Finland suffered a 1-6 loss to Sweden on the final day of the preliminary groups of the under-18 girls’ ice hockey World Cup. Finland will face the Czech Republic in Thursday’s quarter-final.
21:27•Updated 22:39
Finland’s tame performances continued in the last match of the preliminary series at the under-18 girls’ ice hockey world championships. Sweden rolled to a 6–1 victory over Finland in the match played in Östersund.
Sanni Vanhanen made the only remaining hit for the Girl Lions. Vanhanen leveled the match at 1–1 in the second period, but after that Finland fell from Sweden’s ride. Sweden jumped out to a 4–1 lead in the second set and secured a 6–1 victory in the final set.
Finland had previously suffered a 0–8 loss to Canada and a 1–8 loss to the United States. The girl lions lost all three matches of the first series with a goal difference of 2–22.
The head coach of the girl lions Mira Kuisma admitted that Sweden was allowed to run the game for too long periods in Finland’s territory.
– Difficult match. We became passive, after which it was difficult to catch the plot. Sweden did score great goals and was effective in their goal positions. We couldn’t even get in from scratch, Kuisma complained to Urheilu.
“The results of the preliminary series did not matter”
However, even the loss to Sweden was not fatal for Finland, because all the teams in Finland’s group advance to the playoffs of the World Cup. The United States and Canada continue directly to the semi-finals, Sweden and Finland to the quarter-finals.
Finland will face the Czech Republic in Thursday’s quarter-final. Sweden measures Slovakia.
– It was known that the results of the preliminary series in themselves did not matter in this tournament concept. The most important match is Thursday’s quarter-final. Now the eyes are already on the Czech match, all we can do is keep our ears open, Kuisma said.
The girl lions have to hit the best table now or the tournament will come to a bitter end.
– The Czech Republic has good individuals and a good goalkeeper. They have shown this year that they play a good five game. So yes, there will be a tough opponent and work can be done. Hopefully our scoring success rate will increase, Kuisma predicts.
The Finnish team has experienced big changes since the previous games. As many as 13 new players are participating in the World Cup being played now. Kuisma summed up the themes in which Tyttöleijonien must improve in Thursday’s quarter-final.
– We are trying to dig out the strengths that we still have in this team. We need to find the key to unlock our game. Let’s talk about confidence in yourself and the team, Kuisma emphasized.