GDT: Quarterfinal - May 17 - Finland vs Switzerland

[BruinLVGA]

I put all my money left on my betting account for Switzerland. It wasn't that big surprise for me. When we lost to Germany and Denmark, it was easy to predict that we will lose.

I hope that you are good at betting!

Beating Canada and even more so in a semifinals will be incredibly tough.

 

[f1nn]

I don't agree to call a 2-time champion, 1-time 3rd place coach in the team level a 'loser'.
Sure, if your argument is that he's a loser in tournaments, you would be correct.
Future won't even tell if he's a loser. He's won all that is available inside Finland.

Yes, he has been successful as a Liiga coach. Which is I think what most people are saying, we are glad he can go back to not ruining national team games.

 

[Jon Riley]

Great match but the last period was painful as hell. This team (and yeah, Fischer now you convinced me) has a game, it's not on the ice just to avoid the other team to score, but third period I saw shades of the past. Even though it was probably the right thing to do.
During the match I wrote a bunch of comments that I never sent because something happened while I was writing. In particular:
1) Corvi is having a good match but he should start shooting inside the goal posts, not far off.
2) Haas line is suffering and being pushed around too easily, this is goin to be a problem.
3) I like Meier's game but the second line is not doing great Vermin is not having his best match, i'd prob try again with Andrighetto center.

Yeah, I suck at understanding hockey.

 

[mosare]

I hope that you are good at betting!

Beating Canada and even more so in a semifinals will be incredibly tough.

Why?! I don't think so! The swiss won the last two matches agst canada! The canadiens don't like to play agst the swiss, and in addition, the swiss are better then ever. So they have at least a 40% chance to win. just my 2 cents

 

[ManWithNoName]

You realize that I am a Swiss fan?

Haha. My bad. I was quite sure you were Finnish. Either way, congrats on the victory even though I think Finland deserved it more based on the points in my previous post. Best of luck against Canada!

 

[FinPanda]

After all you have to remember that Switzerland had one of their best teams here ever (if not the best). Not many of their best players weren't there (Hischier and some others). If you don't give your 100%, you will lose. That second period was the saddest moment for me in this tournament (if we don't count Aho's interview after the game). But every team has not all of their best players here, we should've won if we had played as well as in the USA/Canada games.

The future is bright for the Finns though. They just have to learn to play when they are the favourite. We probably should have lost to USA with this team.

Oh well, fortunately there is another tournament coming every year. Next year in Slovakia, should be good for us.

 

[BruinLVGA]

Why?! I don't think so! The swiss won the last two matches agst canada! The canadiens don't like to play agst the swiss, and in addition, the swiss are better then ever. So they have at least a 40% chance to win. just my 2 cents

It's just that teams like Canada and Sweden are so used to winning it all so often and have the experience & confidence in turning up the heat when things matter most. Killer instinct.

Canada will be the clear favorite, IMO.

 

[DoubleGold]

After all you have to remember that Switzerland had one of their best teams here ever (if not the best). Not many of their best players weren't there (Hischier and some others). If you don't give your 100%, you will lose. That second period was the saddest moment for me in this tournament (if we don't count Aho's interview after the game). But every team has not all of their best players here, we should've won if we had played as well as in the USA/Canada games.

The future is bright for the Finns though. They just have to learn to play when they are the favourite. We probably should have lost to USA with this team.

Oh well, fortunately there is another tournament coming every year. Next year in Slovakia, should be good for us.

Oh man, do I even want to see that interview?

 

[BruinLVGA]

After all you have to remember that Switzerland had one of their best teams here ever (if not the best). Not many of their best players weren't there (Hischier and some others). If you don't give your 100%, you will lose. That second period was the saddest moment for me in this tournament (if we don't count Aho's interview after the game). But every team has not all of their best players here, we should've won if we had played as well as in the USA/Canada games.

The future is bright for the Finns though. They just have to learn to play when they are the favourite. We probably should have lost to USA with this team.

Oh well, fortunately there is another tournament coming every year. Next year in Slovakia, should be good for us.

What did Aho say?

 

[FinPanda]

Oh man, do I even want to see that interview?

Probably not, that was awful.

 

[FinPanda]

What did Aho say?

He was heartbroken and nearly crying. That should say enough.

 

[JustaFinnishGuy]

But is it really?
At Blues, Matikainen built a contender with the material and strong but not exceptional youth pipeline
Marjamäki was hyped, good season as head coach, then gets fired after singing with Kärpät and abysmal performansseja at Blues
At Kärpät, Marjamäki inherits dynasty, continues with it for a pair of medals

Was he just good, and lucky?

I have no idea how I didn't know that he coached for 2 seasons as the head coach for Blues. Huh. Thought he was an assistant coach who jumped into being the head coach just like Manner.
Nevertheless

Marjamäki didn't inherit anything. His moves included bringing Kukkonen, Pyörälä, Aaltonen back to the Kärpät team with Aho, the GM. That was what he built the 2 championships wins on, namely Pyörälä and Kukkonen. Trusting leadership was the key, as even Aaltonen was injured all of the time and didn't really want to play the system.

He preached leadership and accountability in defending. And we defended pretty f***ing well during his time with Kärpät.
He didn't luck into the 17 game win streak. He didn't luck into the regular season points record.
He created the 'dynasty' or whatever a 2-time championship is with Kukkonen and Pyörälä along with the clever additions from Aho.
He bravely swapped his goaltenders and always rode the hotter goalie, He made actually good decisions with Kärpät.

There's really nothing that supports his stint in Kärpät as being a fluke, other than this stint with the national team where the situation is fully changed as these are not long seasons.
If anything, this just proves that his systems have worked with time and enough repetition.
We'll learn more about him in the future.

 

[Mestaruus]

Oh well, fortunately there is another tournament coming every year. Next year in Slovakia, should be good for us.

Jukka Jalonen & Slovakia. Good memories. Good thing a lot of our U20 players love Jukka Jalonen. Really couldn't be a better coach selection.

Now he needs to choose the assistant coaches well. The good old Risto Duhva will do or anyone that has that mean side like Valtonen so the players don't start slacking in the second periods.

 

[BruinLVGA]

He was heartbroken and nearly crying. That should say enough.

Understandable. He had a monster tournament and with the way Finland handled Canada and the USA, expectations for you guys must've been very high.

 

[FinPanda]

Understandable. He had a monster tournament and with the way Finland handled Canada and the USA, expectations for you guys must've been very high.

He said something about not playing their best in this game, like they threw the game away. That is mostly on coaching as the top players played too much in the beginning of the tournament against Norway, South Korea and Latvia. They just didn't have any gas left after the long season.

Marjamäki made so many mistakes that it is not even funny anymore. Ok, it was never funny.

 

[Mestaruus]

The Aho interview you guys were talking about is here (Finnish language):

MTV Katsomo

This was Aho's final breakthrough to superstardom. Before this he was a star but now a superstar. He deserved more than this result but it's a team game.

 

[Jussi]

Hope Jokerit fire him before playoff chance is gone.

Were that to happen, their only option would be Raimo Helminen then.

 

[BruinLVGA]

He said something about not playing their best in this game, like they threw the game away. That is mostly on coaching as the top players played too much in the beginning of the tournament against Norway, South Korea and Latvia. They just didn't have any gas left after the long season.

Marjamäki made so many mistakes that it is not even funny anymore. Ok, it never was funny.

Well, you still had one hell of a tournament. You also have a future that is probably brighter than any other team.
Elimination games are heartbreaking: one bad game and/or a great game by the other guys and/or a goalie doing great stuff and anyone could get eliminated.
Switzerland played a strong game (relentless forecheck, great cycle game, going as hard as they could to the net), didn't play a defense-only game, capitalized on their chances better than Finland: a very solid performance. I think the victory was deserved. But a bounce here or there and things could be very different.

 

[FinPanda]

Well, you still had one hell of a tournament. You also have a future that is probably brighter than any other team.
Elimination games are heartbreaking: one bad game and/or a great game by the other guys and/or a goalie doing great stuff and anyone could get eliminated.
Switzerland played a strong game (relentless forecheck, great cycle game, going as hard as they could to the net), didn't play a defense-only game, capitalized on their chances better than Finland: a very solid performance. I think the victory was deserved. But a bounce here or there and things could be very different.

It was a dark three minutes.. speed killed us. This feels like a huge wasted opportunity. I am still very sad about the loss. It's hard to be a fan of any Finnish national team. So much disappoinments when things look good. They played so good hockey in the most games of the tournament, best I've ever seen our mens team play. This is hard. All I think now is "what if"..

Three minutes and you lose a game because of that. It can't be. There is 57 minutes more. Why did they stop playing after they scored the first goal? Oh why.

I am actually very sad the more I think about the game. This wasn't the first disappointment and won't be the last. fortunately I am too young to remember 2003 5-1 -> 5-6 loss so this goes quite high.

 

[Mestaruus]

It was a dark three minutes.. speed killed us. This feels like a huge wasted opportunity. I am still very sad about the loss. It's hard to be a fan of any Finnish national team. So much disappoinments when things look good. They played so good hockey in the most games of the tournament, best I've ever seen our mens team play. This is hard. All I think now is "what if"..

Three minutes and you lose a game because of that. It can't be. There is 57 minutes more. Why did they stop playing after they scored the first goal? Oh why.

I am actually very sad the more I think about the game. This wasn't the first disappointment and won't be the last. fortunately I am too young to remember 2003 5-1 -> 5-6 loss so this goes quite high.

I swear I was thinking when Switzerland tied to 1-1 that "take a time out now". You could just feel more is coming. Those second periods have been so awful. 2-1 was another chance to do it. This was a small coaching failure.

To your other point. Don't forget we just won U18 gold and been dominating the junior NT tournaments along with USA lately, to the point that other countries are starting to hate the good old Finland that everybody used to like. It is true though that we need to get more WHC men golds than once every 16 years. It's a pretty bad record for a top nation that cares so much about this tournament.

 

[Finnswiss]

It's a great success for Switzerland and I can fully understand Ahos disappointment. He played such a great tournament and is now eliminated with the team already in quarterfinal. I hope he will get more chances to represent Finland at WHC and with more success.

 

[Eye of Ra]

not suprising for me, switzerland will take over finlands place in the top 6 .

 

[Mestaruus]

not suprising for me, switzerland will take over finlands place in the top 6 .

Good joke.

 

[Ippenator]

I have no idea how I didn't know that he coached for 2 seasons as the head coach for Blues. Huh. Thought he was an assistant coach who jumped into being the head coach just like Manner.
Nevertheless

Marjamäki didn't inherit anything. His moves included bringing Kukkonen, Pyörälä, Aaltonen back to the Kärpät team with Aho, the GM. That was what he built the 2 championships wins on, namely Pyörälä and Kukkonen. Trusting leadership was the key, as even Aaltonen was injured all of the time and didn't really want to play the system.

He preached leadership and accountability in defending. And we defended pretty ****ing well during his time with Kärpät.
He didn't luck into the 17 game win streak. He didn't luck into the regular season points record.
He created the 'dynasty' or whatever a 2-time championship is with Kukkonen and Pyörälä along with the clever additions from Aho.
He bravely swapped his goaltenders and always rode the hotter goalie, He made actually good decisions with Kärpät.

There's really nothing that supports his stint in Kärpät as being a fluke, other than this stint with the national team where the situation is fully changed as these are not long seasons.
If anything, this just proves that his systems have worked with time and enough repetition.
We'll learn more about him in the future.

A good Liiga coach is not necessarily at all a good coach for the national team. Just like a good Liiga player is in most cases not a good player for the national team. He just is not a good coach at the real top level. Be happy for what he was for your Kärpät, but just deal with it that he is just not as great coach as you seem to have thought.

 

[BruinLVGA]

It was a dark three minutes.. speed killed us. This feels like a huge wasted opportunity. I am still very sad about the loss. It's hard to be a fan of any Finnish national team. So much disappoinments when things look good. They played so good hockey in the most games of the tournament, best I've ever seen our mens team play. This is hard. All I think now is "what if"..

Three minutes and you lose a game because of that. It can't be. There is 57 minutes more. Why did they stop playing after they scored the first goal? Oh why.

I am actually very sad the more I think about the game. This wasn't the first disappointment and won't be the last. fortunately I am too young to remember 2003 5-1 -> 5-6 loss so this goes quite high.

I understand all this. As a Swiss fan, we have not had much to cheer about. In my lifetime (and I have been attending hockey games since the 1970s), the only thing is the 2013 silver...