“Yes, that kind of thing stirs things up” – The performance of the star player of the Women’s Lions speaks volumes, Canada beat Finland in the opening of the World Cup

The first struggle of the Finnish women’s national ice hockey team at the World Championships was challenging. Reigning world champion and Olympic champion Canada did their job with the routine, but did not shine against the Lionesses. However, the routine was enough and the maple leaf jerseys were able to celebrate the victory of the opening match with a score of 4–1.

For the Finns, the biggest gnashing of teeth in the match was caused by weak superiority, personal mistakes and the attacker Petra Nieminen walkout in the opening set.

However, in the match, Finland got its Canada troll from the Olympics kicked out. The Women’s Lions lost to Canada 1–11 in Beijing. Although Canada led the match even now, Finland also had its own positions to make the match even tighter.

Finland’s opening set started with a very minor win. The female lions had just gained the upper hand by Sarah Nurse with the penalty, when the Finnish striker Petra Nieminen started to put pressure on the Canadian defense. He drove to the end of his speed and knocked down the attacker by Kristin O’Neill towards the end edge. The Canadian player was in pain when he got off the ice.

A pair of referees Nikoleta Celarova and Amanda Tassoni went to see the situation on video. With their interpretation, Nieminen’s tackle was judged as a tackle from the back and worth 5+20 minutes. Nieminen flew into the shower, smashing his racket in frustration.

– Yes, such a person stirs things up. We had to change our five, head coach Juuso Toivola admitted.

Canada gave Finland only one setback with their five-minute lead, when Nurse directed the puck past the goalkeeper Anni Keisalan to the upper corner of the guarded goal.

However, Finland struck next. Replaced Nieminen with superiority and promoted to the first chain Julia Liikala thanked for the trust and scored from the free puck in the last second of Naisleijonat’s opening advantage to equalize. In the last seconds of the first period, Finland also had a chance in the form of a penalty shot, when Elisa from Holopai was hooked during the drive-through. Made his WC debut in the match Kiira Yrjänen however, did not succeed.

Supremacy turned out to be the crowning glory for Finland in part of the match at the end. At worst, the female lions were not able to even take the puck into the territory of Canada, which played strictly underpowered. The maple leaf jerseys kept Finland at bay, and after the opening advantage there was no danger. Finland’s balance remained one goal out of six superiority.

In their hits after the opening goal, Canada used Finland’s personal mistakes to their advantage.

by Marie-Philip Poulin the 2–1 goal scored was due to Finland’s weak substitution, which allowed Poulin to sail freely into the Women’s Lions’ territory. The experienced attacker slid into the best shooting sector and tapped the puck behind Keisala.

The Canadians’ third hit, on the other hand, went to one of Finland’s top defenders Ronja Savolainen of misjudgment. Savolainen delayed too much with his pass selection when looking for an opening from the defensive area. His pass was intercepted and Canada quickly turned the situation into a scoring opportunity. It ended by Meaghan Mikkelson from the loose puck to slip to hit.

For the fourth time, the puck ended up in Finland’s backpack when it was gapped empty. Finland tried to equalize without a goalie, but lost the puck after a winning start. Canada counterattacked and By Blaire Turnbull it was easy to put the puck into an empty goal from afar.

– We also saw the things we wanted in the match. However, we also saw the things where we are lagging behind. In duels, respecting the game with line play and so on. They didn’t come as a surprise, but I also told the team that we will go day by day and game by game towards reaching them, head coach Toivola reflected on what Finland got from the match.

– Victory will definitely come at some point.

Finland will next face the United States, who in their opening game crushed Japan with 10–0 goals. The second group match will be played on Saturday in Herning at 16:00 Finnish time.