PGT: WJC Gold Medal Game | Finland Win Gold Over USA 3-2 | Part II

[SantosHalper]

First world championship in U20 level in NA rink, this is definitely one of the greatest achievements in finnish hockey. What a team, what a team....

Excellent bout and now we go party.

 

[TeddyBare]

Same could be said for most prospects outside of the absolute blue-chips.

Sometimes I look at K'Andre Miller and see Victor Hedman. Other times, I look at K'Andre Miller and see Keith Aulie.

Yeah but he has some straight up lazy plays.
ferraro commented on one of his icings where no one was pressuring him, and it wasnt one of those close icings just at the red line, like the defense was backing up, he just couldn't wait any longer to change so he iced it.

Great offensive instincts though.

 

[OKOptimistic]

Is it true about what the commentator said about the USNTDP building a philosophy of fast hockey for US players? I am still new to hockey but how does that work? Do they just do a bunch of speedy drills? Perhaps this was a smart move from the ntdp as they looked ahead to the future?

 

[FinPanda]

Hands up baby hands up.

This was the song in the Finnish locker room during the tournament.

 

[Lepardi]

Hands up baby hands up.

This was the song in the Finnish locker room during the tournament.

Anttoni Honka said it was chosen by Oskari Laaksonen. It was also the goal song for Ilves in the 1984-85 season and is still often played in Hakametsä. That's probably where Laaksonen got it from.

 

[Past Considerations]

Best athletes in Finland play hockey. It's the most popular sport by a mile.

Best athletes in the USA have a lot of other options for sports to play. More accessible options. More practical options based on location, culture, and income level.

So the fact we are competing in hockey against other nations top athletes and coming away with the silver is pretty impressive imho.

Well, that's an interesting angle for sure... But also quite delusional angle because you do realize the size of the population has a lot to do with this. The bigger the population the bigger the pool of athletes and in hockey's case, the bigger the pool of players.

There are differences on how to count and various ways to count registered players but these figures probably give a pretty good idea about of the difference.

Canada 637,000
United States 562,145
Czech Republic 120,920
Russia 110,624
Finland 73,374
Sweden 62,701
Switzerland 27,528

Ice hockey - Wikipedia

 

[jonlin]

You're delusional if you think a team like Canada/Russia/USA/Sweden would have the same type of motivation heading into a game where the winner takes home a participation medal. It's gold or bust for those nation's.

Do you actually think thoose 4 teams are so much ahead of Finland? Go check medals for the lat 15 yrs.

 

[Machinehead]

I mean, you talk about Gold or bust...Finland personifies that.

 

[TimeZone]

Blablabla… Do you actually think thoose 4 teams are so much ahead of Finland? Go check medals for the lat 15 yrs.

I would favor them all above Finland yes. Especially Canada and Sweden. The U.S has also finished with a better medal(Silver) than Finland has over the past few tournaments. Russia has underwhelmed, but talentwise I'd rank them ahead of Finland yes.

 

[habsrule4eva3089]

The real winner is our sport. International Hockey is the purest form of Hockey you can live. For it's the only Hockey that will ever truly matter. There is nothing like it, you see what we truly become when our flag's pride is at stake, and it's bloody beautiful.

Congrats Finland, keep it up!

 

[Lepardi]

I mean, you talk about Gold or bust...Finland personifies that.

Finland in best-on-best finals: 0-2
Finland in men's WHC finals: 2-8

All in all 12 final appearances, two gold medals.

 

[Past Considerations]

Finland in best-on-best finals: 0-2
Finland in men's WHC finals: 2-8

All in all 12 final appearances, two gold medals.

Yes, because he definitely wasn't talking about U20 tournaments.

 

[Swipes]

Congrats Finland! 3 gold medals in 5 years, very impressive. Our coaches should take note and not make any excuses for a lack of population being the reason for not having enough depth and therefore missing out on a medal!

 

[TimeZone]

Congrats to Finland. Genuinely happy for them. I apologize for taking the topic off-track earlier.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

 

[Machinehead]

Finland in best-on-best finals: 0-2
Finland in men's WHC finals: 2-8

All in all 12 final appearances, two gold medals.

At the junior level, they generally win gold or don't win at all. Especially u20.

There's nothing wrong with that; any country over the last six years would trade places with them for those three golds.

We haven't had a legit senior tournament since the 2014 Olympics, so it's unfair to judge this generation of Finnish players anywhere but the junior level.

 

[jalperi]

Finnish and Estonian (and distant cousin Hungarian, and the real oddball Basque) are AFAIK the only non Indo-European languages in Europe, so it's something resembling "Finland" in pretty much every other lingo. Same way with other (original, non loan) words, hard to guess what Finns are saying

And Ingrian, Veps, Votic etc

 

[Machinehead]

May I add to the party?



Much respect from the US. Stay brutal, guys.

 

[jalperi]

2014, 2016; 2019!!!!

There's no stopping us!!!

That would be nice with lion, moose, reindeer or bear

 

[Lepardi]

At the junior level, they generally win gold or don't win at all. Especially u20.

Finland has only lost one U20 final and won four of them. That really is quite un-Finnish.

 

[IceBjoern]

Congratulations Suomi! Well deserved!

 

[Lepardi]

We haven't had a legit senior tournament since the 2014 Olympics, so it's unfair to judge this generation of Finnish players anywhere but the junior level.

I'd like to see them also bring home gold from the men's tournament in May. That's a much bigger deal here than the WJC. Sadly guys like Aho, Rantanen and Laine are on the final years of their contracts, which makes them less likely to participate. But maybe that'll make room for Kaapo Kakko.

I'm also not really sure if you can call these U20 tournaments legit cause the absolute cream of the crop is never there.

 

[Machinehead]

I'd like to see them also bring home gold from the men's tournament in May. That's a much bigger deal here than the WJC. Sadly guys like Aho, Rantanen and Laine are on the final years of their contracts, which makes them less likely to participate. But maybe that'll make room for Kaapo Kakko.

I'm not really into that so I hope you guys take it.

Again, I'm a big fan when you're not playing the US.

Hockey and metal. Finland is right up my alley.

 

[MMANumminen]

 

[Canad13ns]

I'd say Poehling was not a player I noticed on the ice for the entire tournament. As he is mtl prospect you probably did - however he did nothing noteworthy.

Well, in fairness the hat-trick was noteworthy... But like you, I also didn't really notice him the rest of the time and I was trying to notice Habs prospects. (Suzuki and Brook also underwhelmed.) Still, on the stats board, Poehling is sitting on top, tied with a few others but leading the US with 8 points, so he did (sneakily) contribute apart from the hat trick. On Habs prospects, Romanov looked good, Primeau looked good in the final and Ylonen surprised (I wasn't expecting anything and he got 6 points, including 3 nice goals).