the previous draft.

 

[Esko6]

Can anyone explain what players play in the "kids line"? And how old are they?

Laine and Puljujärvi are both 17 and draft eligible this year. Aho was drafted last year.

 

[S A W F T*]

Puljujarvi with 8 points in 8 periods? Good God, man!

 

[TheFeistyFinn]

Can anyone explain what players play in the "kids line"? And how old are they?

Laine(17), Puljujärvi(17), Aho(18)

 

[FiLe]

Can anyone explain what players play in the "kids line"? And how old are they?

Patrik Laine ('98) - Sebastian Aho ('97) - Jesse Puljujärvi ('98).

 

[Esko6]

Finland has pretty awful puck luck in this tournament. Maybe it will start to even out soon...

 

[Johno]

Kasperi reincarnation of JMA. On the first glance he is looking good and controlling the game. On closer look it is just all fancy on the boards and drives to the corners. Nothing real or actual good play. Bad decisions and trying to do it all himself... Not impressed at all. Just my 2¢

 

[Canadian Finn]

Holy jesse!!!!

 

[agent082]

Aho or Puljujarvi?

 

[FinPanda]

Kids line again!

 

[snipes]

Pulju!

 

[BB88]

I ......ng love that kids line
This can't be real.