The Ice Hockey World Cup will be played in the Czech Republic from 10 to 26. May. follows the events in the app, on the website, on Sports Screen and on Sports Radio.
On Thursday, the Finnish men’s national ice hockey team experienced its second defeat in the World Cup, when Austria unexpectedly took a 3–2 victory. Sports expert Ismo Lehkonen highlights three things from the Lions’ excerpts.
1. Austria succeeded tactically
Leijonat had a two-goal lead against Austria, but eventually bowed out with a last-minute goal, 2-3. Lehkonen would not have expected a similar outcome.
– Yes, the Austrian professionals threw a feather. If someone had said before the game (that Austria would win), I would have said that I want the same medicine as you, because you are so confused, Lehkonen points out.
However, Austria succeeded in its tactical choice. The country that lost 6–7 to Canada in overtime forced Finland to play a lot of late starts. According to Lehkonen’s calculations, Finland left late more than 30 times.
– 85 percent of the pucks, which Finland threw after crossing the middle area to the end, Austria handled extremely well. Finland scored one of them at the beginning of the game through a possession, but otherwise the rhythms were not right.
According to Lehkonen, Finland has started to play very cautiously at the beginning of the matches in previous tournaments as well. Then the matches may very easily turn into “goal games” like against Austria.
On the other hand, Austria was also effective in its positions. Lehkonen calculated that it got 6–7 goal chances in the match with even fives.
– Finland’s goal scoring efficiency has been super, but now it was at a super level in Austria.
2. The first chain created the most chances
Finland’s number one chain has been the center of attention in the World Cup. Lehkonen laughs when he looks at his own notes, because the first pitch created more goal chances (7) than the other pitches combined (5).
– It’s funny here that Granlund’s field created seven perfectly good scoring chances in two sets, but that field was still broken in the last set.
– The first court will probably be rebuilt again. It is by no means an optimal situation when you think about the Canada game.
Lehkonen noted Granlund’s body language during the match. The expert thinks that the media and especially social media speculations are a burden on the captain’s shoulders.
However, Lehkonen reminds that it is an indisputable fact that Granlund has not scored points except for the Britannia match (0+4).
– Now it was also visible from the body language that Granlund started to force. There were a lot of puck losses, wrong kind of scrimmages and forced passes. The rhythm didn’t really work at all.
According to the expert, the problem is self-inflicted. Finland would have had three matches to build a working peace for the first chain.
– I strangely guessed that Konsta Helenius was moved up to the center and the number one center of the San Jose Sharks was put on the dock. That didn’t sound terribly clever.
– I don’t know if Granlund took a pea in his nose, but it seems that he has an irritation in his dome. I don’t think it’s just because of the lack of points, but because I haven’t had enough working time with the designated players.
3. Worrying features
Platforms should be found around Granlund, because for the other chains, the game looked worrisome even with the Canada match in mind. According to Lehkonen, in previous matches, in addition to power, they also excelled on a level playing field Oliver Kapanen20, and Arttu Hyry23, were in the lands of shadows.
– It is worrying that Kapanen and Hyry suddenly looked tired. Their chains didn’t get anything done either.
The cooperation between the centers and defenders, which Lehkonen had deservedly praised after previous matches, also caused concern. This time the co-op didn’t work at all.
– I don’t know if it was a normal thing in the game or the goodness of Austria, but Finland couldn’t get the puck into the middle lane and the game wasn’t properly rhythmic.
With the loss, Finland is in fourth place in Group A with seven points after four matches. Austria is three points behind in fifth place. The country still faces the Czech Republic, Norway and Great Britain.
Finland needs points against Canada, Denmark and Switzerland to secure the next place. In addition to Canada, Switzerland is also a tough opponent, because the team has by Nico Hischier, Roman Josin and Kevin Fiala like NHL star players.
– Now the journey is clearly getting more difficult and even the players know it at this stage. Switzerland is not an easy opponent, as the team has quite tough players. It’s a very promising team.