Finland hasn’t had this kind of problem since the Turin Olympics – a rare situation that worries the expert | Sport

The Women’s Ice Hockey World Cup will be played in Utica, USA. follows the events of the Games in the service, Urheilurutu and Urheiluradio.

The Finnish women’s national ice hockey team is on the brink of a rare question at the World Championships starting in the United States. Who is the guaranteed number one goalkeeper?

The goal of the female lions has been heavily blocked throughout history. Nora Räty since the 2006 Olympic Games in Torino offered guaranteed performances in the Finnish goal. After the home games in Espoo (2019), he was sidelined Anni Keisalawho has, however, had a very challenging season in the ranks of HV71.

Keisala was his team’s second keeper and lost all 14 matches he played. The strikeout percentage was a modest 84.3.

– The situation has been the same in the national team as well. The puck hasn’t caught in the same way as the previous two or three seasons, Urheilu’s expert Mira Jalosuo says.

Ahola as the first keeper?

A 23-year-old is becoming Finland’s number one goalkeeper Sanni Ahola, who made his debut in the Women’s Lions World Cup team last year. He is in his fourth season on the St. Cloud State varsity team. 17 percent have 93.5 matches under their belt.

However, there are question marks around Ahola. He hasn’t played matches on consecutive days, because Jojo Chobak has shouldered the responsibility in the second match of the week.

– It would have been easy to say that you can trust the goalkeeping if Sanni had played on consecutive days. Now the situation is interesting.

Among other things, the training match against Canada speaks for Ahola’s first keeper’s plot. Keisala allowed six hits and Ahola one hit, when the duo shared the save responsibility in a match that ended in a 2–8 loss.

Although in the light of the statistics, Ahola looks like the number one keeper, in his case, both mental and physical coping is something to think about.

– The tournament is short and there are a lot of games, so will it last? It’s a different thing to prepare for three games a week instead of one. Another question is, will the condition last?

Jalosuo sees that, in light of the statistics, Finland does not have a problem with this. Mental and physical preparation for many games a week are, however, a question mark for an expert.

– This is the first season since Turin when the goalkeeping game is the biggest question mark for the coaching staff. Who takes responsibility?

My habit goes back to the Lioness

The female lions will receive two important reinforcements in Utica when they conquer Susanna Tapani and Michelle Karvinen return to the strength of the national team. Also 22 years old Elisa Holopainen is again with Finland.

– Tapani and Karvinen are able to score goals with superiority and five-on-five and kill the ice if necessary. It’s a really big deal that two experienced players are back in the ring.

In the World Cup, it is the superiority that Tapani, Karvinen and Holopainen, among others, will probably play.

– Against Canada and the United States, the superiority must be 30 percent or even more, to be able to talk about winning.

North Americans face a big problem

Female lions can very well get a lot of opportunities by being superior. Jalosuo, who coaches in the North American PWHL league, believes that the North Americans take a lot of ice in the games.

He justifies the view with rules. Tackling is allowed in the PWHL league, but in international hockey this is not the case yet.

– I have seen how in the PWHL even open bombs are distributed. When, according to international rules, tackling is not allowed, it is a big problem for a North American. They have to change their playing style quite a lot.

In February, Jalosuo went to see the match between the USA and Canada in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He already drew attention to the matter at that time.

– Megan Keller took two catches, neither of which would have been a catch in our league. I called them touches. Canada vaccinated against both force majeure.

A bronze game is the minimum goal

Naisleijonat plays in the rock-hard A group of five countries, where each country reaches the quarterfinals. Looking ahead, the United States and Canada will once again compete in the finals for the world championship.

If the preliminary expectations are correct, Finland will fight for the bronze medal against the Czech Republic. The bronze medalist of the two previous games has bowed to Finland in the EHT tournaments this season with 2–3 wins.

The Czech Republic has raised its level by leaps and bounds in recent years. It all started 5-10 years ago, when the country started sending its players to the American college leagues. Now this is starting to bear fruit.

Nowadays, the Czech Republic is more ready than Finland to fight against North American teams.

– The level of skating in the Czech Republic has risen a lot. Finland used to be able to take care of practically all European teams with its skating power. Now the Czech Republic has learned to skate and puck control has been really good. That’s why it’s a really dangerous team.

However, the bronze medal is the minimum goal for Finland.

– If Finland doesn’t get a bronze medal, you can say that the games have gone under the bench and a really disappointed team will arrive home..