Pretty crazy game. Both teams were kind of sloppy and bad at times and individuals made a lot of mistakes. It was entertaining but not especially high quality hockey.
I was a bit surprised to read after the game that some thought Canada was so much better in the first. It felt like an even period with Finns making awful defensive mistakes which resulted in scoring chances for Canada. We were down 0-2 way too easily compared to the flow of the game. Canada was good in the forecheck but outside of that I thought our team was playing relatively well. I wasn't too worried about being down 0-2 because our guys have shown so much offensive flair this year and I thought Canada was completely beatable judging by the previous games. That Laine goal at the end was a major boost for us. It made Blackwood a bit shakier and obviously helped Finland get a boost right before the brake.
Another huge moment was pulling Vehviläinen. I don't want to dump on him too much but he looked shaky and I think it might have had an effect on the skaters too. Then Kähkönen came in and made some huge saves right away and everyone looked more confident. Then we got some lucky brakes like that D falling in Kalapudas' goal and Blackwood's sloppyness in Saarela's goal. But you have to earn your luck and I thought Finland was playing well enough to get the occasional bounce. Not to mention that some of the goals scored in our end were soft or unlucky too (especially 0-2 and 2-3 goals).
It felt like Finland was making this game more difficult than it should have been with the constant defensive mistakes. Almost all goals had someone to blame, like a bad turnover or something. That's usually how it is on this level but I was fairly confident with out ability to create offense if we could just minimize the defensive blunders.
I didn't think Canada was that dangerous in creating offense and scoring chances. In tournaments past we have been steamrolled and dominated at times by Team Canada but that wasn't at all the case today. Something was lacking, like there wasn't a clear leader or identity in this year's TC. They weren't very physical or intimidating like some past teams but they didn't really have an elite offensive leader like an "Eberle" out there either. I don't know what kind of team they were supposed to be... Marner was close to winning it for Canada but you shouldn't be giving up six goals to begin with, and I don't think it was all on Blackwood either. Discipline was clearly an issue towards the end too, but it was mostly on a couple of individuals.
I thought the refereeing was pretty even. There were a couple of soft calls on both sides but neither team benefited significantly, it's just that at times some calls might en up costing more than others, like the Virtanen penalties did. At first I was afraid the Laine hit might be a five but since Strome wasn't injured then 2 should be enough. The Marner penalty was soft, I hink the ref just felt the pressure not to give a pp that late in the game so he made it a 4 on 4 when Marner gave the chance. Could have been avoided if Marner hadn't punched the face and instead just shoved the chest like Nättinen was doing, but there was obviously some embellishment too from Nättinen.
I felt kind of bad for Virtanen, yes they were stupid penalties but knowing the importance of this tournament in Canada I knew he would get destroyd on these boards. Some people take this way too seriously and it's kind of absurd considering these are all just teenagers.
This game could have ended either way imo. Those last penalties by Virtanen and especially the delay of game (ridiculously bad luck btw) gave Finland the momentum to win it and they didn't miss their chance.
Finland needs to tighten the D if they want to beat Sweden. I don't know how long we can keep this high power offense going on
. We're giving up huge amount of goals and are still winning. That's practically unheard of in Finnish hockey. Sweden is probably the best organized team in this tournament so it will be a big challenge to keep this offense going against them.
I was a bit surprised to read after the game that some thought Canada was so much better in the first. It felt like an even period with Finns making awful defensive mistakes which resulted in scoring chances for Canada. We were down 0-2 way too easily compared to the flow of the game. Canada was good in the forecheck but outside of that I thought our team was playing relatively well. I wasn't too worried about being down 0-2 because our guys have shown so much offensive flair this year and I thought Canada was completely beatable judging by the previous games. That Laine goal at the end was a major boost for us. It made Blackwood a bit shakier and obviously helped Finland get a boost right before the brake.
Another huge moment was pulling Vehviläinen. I don't want to dump on him too much but he looked shaky and I think it might have had an effect on the skaters too. Then Kähkönen came in and made some huge saves right away and everyone looked more confident. Then we got some lucky brakes like that D falling in Kalapudas' goal and Blackwood's sloppyness in Saarela's goal. But you have to earn your luck and I thought Finland was playing well enough to get the occasional bounce. Not to mention that some of the goals scored in our end were soft or unlucky too (especially 0-2 and 2-3 goals).
It felt like Finland was making this game more difficult than it should have been with the constant defensive mistakes. Almost all goals had someone to blame, like a bad turnover or something. That's usually how it is on this level but I was fairly confident with out ability to create offense if we could just minimize the defensive blunders.
I didn't think Canada was that dangerous in creating offense and scoring chances. In tournaments past we have been steamrolled and dominated at times by Team Canada but that wasn't at all the case today. Something was lacking, like there wasn't a clear leader or identity in this year's TC. They weren't very physical or intimidating like some past teams but they didn't really have an elite offensive leader like an "Eberle" out there either. I don't know what kind of team they were supposed to be... Marner was close to winning it for Canada but you shouldn't be giving up six goals to begin with, and I don't think it was all on Blackwood either. Discipline was clearly an issue towards the end too, but it was mostly on a couple of individuals.
I thought the refereeing was pretty even. There were a couple of soft calls on both sides but neither team benefited significantly, it's just that at times some calls might en up costing more than others, like the Virtanen penalties did. At first I was afraid the Laine hit might be a five but since Strome wasn't injured then 2 should be enough. The Marner penalty was soft, I hink the ref just felt the pressure not to give a pp that late in the game so he made it a 4 on 4 when Marner gave the chance. Could have been avoided if Marner hadn't punched the face and instead just shoved the chest like Nättinen was doing, but there was obviously some embellishment too from Nättinen.
I felt kind of bad for Virtanen, yes they were stupid penalties but knowing the importance of this tournament in Canada I knew he would get destroyd on these boards. Some people take this way too seriously and it's kind of absurd considering these are all just teenagers.
This game could have ended either way imo. Those last penalties by Virtanen and especially the delay of game (ridiculously bad luck btw) gave Finland the momentum to win it and they didn't miss their chance.
Finland needs to tighten the D if they want to beat Sweden. I don't know how long we can keep this high power offense going on
. We're giving up huge amount of goals and are still winning. That's practically unheard of in Finnish hockey. Sweden is probably the best organized team in this tournament so it will be a big challenge to keep this offense going against them.
