The United States knocked out the Lionesses – striker Susanna Tapani was exempted from the World Cup match because of her friend’s wedding: “It’s a personal matter”

The United States was a crushing opponent for the Finnish women’s national ice hockey team on Saturday afternoon in the opening group match of the World Cup. The American team, cool in their dark blue, beat Finland 6-1 with their speed.

The sweatiest afternoon among the Finns was the goalkeeper Anni Keisala. Finland’s number one goalkeeper had a total of 72 shots on goal, blocking a total of 66. Keisala’s save percentage was a good 92.96 percent compared to the number of shots.

The United States fought from the beginning, while Finland remained the opponent. The game of the female lions slowed down badly due to the falling hair of the USA. Finland was not able to build its own puck game from under the star flag jerseys, which put pressure on them at high speed, but all the opportunities ended up as lost pucks.

While the puck game withered to a minimum, Finland’s strength ran out under fierce pressure. At the same time, with the help of their pressure, the United States was able to run their substitution game perfectly. The final result was finally visible on the board. Finland’s only goal was scored by a defender at the beginning of the third period with an accurate wrist shot Ella Viitasuo.

– Today was by no means a successful evening for Finland. It is a fact that must be faced. The result is not satisfactory, but the way we played partially gives us a chance for the continuation. For the next meeting, we need the means to play against these teams, Finland’s head coach Juuso Toivola said after the match to Urheilu, referring to the United States and Canada at the end.

With the constant pressure, Finland looked understandably tired on the ice. During the match, the Finns also had to bite their teeth in pain, for example Nora Tulus battled through the match with a sore ankle. In the opening set, the attacker blocked a shot from the United States and the shot hit him painfully.

– I blocked several shots and one of them hit a bad spot. However, everything is fine now, I wouldn’t have come back to the game if I couldn’t give one hundred percent to the pursuit of victory, said Tulus, who clocked more than 20 minutes of playing time in the match.

According to Tulus, the match, which was almost one-sided, did not leave any worse mental injuries.

– We want to play these hard games. Today we were in the washing machine, and the USA was clearly better on skates. In all areas, actually. We have to take the good things from this, look at what we have done badly and get that good feeling for the next game, he reflected.

Finland was exhausted from the match, having suffered a one-match ban for his tackle in the opening game Petra Nieminen. In addition, the attacker Susanna Tapani was missing from the lineup. Finland’s team leader Tuula Puputti said before the match that Tapani had dropped out of the match due to “personal reasons”.

According to Urheilu, Tapani got a day off from coaching in Finland to attend his friend’s wedding. Head coach Toivola was tight-lipped about it when he was asked for confirmation after the match.

– It is a personal matter and I will not comment further on it, Toivola commented.

But if so, what kind of value choice and what kind of message does that send to the team?

– It is an internal discussion in our team and we have had it and we stand behind it.

You can watch head coach Toivola’s comments on Tapani’s absence in the video at the main photo of the story.

According to Toivola, Tapani will be seen in Finland’s next game against Japan. Finland and Japan will meet on Monday next week.