WJC: Team Finland 2018 U20 WJC Roster Talk

[Conspiracy Theorist]

2014 was payback for 2012, where our goalie choked hard and Sweden robbed Finland of a ticket to the gold game.

That being said, would love to see a Finland vs Sweden gold medal game this time around.
Fin vs Swe for gold, Usa vs Can for bronze

Agreed. Finland should have won 2012. This is the first time I'm saying anything but gold is a disappointment from this tournament.

 

[QnebO]

When Team Finland leaves out actually good prospects from FEL that could easily go 1st round next summer in draft and have guy like Laine eligble for junior team, you know its some kind of golden era.

 

[FiLe]

Interesting selections. Let's see...

Luukkonen (Lehtinen)

Heiskanen - Vaakanainen
Juolevi - Jokiharju
Salo - Välimäki
E.Räsänen

Heponiemi - Kuokkanen - Koivula
Tolvanen - A.Räsänen - Vesalainen
Turkulainen - Luostarinen - Ikonen
Nurmi - Koppanen - Tuulola
Kupari

Yeah, that looks about what I could see Ahokas aiming for.


As for people saying "anything but gold is a disappointment", please check the rosters USA, Sweden and Canada are building. I'm not saying we're a step below them - but neither are we one above.

 

[VictorLustig]

2014 was payback for 2012, where our goalie choked hard and Sweden robbed Finland of a ticket to the gold game.

That being said, would love to see a Finland vs Sweden gold medal game this time around.
Fin vs Swe for gold, Usa vs Can for bronze

Sweden absolutely dominated that game, outshot Finland 58-24.

 

[illone84]

Sweden absolutely dominated that game, outshot Finland 58-24.

Ye, sure. But the tying goal was a brutal mistake by the goalie that otherwise played amazing.

 

[illone84]

Tolvanen - A.Räsänen - Vesalainen, this was the line that was used by Ahokas for the u18 team that won gold in 2016?

 

[FiLe]

Tolvanen - A.Räsänen - Vesalainen, this was the line that was used by Ahokas for the u18 team that won gold in 2016?

Yep. And once Ahokas took over, it was also our best unit in that pooshow last year.

 

[masasa]

Only thing that worries me is goaltending. We have to score 5 goals every game to win..

 

[Opak]

Forwards(16)

Heponiemi
Ikonen
Innala
Jääskä
Koivula
Koppanen
Kuokkanen
Kupari
Luostarinen
Moilanen
Nurmi
Räsänen
Tolvanen
Turkulainen
Tuulola
Vesalainen

No Talvitie or Kotkaniemi.

What is baffling to me is that Kotkaniemi, Nyman and Somppi didn't even get camp invites, but somehow the bolded players did. None of those guys should be anywhere near the final roster.

Tolvanen - A. Räsänen - Koivula
Vesalainen - Kuokkanen - Ikonen
Kupari - Heponiemi - Turkulainen
Nurmi - Luostarinen - Tuulola
Koppanen

Am I the only one, who has concerns about that center group? The team only has three natural centers in the entire camp roster (Räsänen, Heponiemi, Luostarinen), the rest of the "centermen" are those C/W type guys, who may or may not be able to actually play C. Kuokkanen especially has been playing LW in Charlotte...

 

[FinPanda]

So our B-team has forwards Severi Lahtinen, Otto Somppi, Jesse Ylönen, Emil Oksanen, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Linus Nyman, Otto Mäkinen, Aarne Talvitie, Santeri Virtanen and Niklas Nordgren. And defenseman Niclas Almari, Markus Niemeläinen, Anttoni Honka, Tarmo Reunanen and Toni Utunen.

And of course Laine and Puljujärvi are still eligible. Crazy depth. We'll see what the final roster will be. I am very excited.

 

[FiLe]

Am I the only one, who has concerns about that center group? The team only has three natural centers in the entire camp roster (Räsänen, Heponiemi, Luostarinen), the rest of the "centermen" are those C/W type guys, who may or may not be able to actually play C. Kuokkanen especially has been playing LW in Charlotte...

Koppanen is a natural centre.

 

[jvr32]

Heponiemi - Kuokkanen - Turkulainen
Tolvanen - A.Rasanen - Vesalainen
Koivula - Luostarinen - Nurmi
Moilanen - Koppanen - Tuulola
Ikonen

Valimaki - Salo
Heiskanen - Vaakanainen
Juolevi - Jokiharju
E.Rasanen

 

[DoingItCoolKiwi]

What is baffling to me is that Kotkaniemi, Nyman and Somppi didn't even get camp invites, but somehow the bolded players did. None of those guys should be anywhere near the final roster.

Tolvanen - A. Räsänen - Koivula
Vesalainen - Kuokkanen - Ikonen
Kupari - Heponiemi - Turkulainen
Nurmi - Luostarinen - Tuulola
Koppanen

Am I the only one, who has concerns about that center group? The team only has three natural centers in the entire camp roster (Räsänen, Heponiemi, Luostarinen), the rest of the "centermen" are those C/W type guys, who may or may not be able to actually play C. Kuokkanen especially has been playing LW in Charlotte...

Completely agree with the 1st part.

Center is definitely the weakness of this team. The two guys I think are good enough hockey players to match with top centers of big countries are Heponiemi and Kuokkanen. Neither of them has played much C lately but they're not the ones I'm worried about. The rest of the centers I do worry about. Räsänen, Koppanen, Luostarinen, Ikonen are not even close to the level Canada's bottom 6 Cs are. Anyone of those 4 Finns getting matched vs Mcleod, Comtois, Steel or Thomas gives me nightmares

 

[Opak]

Koppanen is a natural centre.

Yeah you're right, I looked into Koppanen's stats and it seems that he's mostly playing at center. I thought he was one of those "tweeners", because he's listed as LW/C, plus I saw a game where he played LW vs TPS. That gives us the four centers then:

Tolvanen - A. Räsänen - Vesalainen
Kuokkanen - Heponiemi - Ikonen
Koivula - Luostarinen - Turkulainen
Nurmi - Koppanen - Tuulola
Kupari

 

[Vincenzo Areliti]

do you guys think joni Ikonen will make the team?

 

[FiLe]

Yeah you're right, I looked into Koppanen's stats and it seems that he's mostly playing at center. I thought he was one of those "tweeners", because he's listed as LW/C, plus I saw a game where he played LW vs TPS. That gives us the four centers then:

Tolvanen - A. Räsänen - Vesalainen
Kuokkanen - Heponiemi - Ikonen
Koivula - Luostarinen - Turkulainen
Nurmi - Koppanen - Tuulola
Kupari

Ahokas already said that Kuokkanen will be a centre. And why not, it's the role he has had for his entire junior NT career. It's kinda funny you slot Heponiemi as a centre over him, simply because you have a preconception that he's a "natural" while he has spent his junior NT career mostly at wing - and it's also where he's been deathly effective in the WHL.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Tolvanen-Räsänen-Heponiemi
Turkulainen-Kuokkanen-Vesalainen
Koivula-Ikonen-Nurmi
Koppanen-Luostarinen-Tuulola

Heiskanen-Vaakanainen
Juolevi-Jokiharju
Välimäki-Räsänen

 

[Monaakko]

My thoughts: Somewhat surprised by the exclusions of Kotkaniemi and Somppi, especially considering our lack of high quality centers in this age group. They would have at least provided some competition for the bottom 6 C spots. Other than that I see no glaring omissions, apart from possibly Nyman, but not really sure where he would have fit in.

Unusually for this tournament I find it really hard to construct the lines and d-pairings. There's the obvious Tolvanen-Räsänen-Vesalainen, that has some history and could be a line, but other than that I have no idea how they should look and they might want another center (Kuokkanen) there instead or Heponiemi as a setup man for Tolvanen. Speaking of which, many of you seem to want Heponiemi as a centre and I really don't see that. I'm really interested in what kind of third line Ahokas wants. The depth forwards in general are of higher quality than what we usually have and they have lots of Liiga experience and though the forward group isn't quite as deep as in 2016 it's still very good. The d-group on the other hand is just out of this world.

 

[Hockeyisl1fe]

Only thing that worries me is goaltending. We have to score 5 goals every game to win..

Luukkonen is a great goaltender. Where this bs consensus of him being a bad goalie is coming from?

 

[illone84]

Luukkonen is a great goaltender. Where this bs consensus of him being a bad goalie is coming from?

Luukkonen is a good goalie. He will be fine. Not worried about this kid.

 

[LeafChief]

I was reading some of the Finnish posters talking about how Salo has had a bad year. Any chance Eemeli Rasanen bumps him out for a top 6 spot?

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

I was reading some of the Finnish posters talking about how Salo has had a bad year. Any chance Eemeli Rasanen bumps him out for a top 6 spot?

If Eemeli out plays Robin Salo then he has chances to crack TOP6 with Juolevi,Heiskanen,Vaakanainen,Jokiharju and Valimaki.

Yes Robin Salo's year in Vaasan Sport liiga team has been bad.
But it's not just that Salo has played badly.

Salo has been a lot in the pressbox ( healthy scratched).
His ice-time and point production are dropped etc.

Vaasan Sport is bottom team in SM liiga and whole organisation is big chaos
( just like Buffalo Sabres in NHL).

There's ( inside in sport organisation) been a lot talk to questioning coaching staffs jobs.
And their abilities to handle the team including Sport fans boycotting team and their games.

Someones have said that Vaasan Sport head coach Tomek Valtonen has lost entire locker-room.
And team isn't his control anymore. So Salo's season so far has been total nightmare.

 

[Hockeyisl1fe]

Välimäki's injured according to EP, anyone got more info on that? Hoping it's nothing too serious, but knowing our luck he will be out.

 

[Gsus]

do you guys think joni Ikonen will make the team?

He should absolutely make the team based on his performances on NT games. He was on fire at last u18 under the same coach.

 

[JabbaJabba]

Only thing that worries me is goaltending. We have to score 5 goals every game to win..

While the goaltending isn't a strength of this year's team, I think that the elite defense will help out a lot.