Urheilu’s expert Mira Jalosuo hopes that the young players will move to North America.
The Finnish women’s national ice hockey team returned to the medal stand at the World Championships after a three-year break in Utica, USA.
In a dramatic bronze match, the female lions defeated the Czech Republic in the winning goal competition with 3–2 goals. Thus, Finland broke the Czech Republic’s two-year streak of medals at the World Championships.
Sports expert Mira Jalosuo considers the profit deserved. Finland dominated the three sets on an even field and clearly took the shots 45–21.
– The Czech Republic managed to score two overtime goals, but otherwise the game was in Finland’s possession the whole time, says Jalosuo.
An expert worried about the development
The Czech Republic, who played the last semi-final match against Canada, looked really tired in the match. The advantage of a few hours’ rest was to Finland’s advantage.
– Yes, it looked like the Czech Republic was really tired. Even the goalkeeper could see that fatigue was taking its toll. The late Czech game helped Finland. A few hours is a big deal in terms of recovery.
The Utica Games ended with a strong performance and tears of happiness at Naisleijon, but overall the World Championships were divided. According to Jalosuo, Finland had no problem against the Europeans, but the gap with the North Americans grew.
The expert finds the development worrying.
– The United States and Canada have improved even more and Finland has remained at the same level. If you want to win the brightest medals at the World Championships and the Olympics, you have to make some kind of changes.
“There wouldn’t be a bunny in the bag”
According to Jalosuo, Finland must definitely improve its skating skills. Finland also needs to learn to react faster in a small arena. The solution to this would be for the players to move to North America.
In recent years, the best Finns have often moved to the Swedish main league. For example, the Czech Republic has taken players to the American university.
– If you want to beat the North Americans, you have to play and practice against them on a daily basis. The most sensible thing to do would be to recommend a North American university to young girls. Once they graduate, they would move to the PWHL.
– In this way, you won’t get a bunny in your belly when you play Marie-Philip Poulin or Hilary Knight against.
How is Toivola doing?
The head coach Juuso Toivolan the contract ends with these games. The contract includes a two-year option, and the Norwegian Ice Hockey Federation has not announced its fate.
Jalosuo thinks that Toivola’s contract will be discussed at the spring meeting of the Ice Hockey Association. According to the expert, the federal government will initially listen to Toivola’s vision until the Milan Olympics.
– Then the federal government will have to make tough decisions, whether Toivola will continue or whether a new one will be hired. It will probably become clear quite a long way in these meetings, what Toivola and I are going through.
– Hopefully the players will also have some say and will be asked what their wishes are regarding the matter.
Two years until the Olympics
However, according to Jalosuo, returning to the medal base was a really important thing for Naisleijon. However, Finland must turn its eyes to the future and to what will happen in the next two years.
– It’s two years until the Olympic Games in Milan, so it was about time to get back to the taste of the medal.
– Now Finland must start to really close the gap with the North Americans. Two years is a long time and you can do quite a lot in that time, Jalosuo reminds.
Viivi Vainikka talks about the meaning of the World Cup medal in a video. Vainika’s, head coach Juuso Toivola’s, Michelle Karvisen’s and captain Jenni Hiirikoski’s comments can be read here.