Team Finland WC 2023

[Ajaton Azer]

I think that this has been a very encouraging beginning of World Championship tournament for our team Finnish Lions! After quite bad first game the second game was much better, and the third game even better still. So the team is going uphill towards the deciding games which is very nice. Win the right games!

 

[Mestaruus]

Rantanen.. Well. I had hoped for more production. He has the feeling of a general out there, but doesn't produce like one and does not dictate what happens on the ice. Maybe tired, not optimal line for him or just bad luck.

Hopefully he's just saving the goals for the important games.

 

[illone84]

Hopefully he's just saving the goals for the important games.

He was kind of lackluster in the wjc 2016 Helsinki tournie up until the semi. Zero points in the qf Vs Canada but really came alive for the semi Vs Sweden and final Vs Russia. I'm dead sure he comes up big starting whoever we play when the games start to truly count.

 

[The Cannon of Tesoma]

Hopefully he's just saving the goals for the important games.

Rantanen should've been named as Captain from the start. As of now, he is the most underwhelming player of the team contra expectations.

Captain Anttila comes only after him.

But, most concerned I am that Kaapo's speed and hustle goes wasted. Profoundly.

 

[The Cannon of Tesoma]

Just replace Mörkö with Jenni Hiirikoski and see how guys start play. Defense would became impenetrable almost instantly, too.

Unfortunately, some IIHF rule prohibit such progressive ideas.

Good night.

 

[Mestaruus]

Also, Suomela back in lineup in today's practice, replacing Sallinen. Lineup unchanged otherwise.

Not a huge shocker as Sallinen didn't have the best game yesterday. He was maybe the worst forward of Finland yesterday, which surprised me. He still did all right though. It is hard to compare him to Suomela now, because the information we will receive will be so much different when Finland is playing vs these weaker countries. More firepower with this change is good vs the weaker countries.

Pesonen seems to be the replacement of Sallinen in PP1. I'm glad to see that PP2 finally has a center lol...

 

[Raimo Sillanpää]

@illone84 As I said you're absolutely right. In longer run NHL SC success will be much more important for the Finnish Hockey's future developments than yet another successful Jalonen project.

Wait, what’s this wisdom based upon?

Will more 4-5 year olds start playing hockey because Dallas won the SC at 4am on a weeknight vs Carolina, as compared to Jukka Jalonen parading through Tampere with yet another gold medal?

I have a hard time believing SC would win here

Will Finnish junior teams get some bonus because Heiskanen who was drafted X years ago won the SC?

Or didn’t they already get what they’d get when the guy was drafted, signed? (I don’t know - happy to hear facts, I’m convinced it would be that first contract/draft position and that’s that)

Will NHL teams start to draft more Finns because 6 Finns were in the winning team? Would they draft a Finn 1st overall because of this?

Or do they already draft all they need and, outside of those the talent isn’t good enough. Maybe the odd 22 year old gets contracted without being drafted - percentage of succeeding isn’t that good really.

Or will random Finnish hockey fans get more Internet Points (TM) as 6 Finns lifted the Stanley Cup?

 

[mattihp]

If Dallas beats Vegas Finland will have a minimum of 8 players competing for the Stanley cup and 10 at best. That would be the best achievement in Finnish hockey history *especially if Dallas wins the cup (imho) not to mention Hintz potentially winning playoff mvp. Much more significant than another skoda cup gold with watered down competition. So if Finland loses, no biggie for me. Just sitting back and enjoying.... As some other poster mentioned, kind of getting boring after playing in the finals 3 times in a row. Ps. We desperately need a bloody best on best already.

My interest in the NHL is over when the national team can't take anymore players. Couldn't care less.

 

[illone84]

My interest in the NHL is over when the national team can't take anymore players. Couldn't care less.

Different strokes for different folks

 

[mattihp]

No Suomela and same lines. Hopefully something just clicks into place somehow. All lines seem a bit off to me. Even Björninen-Anttila.

 

[illone84]

My interest in the NHL is over when the national team can't take anymore players. Couldn't care less.

I'll never forget when Selänne won the cup and the city of Helsinki organised a celebration at the central station. Was the first time I ever had my lions jersey signed and by a legend. It was a great experience. That was one player. I can't wait for the buzz and parties that a victory from one of Dallas/Carolina/Florida will produce with a Stanley cup championship when loads of Finns are involved. Maybe I'm short sighted and can't see the forest for the trees. But of course, like everyone else here, we are just regular folk with opinions. Ps. I'll eat my hat if one of Dallas/Carolina/Florida doesn't win the cup.

 

[mattihp]

First hockey game ever saw was the 95 final. I was there. National team hockey has always been it for me.

 

[Mestaruus]

View attachment 709514

No Suomela and same lines. Hopefully something just clicks into place somehow. All lines seem a bit off to me. Even Björninen-Anttila.

Yep, looks like they reverted the change if it ever even was a change. Maybe it was just some random testing in the practice.

This probably means that our PP2 unit still won't have a center as Sallinen probably stays in the PP1 unit. I'm not a big fan of that, because I have hard time believing in the faceoff abilities of pure wingers. If this continues, I hope that our PP1 unit will stay on the ice almost full 2 minutes sometimes in the knockout stage games, else we might be wasting some PP time with some lost faceoffs.

 

[Kibe]

Yep, looks like they reverted the change if it ever even was a change. Maybe it was just some random testing in the practice.

This probably means that our PP2 unit still won't have a center as Sallinen probably stays in the PP1 unit. I'm not a big fan of that, because I have hard time believing in the faceoff abilities of pure wingers. If this continues, I hope that our PP1 unit will stay on the ice almost full 2 minutes sometimes in the knockout stage games, else we might be wasting some PP time with some lost faceoffs.

Would be nice to see Kakko and Sallinen swapped on the PP.

 

[The Cannon of Tesoma]

@Raimo Sillanpää

Our value for a youth is measured by our work.

Imagine a summer meadow. We together, hand-to-hand frolic across it. A dude of next generation follows our bath through The Mother Nature's wilderness. We are going towards a tree stump, that is must to be removed, because, and that stone beside it, because; you cannot drive that timber out of the woods without some manual work.

Now, that child realizes that these guys forgot their tools behind, iron bars and showels. He/she is eager to frolic through that meadow to bring them to us.

We have 10 minutes to spend together.

There is nothing Homo, I am just tired to talk bullshit with dudes that cannot accept feelings. Don't make me angry. 30 infs against Leafs fans already iin this site on defense of The Platoon.

Not in these meadows, please. 07

 

[Mestaruus]

First hockey game ever saw was the 95 final. I was there. National team hockey has always been it for me.

Similar thing for me. After that I've watched all big NT tournaments. Before that I didn't really care about watching hockey.

I'll never forget when Selänne won the cup and the city of Helsinki organised a celebration at the central station. Was the first time I ever had my lions jersey signed and by a legend. It was a great experience. That was one player. I can't wait for the buzz and parties that a victory from one of Dallas/Carolina/Florida will produce with a Stanley cup championship when loads of Finns are involved. Maybe I'm short sighted and can't see the forest for the trees. But of course, like everyone else here, we are just regular folk with opinions. Ps. I'll eat my hat if one of Dallas/Carolina/Florida doesn't win the cup.

As a kid (7-9 year olds maybe) me and my friend had nothing to do so we went to the local "optikko" (oculist in English I believe). I don't know why we went there, because we had no eye problems, but it was probably because we went to any shop possible back then, because back then there was nothing better to do. It was probably during school's summer vacation.

Anyways, we saw this box meant for a draw where we could fill some papers and put our names on those papers and we'd have a chance to win Teemu Selänne's autographed Winnipeg Jets jersey. So we filled about 30-50 of those each. It felt like some kind of joke and didn't feel possible that we could actually win something. I had forgotten that I ever did that when they sent that jersey to my door. I was so happy, it felt so unreal and It felt something like winning in a lottery or something. It doesn't beat meeting Selänne in person though as was the case with illone84, but it was still cool.

Moral of the story, cheating in the draw worked lol... At least it went to a kid back then, because oculists are mostly visited by adults.

 

[Mestaruus]

Would be nice to see Kakko and Sallinen swapped on the PP.

Yeah I wouldnt mind, but I do see the good in Jalonen's chosen strategy as well. They use Sallinen as the main faceoff taker even over Manninen. At least in the last game they did. It's one of the main reasons why he's in that unit, to help with the faceoffs.

 

[illone84]

Similar thing for me. After that I've watched all big NT tournaments. Before that I didn't really care about watching hockey.



As a kid (7-9 year olds maybe) me and my friend had nothing to do so we went to the local "optikko" (oculist in English I believe). I don't know why we went there, because we had no eye problems, but it was probably because we went to any shop possible back then, because back then there was nothing better to do. It was probably during school's summer vacation.

Anyways, we saw this box meant for a draw where we could fill some papers and put our names on those papers and we'd have a chance to win Teemu Selänne's autographed Winnipeg Jets jersey. So we filled about 30-50 of those each. It felt like some kind of joke and didn't feel possible that we could actually win something. I had forgotten that I ever did that when they sent that jersey to my door. I was so happy, it felt so unreal and It felt something like winning in a lottery or something. It doesn't beat meeting Selänne in person though as was the case with illone84, but it was still cool.

Moral of the story, cheating in the draw worked lol... At least it went to a kid back then, because oculists are mostly visited by adults.

Like Bush said "if you ain't cheating you ain't trying" hahahaha. For me in general the NT takes precedence over the NHL, but I will argue that given our recent success, having one of Dallas/Florida/Carolina is more significant than yet another gold with much weaker competition and no Russia. If one of the above teams win history will be made. First Finnish captain to win the SC if Florida wins. First Finn to win a Conn Smythe Trophy if Dallas wins. First team with top two centers that are Finns plus Raanta in net half the games if Carolina wins. Anyways, my humble opinion. OT: in 1995 when Finland won gold my brother jumped so high in joy that he broke our shitty makeshift IKEA chandelier. Was hilarious

 

[Razamanaz]

Vive la ... Finland!

Finlands heavy, heavy first line big bad buffalos Hartikainen and Rantanen better start producin' in this France game - and I think they will do so. Big time.

A top scorer in Swtizerland and a top scorer in NHL- with that little midget mighty man Manninen in the middle in between; what can even go wrong?!

Jalonen knows his Lejonen and that all around.

Even if the rest of Finland people freaks around because of a loss or so - he (Jalonen) is cool as a cucumber.

Rantanen - the Great White Buffalo (or Moose!) rules. O.K.

 

[mattihp]

No GDT?

 

[Razamanaz]

Similar thing for me. After that I've watched all big NT tournaments. Before that I didn't really care about watching hockey.



As a kid (7-9 year olds maybe) me and my friend had nothing to do so we went to the local "optikko" (oculist in English I believe). I don't know why we went there, because we had no eye problems, but it was probably because we went to any shop possible back then, because back then there was nothing better to do. It was probably during school's summer vacation.

Anyways, we saw this box meant for a draw where we could fill some papers and put our names on those papers and we'd have a chance to win Teemu Selänne's autographed Winnipeg Jets jersey. So we filled about 30-50 of those each. It felt like some kind of joke and didn't feel possible that we could actually win something. I had forgotten that I ever did that when they sent that jersey to my door. I was so happy, it felt so unreal and It felt something like winning in a lottery or something. It doesn't beat meeting Selänne in person though as was the case with illone84, but it was still cool.

Moral of the story, cheating in the draw worked lol... At least it went to a kid back then, because oculists are mostly visited by adults.

I did even cheat on my drivers licence eye test(!) - coz I didn't want to wear glasses drivin' a car back in the day!

Only God knows how I did it - but back in the day the eye test were at the local drivers-station; and I probably manage it with to squint my eyes - and that a lot!

Moral?

No moral, what so ever!

 

[Svedu]

Jalonen has to change formations! Hartikainen is better than Rantanen on the same line and Rantanen is not even close to reach his capacity in this formation.

Overall we look pretty horrible to be honest. Bad defense and bad chemistry among the forwards and Larmi? He's overly aggressive, always looks sold after the "first" shot and lets some soft pucks between the legs just because he overdoes it before, both in the game and the shootout against Sweden.

 

[THE JAM]

 

[THE JAM]

This Winland team needed this (pretty close) game vs France - to finally start running on all cylinders.

BUT yes - try Rantanen as center, might be what the doctor ordered and everything could click from there on

 

[SantosHalper]

Lines needs a change:
13 F & 7 D against Hungary

Rantanen - Suomela - Armia
Hartikainen - Manninen - Kapanen
Kakko - Sallinen - Merelä
Oksanen - Björninen - Pesonen
Anttila

Lehtonen - Ohtamaa
Määttä - Matinpalo
Koivisto - Pokka
Seppälä

Heljanko
Larmi

Lammikko, Friman, Olkinuora (healthy scratch)