The meeting between Finland and Canada will be watched with white knuckles in the Ice Hockey Federation’s hall on Thursday, writes journalist Jussi Paasi.
Jussi PaasiWrites about the World Championships from Tampere
Semi-final. A match of destiny.
That’s next for Leijon.
The importance of that game is always great in the World Hockey Championships. The weight of the starting series is almost negligible for the big hockey countries. It’s enough to survive.
The lions’ general practice for the fateful match went smoothly. Opponent Denmark had already lost its chance for the next games before Tuesday night’s fight. It was visible in the rink.
Finland was allowed to control game events as much as they wanted. The exhausted jutes also froze, so Leijon was offered plenty of time to practice his superiority patterns.
The biggest gift to Finland from the Denmark match – besides the successful goal-scoring exercises – was the relaxation that came into the game. The offensive chains had time to refine their chemistry in peace. For example Kasperi Kapanen and Antti Suomelan a closer connection than before was found between them.
Keeper Emil Larmi could prepare for the coming dawn in peace. Finland’s number one defender didn’t even break a sweat between the posts. Denmark was so sleepy.
On Thursday, they will face a completely different team. Finland will face Canada in the quarter-final match.
In that game, the stakes in Finland are even higher than the usual quarter-finals.
At the level of the ice, the name of the job is of course the same as always in these spring ice rinks. A win would mean success in the tournament for Finland, which is used to success. Access to the medal games is the minimum requirement for the reigning champion.
A loss, on the other hand, would be a huge disappointment for Leijon, which would probably make headlines with the word scandal.
Now let’s get to the huge significance of the game of fate mentioned in the title of this comment. It can be found outside the rink.
The Ice Hockey Federation is totally dependent Jukka Jalonen of the winning machine created. When you look beyond the Lions’ incredible streak of success that started in 2019, the picture is pretty grim.
Almost everything other than the Lions in Finnish national team hockey is more or less messed up, or at least going in a strong downward direction.
Briefly explained: The success of the Young Lions (under-20 national team) and Little Lions (under-18) has waned. Coaches who have not had bad experiences have been given the responsibility of leading the junior teams.
The trace is according to it. Semi-final defeats are already commonplace in junior value tournaments.
If someone of a tougher class has been hired for the job, such as Kari Jalonen, has been terminated as soon as the pilot has been offered a better job. Jalonen didn’t even have time to start his job at Nuori Leijon. He was recruited to the Czech men’s national team.
The situation of the women’s national team – and therefore also of girls’ hockey – is the saddest. Naisleijonat, huddled in the middle of the commotion, doesn’t seem to be interested in the union’s top men at all.
The men’s value competition success seems to have taken all the attention. It has blinded you into thinking that things are as they should be in the Ice Hockey Federation. Gold comes year after year, the cash register sings the Euro song in the second consecutive World Cup home games, everything is fine!
In addition to the pain points mentioned above, the Jääkieksliitoto’s recent actions, or rather what they have not done, are a chapter of their own, with plenty to worry about for a long time.
If the Lions’ tournament ends in the quarterfinals in Tampere on Thursday, wider public attention will definitely be focused on things other than Leijon in the future.
After that, grievances and problems can no longer be veiled in the golden curtain of Lions.
The game of fate is watched with white knuckles in the ice hockey association’s hall.
Finland and Canada will meet on Thursday at 20:20 in Tampere. follows the events of the match moment by moment in the application and on the website.