The first period was a decent performance by Finland and the mistakes by Canada's defence allowed them to generate some scoring opportunities, too bad Lepistö and Bergenheim couldn't capitalize. The Finns pushed the opposing forwards to the corners, but Phaneuf's goal showed what would happen more often later: even though the Canadians couldn't just leave the corners and boards with the puck, they would still be strong enough wrestlers to send the puck bouncing to the slot. That together with (certain) Finnish defensemen's unwillingness to defend the crease and that Toivonen spat most of the shots back cost Finland the game.
At the other end of the rink things changed during the first intermission too. Canada suddenly had a sturdy square of defenders in their zone and as Finland's passing was atrocious, the attempts at heroism were easily thwarted. Don't even get me started about line cohesion. Canada didn't even have to dominate, they would've taken the points with just counterattacks.
Finland was obviously expecting a bombardment similar to last year judging by their eagerness to hit in the beginning of the game. When Canada settled with "invisible" physical dominance, the Finns would cool down too.
Fleury looks more experienced than last year and played almost flawless, except that he needed a lot of luck to save him on half a dozen occasions.
Jalasvaara, Varakas and Salmela are trying to do what Jääskeläinen, Timonen and Immonen did last year: Ruin the tournament for the team. Like Teme said, Finland should stick with Lepistö, Kalteva, Korpikari and Kantee in the defense until they die of exhaustion. Canada seemed to do fine with just Coburn, Phaneuf and Meech. Salmela's performance was one of the worst I've seen by any skater at any level. Unfortunately, I don't think Aravirta has the heart to scratch him. Canada has never had and will never had a team so bad (read: average) that they couldn't score with opportunities like those.
Petrell-Piispanen-Tukonen was ineffective, even more so when Tukonen and the team's worst forward, Oksa, swapped lines. What's more, I don't think Töykkälä, Immonen and Marjamäki even saw each other on the ice.
Filppula, by the way, showed flashes of absolute brilliance. The worst hockey player in existence who can match his stickhandling is Jesse Niinimäki, and the twig he used to be was one of the best if not the best Finn in the corners.
At the other end of the rink things changed during the first intermission too. Canada suddenly had a sturdy square of defenders in their zone and as Finland's passing was atrocious, the attempts at heroism were easily thwarted. Don't even get me started about line cohesion. Canada didn't even have to dominate, they would've taken the points with just counterattacks.
Finland was obviously expecting a bombardment similar to last year judging by their eagerness to hit in the beginning of the game. When Canada settled with "invisible" physical dominance, the Finns would cool down too.
Fleury looks more experienced than last year and played almost flawless, except that he needed a lot of luck to save him on half a dozen occasions.
Jalasvaara, Varakas and Salmela are trying to do what Jääskeläinen, Timonen and Immonen did last year: Ruin the tournament for the team. Like Teme said, Finland should stick with Lepistö, Kalteva, Korpikari and Kantee in the defense until they die of exhaustion. Canada seemed to do fine with just Coburn, Phaneuf and Meech. Salmela's performance was one of the worst I've seen by any skater at any level. Unfortunately, I don't think Aravirta has the heart to scratch him. Canada has never had and will never had a team so bad (read: average) that they couldn't score with opportunities like those.
Petrell-Piispanen-Tukonen was ineffective, even more so when Tukonen and the team's worst forward, Oksa, swapped lines. What's more, I don't think Töykkälä, Immonen and Marjamäki even saw each other on the ice.
Filppula, by the way, showed flashes of absolute brilliance. The worst hockey player in existence who can match his stickhandling is Jesse Niinimäki, and the twig he used to be was one of the best if not the best Finn in the corners.
