WJC: Team Finland 2018 U20 WJC Roster Talk

[Hockeyisl1fe]

Without his idiotic penalty Denmark wouldn't have even scored a goal.
Thanks a lot indeed.

....

 

[Artorius Horus T]

LOL
He has the best transition numbers of any d-man on Finland through 2 games.
Plus his entry denials are second best

Plus his primary shot contributions 5 on 5 are really solid.

Yeah right.

 

[FiLe]

Looks like [female dog]ing and moaning is the theme of the day. In other words, nothing new under the sun.

To look on the bright side, at least we don't any more have to be overly concerned about ending up in relegation again. With Slovakia beating USA, Finland finishing last in group would require Denmark taking points from Canada. A three-way tie between FIN, DEN and SVK is now an impossibility. So - assuming Canada doesn't fumble royally - even if we lose our two remaining games and Denmark beats Slovakia, they're going to have three points against our three, and we have the tie-break.

 

[DieTomi]

We desperatly need ERäsänen.

Our top 6 D should be:
Heiskanen-ERäsänen
Välimäki-Jokiharju

Juolevi has been horrible,can't pass,can't skate,
hasn't done anything right.

Yeah Rasanen is the answer to the teams scoring woes... lol. The defense have been fine, forwards need to be way better. Hilarious you think he should be put on first pair with Heiskanen when he hasn't even gotten a sniff from the coaching staff. I love his game but he's not cracking the top 6.

 

[FinPanda]

Yeah Rasanen is the answer to the teams scoring woes... lol. The defense have been fine, forwards need to be way better. Hilarious you think he should be put on first pair with Heiskanen when he hasn't even gotten a sniff from the coaching staff. I love his game but he's not cracking the top 6.

I agree. Our defense is not the problem, forwards are. We have good enough first and second pair.

 

[Asiantuntija]

Kupari & Tolvanen to the 1st line. This ain't rocket science and they will fit perfect together . Kupari has enough hands & vision to set up Tolvanen.

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

Vain Tanska on ollut huonompi maalinteossa kuin Nuoret Leijonat: "Tällöin maalintekotehokkuus kasvaa potenssiin kolme"

Ruotsalaisasiantuntija lyttäsi Nuoret Leijonat lähes jokaisella osa-alueella: ”He eivät vakuuta paljoakaan”

Some brutal facts on Finland's offence.
And so what if Renberg is Swede he's ex player and knows hockey better than any Finnish hfboarder.
Something should be done and fast. Otherwise it's game over next Tuesday.

 

[1OApick]

Our forwards have issues with scoring. Our best forwards have been Vesalainen, Koivula and Koppanen who are all big guys. I would try these lineups for next game
Vesalainen-Rasanen-Tolvanen (Chemistry)
Heponiemi-Kuokkanen-Koivula
Innala-Koppanen-Kupari
Jääskä-Ikonen-Nurmi.
Our D is not the problem our center depth is. We are playing too slow and our passes have been bad.

 

[Hokinaittii]

Despite the last game being against Denmark, I saw a lot of improvements in moving the puck and players trusting more in each other. It was nice to see the team well in neutral zone, not really giving any room for the opponent to get into zone to create something dangerous.

Our defence has a big role in our offence and I hope to see them jumping into play more and more. At times it can be seen how good our defence is at moving the puck and controlling the game. If we ever get far in this tournament, I feel like it's due to our defence controlling the game.

The PP still needs some work but other than that I'm sure when you generate as much shots as we generated against Denmark, we should be just fine offensively.

 

[ES]

The decision has been made, Eetu Tuulola will take the remaining spot and Eemeli Räsänen will go home.

 

[sureloss]

Tuulola has been put on the official tournament roster:
Leijonat.fi - Eetu Tuulolan kisapassiin leima - Nuorten Leijonien MM-joukkue nyt lopullisessa muodossaan

Eemeli Rasanen will no play at the WJC

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Heponiemi-Räsänen-Tolvanen
Koivula-Kuokkanen-Vesalainen

I don't know, just a suggestion

 

[JJTT]

Lol, why on earth is Innala playing over Kupari? Not that Kupari has been good but Innala has been way worse.

Also Kotkansalo over Salo?

 

[FiLe]

Lineup at practice:

Vesalainen - Kuokkanen - Tolvanen
Heponiemi - Ikonen - Koivula
Innala - Räsänen - Tuulola
Jääskä - Koppanen - Nurmi

PP units:

1. Tolvanen - Räsänen - Vesalainen - Juolevi - Jokiharju
2. Heponiemi - Ikonen - Koivula - Kuokkanen - Heiskanen

Looks like Ahokas listened to me. (As if.)

 

[FinPanda]

Good that Tuulola was the last player. Räsänen will be a huge part of our team next year.

 

[ijuka]

I think that Heponiemi should play with Tolvanen.

I don't want Vesalainen with Tolvanen. A puck hog doesn't work nearly as well as a distributor like Heponiemi, who even is used to playing with a sniper.

 

[DieTomi]

Lineup at practice:

Vesalainen - Kuokkanen - Tolvanen
Heponiemi - Ikonen - Koivula
Innala - Räsänen - Tuulola
Jääskä - Koppanen - Nurmi

PP units:

1. Tolvanen - Räsänen - Vesalainen - Juolevi - Jokiharju
2. Heponiemi - Ikonen - Koivula - Kuokkanen - Heiskanen

Looks like Ahokas listened to me. (As if.)

Those look solid. I think Juolevi Jokiharju and Tolvanen will work magic up high. Vesalainen in the middle and Rasanen down low. Really want Tolvanen to heat up and I think this is a unit that could do it.

 

[Hockeyisl1fe]

And why isn't Tuulola playing? He is a kind of winger this team badly needs: plays hard and goes to the net. Why someone like Innala is playing instead of him ffs? He provides nothing to this team.

Yay, that came true... except that Innala is still in the line-up. Good news still.

 

[FiLe]

Lol, why on earth is Innala playing over Kupari? Not that Kupari has been good but Innala has been way worse.

Yay, that came true... except that Innala is still in the line-up. Good news still.

I think the answer is pretty simple. Kupari is the only forward in the lineup who doesn't feature in any special teams. Innala does PK.

 

[Hockeyisl1fe]

I think the answer is pretty simple. Kupari is the only forward in the lineup who doesn't feature in any special teams. Innala does PK.

Yeah, but couldn't he have just replaced Innala in that role? Tuulola is capable of playing pk and it's not like it's been good anyways.

 

[FiLe]

Yeah, but couldn't he have just replaced Innala in that role? Tuulola is capable of playing pk and it's not like it's been good anyways.

Um, sorry, please clarify. Do you mean Kupari or Tuulola should replace Innala in the role? If Kupari was an adequate PKer, he obviously would be doing it already. If you're talking about Tuulola, then yeah, he can PK too, and probably will, so that number would still be the same as it is now.

But looks like Ahokas thinks it's better to raise their number by one. Not to mention Innala hasn't been *bad*. He's simply been rather nondescript. Additionally, while Innala has been pretty lukewarm overall, he is - and has been here too - quite good in corners. He sure can dig those deep pucks. Sometimes coaches think of little things like these when they go over the internal rolings of a line, instead of simply figuring who's the better player overall. Some might call it micromanagement, and maybe it is, but... coaches are funny like that. You know.

 

[Hockeyisl1fe]

Um, sorry, please clarify. Do you mean Kupari or Tuulola should replace Innala in the role? If Kupari was an adequate PKer, he obviously would be doing it already. If you're talking about Tuulola, then yeah, he can PK too, and probably will, so that number would still be the same as it is now.

But looks like Ahokas thinks it's better to raise their number by one. Not to mention Innala hasn't been *bad*. He's simply been rather nondescript. Additionally, while Innala has been pretty lukewarm overall, he is - and has been here too - quite good in corners. He sure can dig those deep pucks. Sometimes coaches think of little things like these when they go over the internal rolings of a line, instead of simply figuring who's the better player overall. Some might call it micromanagement, and maybe it is, but... coaches are funny like that. You know.

I was talking about Tuulola. I agree that Kupari isn't really that strong along the boards, but he still brings some skill and speed to that line. But like I said in one of my posts: cutting Luostarinen was imo a big mistake. Some were outraged by Ahokas cutting complimentary wingers like Turkulainen and Kotkaniemi, but I can't seriously understand cutting a strong 2way center that we lack currently in the top 9. Kuokkanen/Luostarinen/Tuulola (moving Räsänen to play with Vesalainen and Tolvanen) would be a much better 3rd line than we currently are capable of building.

 

[kelsier]

So Kupari out Tuulola in and we have one presented reason for this with that being Kupari not having a role in special units (very likely the case). Now where was our main problem again? Would it happen to have anything to do with scoring? This brings us to a question of who do you think brings more for the team in that aspect, Innala or Kupari? For me the answer is rather obvious. Looks like Kupari was an inch or so away from not losing his spot (hit the post against the Danes).

Lets not try focus on the offence but instead get more "role" players as if we didn't have enough. There are guys who can PK as well as play PP (Vesalainen & Kuokkanen for instance) so it's not like Ahokas was running out of options either way. Don't think the team is any stronger than before and in my opinion Kupari who was one of the more energetic players last game and one of the few who stood out, should definitely not be the one being cut off.

Anyway, I'm starting to not like this old-school coach too much. Where is Jalonen when you need him.

 

[FiLe]

Lets not try focus on the offence but instead get more "role" players as if we didn't have enough. There are guys who can PK as well as play PP (Vesalainen & Kuokkanen for instance) so it's not like Ahokas was running out of options either way.

TOIs might be a concern. In the first two games, our first line has averaged 20 minutes per man. Vesalainen especially has been a workhorse, ~21m on both games. Kuokkanen just shy of 20 minutes. On top of this load, you want to add PK duty?

Just another aspect to consider with a top-heavy team like this. 1st line plays 20 minutes as it is, the 2nd plays 17-18 minutes, and the 3rd and 4th lines share the rest. It's exactly the scenario where you're looking to add a PK specialist even if you do have some adequate guys on the top-six.

 

[kelsier]

TOIs might be a concern. In the first two games, our first line has averaged 20 minutes per man. Vesalainen especially has been a workhorse, ~21m on both games. Kuokkanen just shy of 20 minutes. On top of this load, you want to add PK duty?

Just another aspect to consider with a top-heavy team like this. 1st line plays 20 minutes as it is, the 2nd plays 17-18 minutes, and the 3rd and 4th lines share the rest. It's exactly the scenario where you're looking to add a PK specialist even if you do have some adequate guys on the top-six.

It's up to the coach to get the most out of his team. Even in the NHL it's rather rare to see a winger get 21 minute/game. Of course if he made the wrong picks in the begin with and feels like he has no options but to run 1st line every second or third shift because he doesn't trust other lines, then that's his own doings. Been watching a lot of Jets games this year and Wheeler plays both PK and PP while his average TOI is 20:35 (less than Vesalainen's), so yes that definitely is doable. Now if Ahokas managed to further weaken the offensive output in the third line by cutting the more capable guy out instead of another with less scoring talent, it just further tips the scales in the heavy top six and weak bottom six. Is that what you want to see? If you asked me, I'd rather have three scoring lines which makes it harder to be contained and also balances the very area we are bad at, being scoring. What's going to happen vs USA if (/when) they score 5 goals against us? Lets keep the fingers crossed that Tolvanen has a better day and scores a hattrick, second line manages to get a goal and the grinders get a lucky bounce so we get a point from the OT?

You'd imagine that the coaches would get their heads out of the sand and adapt as the hockey evolves instead of dwelling in the old habits. Prior to the tournament with the players available, you'd expect nothing but gold but seeing the reality, that seems like a distant dream.