Finland will go to the EHT tournament in Helsinki with the strongest possible team. After the tournament, Leijonat settles the Four Nations tournament’s unclear rules on player traffic.
His new head coach Antti Pennanen The Finnish men’s national ice hockey team, which took over command, gathered on Tuesday for the first time to train for the Helsinki EHT tournament starting on Thursday.
– The tempo was hard, the intensity was hard. It was a really good event, Pennanen tells Urheilu.
Pennanen did not directly reveal what kind of changes he wants to bring to the way the Lions play.
– Time will tell, but you will soon see it, Pennanen grins.
The head coach reminds that the journey to the World Cup is long and the final handprint will be seen only in the spring. However, the head coach highlights the importance of defending and finishing.
– We will certainly see a committed lion pack. And like all of us coaches, we try to find ways to be more efficient, says Pennanen.
A more aggressive game?
The veterans who have played in Leijon for years reminded that there is only one practice and a meeting behind them, but Toni Rajalan in my view, Finland wants to play a little more aggressively.
– Maybe we’ll be a little more careful and try to leave a little faster. That must have changed Jalonen Jukan at the time. The workouts seemed good. Maybe a little more aggressive Finland is coming this season, Rajala said.
– Maybe the departures were sped up a little, at least based on that one training session. It was a bit more active game, but it’s hard to say even bigger at this point. It caught my eye and what I put behind my ear, Mikko Lehtonen inch.
According to Pennanen, it cannot be completely said that Leijonat is speeding up its play, although Finland can play individual situations faster. However, he reminds us that the rhythms are still there.
According to him, the comparison between different ways of playing is sometimes pointless.
– There are many good things in Suomi-kieko, which we want to hold on to. The game develops, the players develop and it affects what types of players are available. So many things affect how the game will look in the end, Pennanen reminds.
Lions with a hard pack to Helsinki
The Lions’ attitude towards the Helsinki EHT tournament has varied over the years. Years ago, Finland often sought success with tough teams full of top players from the KHL and Sweden. In recent years, Finland, on the other hand, relied more on SM league players in Helsinki, but this time the team only has six players from the SM league.
According to Pennanen, the reason behind the selections is purely that Finland wants to gather the best players for the tournament.
– Of course, there were a lot of changes in Finnish hockey ten years ago. The KHL came strong and the Jokeri’s move to the KHL changed the series systems and many things, Pennanen begins.
– We don’t Jeren (Lehtinen) with, however, basically think about which series the player plays in. There are five or six leagues in Europe where you can take a player and we want to put together the best possible team that is available at that moment.
Patrik Laine’s situation is telling
After the EHT tournament in Helsinki, the eyes of the management team of Pennanen and Leijoni are firmly fixed on the player selections for the Four Nations tournament to be played in February. The Lions have to name their team for the tournament at the end of November, but the rules regarding the selections have been a bit unclear.
Especially the one injured in September Patrik Laine the situation has been discussed in the media. For example, there has been no certainty as to whether an injured player can be named to the team.
– When this tournament in Helsinki ends, we will go to North America with Jere. Then we will start making those choices, and then we will definitely check with the NHL what the final rules will be with player traffic.
– They have changed a bit, and they are not entirely clear, but they will become clear at the time of the election.
So Patrik Laine is still on the Lions’ list as a potential player?
– All Finnish NHL players are on our list.
Lions offensive lines on Tuesday:
Patrik Puistola – Juho Lammikko – Ahti Oksanen
Veli-Matti Savinainen – Miro Aaltonen – Waltteri Merelä
Harri Pesonen – Mikael Ruohomaa – Toni Rajala
Petteri Puhakka – Hannes Björninen – Arttu Ruotsalainen
Defenders:
Mikko Lehtonen – Santtu Kinnunen
Robin Salo – Lassi Thomson
Rasmus Rissanen – Otto Leskinen
Peetro Seppälä – Nuutti Viitasalo
Kristian Vesalainen, Sampo Ranta and Otto Koivula played as extra attackers, and Atro Leppänen played as a defender.