The girl lions have a clear goal of a medal on the ice of the World Cup – “The North Americans are going strong” | Sport

The girl lions will go on the hunt for medals at the World Championships starting on Saturday in Switzerland. The favorites to win the tournament are, as usual, the United States and Canada.

Finland wants to get back to the medal base in the under-18 women’s ice hockey world championships starting on Saturday in Switzerland. A year ago, the tournament ended in disappointment, when the United States defeated Finland 5–0 in the bronze medal match.

The general practice for the World Cup was not very promising. Switzerland beat Finland 4–0.

– Even the readings show that it wasn’t our best performance. Yes, it left a toothache and brittle. That’s why we’ve worked so hard to make our game better. It was good to be able to play already in the competition arena, when there was probably excitement in the air. The bright lights have now been marveled at, if only there wasn’t so much tension in Saturday’s opening, the head coach Mira Kuisma says.

Finland will face the Czech Republic in their World Cup opener on Saturday.

– Definitely a really even match. We’ve played against them a couple of times this season, both were goal games and straight twists. The Czech team will face a lot of skill. They certainly have a strong desire to beat us, since they haven’t beaten us in the World Cup yet, Kuisma predicts.

In its other preliminary group matches, Finland takes on Germany and Canada.

– Canada is strong. We played them three times in August. We know exactly what is coming from there. We played a good match against Germany in November. Of course, we have to score as many points as possible from the preliminary round, but the quarter-final is the match we are heading towards, Kuisma emphasizes.

Familiar favorites are the United States and Canada

The biggest championship favorites are once again the United States and Canada. The World Championship has been played 15 times, and the United States has won eight and Canada seven.

However, a year ago there was an exception when Sweden unexpectedly reached the final. In the final match, however, Canada won the championship with a crushing score of 10–0.

– The North Americans are still going strong. Finland, Sweden and the Czech Republic will probably fight for the following places. Of course, anything is possible. There have been surprises in previous games as well, Kuisma points out.

Revamped game system

The game system of the Girls’ World Cup has changed from previous games. In the past, the best of the preliminary groups advanced directly to the semi-finals, but now all teams continue to the quarter-finals.

– The starting blocks are evenly strong, when this was not the case before. I think it’s a very welcome reform. In the past, matches in the first series did not have as much weight as they do now, Kuisma estimates.

The girl lions have a clear medal goal, but at the same time new players are being recruited.

– The body of the team was really strong in the two previous games, but now we have a lot of new players. It’s a new project and you have to remember that there is a longer process in the background towards the future, says Kuisma.