WJC: Team Finland 2026 U20 WJC roster talk.
- Thread starter ChicagoBullsFan
- Start date
Better luck next year. Possible roster.
Roope Vesterinen - Konsta Helenius - Joona Saarelainen
Tuomas Suoniemi - Heikki Ruohonen - Emil Hemming
Aatos Koivu - Julius Miettinen - Kasper Pikkarainen
Lauri Sinivuori - Markus Loponen - Ville Väärälä
Jasper Kuhta
Oliver Kopiloff
Niklas Nykyri - Aron Kiviharju
Daniel Nieminen - Mitja Jokinen
Veeti Väisänen - Sebastian Soini
Niilopekka Muhonen
Lasse Boelius
Petteri Rimpinen
Kim Saarinen
Masi Härkönen
Roope Vesterinen - Konsta Helenius - Joona Saarelainen
Tuomas Suoniemi - Heikki Ruohonen - Emil Hemming
Aatos Koivu - Julius Miettinen - Kasper Pikkarainen
Lauri Sinivuori - Markus Loponen - Ville Väärälä
Jasper Kuhta
Oliver Kopiloff
Niklas Nykyri - Aron Kiviharju
Daniel Nieminen - Mitja Jokinen
Veeti Väisänen - Sebastian Soini
Niilopekka Muhonen
Lasse Boelius
Petteri Rimpinen
Kim Saarinen
Masi Härkönen
karhukissa
Registered User
- Apr 2, 2019
- 1,904
- 2,670
I think we all can agree that this team should medal. No ifs, buts or maybes. Core will be the same next year, and we should be a bit more optimistic than this year. I think they deserve it after their performance.
Sweden will choke, so it's Canada, USA, Czech and Finland.
Sweden will choke, so it's Canada, USA, Czech and Finland.
SantosHalper
Get off my lawn
Next years group
Finland
Czechia
Slovakia
Denmark
Latvia
Totally winnable group
-------------------------
Vesterinen - Miettinen - Hemming
X - Ruohonen - X
X - Saarelainen - X
X - X - X
X, X
Kiviharju - Soini
Jokinen - Nieminen
Väisänen - X
X - X
Rimpinen
Saarinen
X
Team core is there already, i doubt that Helenius is back next year. But entire back end of the team returns, it's easy to built from there, just fill the blanks.
Finland
Czechia
Slovakia
Denmark
Latvia
Totally winnable group
-------------------------
Vesterinen - Miettinen - Hemming
X - Ruohonen - X
X - Saarelainen - X
X - X - X
X, X
Kiviharju - Soini
Jokinen - Nieminen
Väisänen - X
X - X
Rimpinen
Saarinen
X
Team core is there already, i doubt that Helenius is back next year. But entire back end of the team returns, it's easy to built from there, just fill the blanks.
The downside of a group like this is that if you don't win it, you're looking at one pretty gosh darn tough QF matchup.
Svedu
Registered User
- Apr 23, 2019
- 2,859
- 1,886
I actually prefer a tougher group. Now it becomes even more important to win this group.
Those D's with one added year and experience and our goalies could actually be top3 in next year.
Will be tough for Rimpinen to be as good at this year. Even Saros didn't manage to do that. Nor Vasi. I hope Saarinen gets a game at least. Vali looked so pissed the whole tournament to be fair, a bit tough to watch when the team was fighting their hearts out.
Soini was actually good when he played. Mitja Jokinen grew in to this years tournament and actually impressed me. He was one of the few who seemed to be good at defending. Nieminen had pretty high highs and low lows but the potential is clearly there and they will know each other in a good way. I hope Nieminen can try and develop his driving and creating aspect of the game because he has the fundamentals to do that. Mitja should focus on becoming a good shutdown D because he showed some IQ in just that.
Väisänen had a pretty meh tournament and looked shaky. I think he needs a confidence boost. Looked insecure at times and fumbled a bit. But he can skate decently and should bounce back. Wouldn't mind adding Muhonen together with him next year. They are teammates and at times I think we missed those D's who could hold it clean in front of the net. Especially against the US.
Kangas will not be there so Muhonen should be a great fit. Hope they can stay healthy and take further steps.
Westergård will probably be added with Kotajärvi or and Boelius. Westergård with Ruohonens two-way responsibility or a faster third line with Saarelianen? Could be interesting. I hope he adds speed to this team which will be missed with Nurmis and Alasiuruas departure.
Kiviharju-Soini
Jokinen-Nieminen
Väisänen-Muhonen
Nykyri, Kotajärvi, Boelius, Jalasti, Wallenius, Marila, Laatikainen, Alalauri.
Yep, D actually doesn't look that bad. The most important thing is that we could and hopefully see a good balance.
Rimpinen
Saarinen
Härkönen, Louhivaara.
Sinivuori-Miettinen-Hemming
Westergård-Ruohonen-Vesterinen
Saarelainen-Loponen-Suoniemi
Paqvalin-Koivu-Pikkarainen
Kuhta, Kähkönen, Kopiloff, Butkovskiy, Teshome, Vanhanen, Somervuori, Keinänen, Pulkkanen, Joki, little brother Oscar Hemming, Vanhatalo, Wilmer Kallio.
Interesting to see the trend keeping on. A lot of decent- good center depth and in the end 2-3 will probably play on the wing.
*Helenius if able to participate makes this team a medal contender. He needs to work on becoming more direct, score! And perhaps work a bit on his explosiveness and shot in all fairness. His elegant for sure, but he needs to add something more.
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