Finland and the Czech Republic have played tight matches recently. According to Urheilu’s expert Minttu Tuominen, Finland has to give a lot of compensation when traveling to Frederikshavn.
The Finnish women’s national ice hockey team won the final game of the first group of the World Cup against Switzerland and will therefore play in the quarterfinals against the Czech Republic. The match will be played on Thursday at 18:30.
Sports expert Minttu Tuominen brings up three things about the situation of the Women’s Lions.
1. Finland will have a tough opponent
With a win in the final game of the initial group, Finland basically gets a tougher opponent, because with a loss, Finland would have played against Japan. Now Finland will face the Czech Republic, who won the B group, with whom it tied the wins in the training matches in July.
The Czech Republic beat Finland in the winning goal contest 3–2, but the next day Finland was better with a score of 4–3. The matches against the Czech Republic have been tight in recent years, as a year ago Finland beat the Czech Republic 1–0 in the quarter-finals of the World Cup.
Minttu Tuominen believes that Thursday will also see a tight battle for victory.
– Goalkeeper who played in Sweden for several years Klara Pelarova is really good and can keep the team up if necessary. The Czech Republic has really good puck players. A creative team that can create situations almost out of nothing, says Tuominen.
The team has puck skill both in terms of attackers and defenders.
– The Czech Republic is really dangerous in the attacking direction. Finland must be able to take advantage of it if the Czech Republic overattacks even a little. Finland can receive dangerous counterattacks through it.
2. Supremacy worries
Finland scored its first overtime goal of the tournament against Switzerland when Ronja Savolainen led by five to three Nelli Laitinen line shot into the net. Tuominen is a little worried about the effectiveness of Finland’s superiority.
– Now came the first overtime goal with 5 against 3, and contrary to expectations, it was scored by the second overpower. It is often believed that the first advantage would score those goals, but would there even be an opportunity to start with the second advantage against the Czech Republic? Tuominen ponders.
The head coach Juuso Toivola admitted to Urheilu after the Switzerland match that the superiority was too much for passing. According to him, Finland must find the dullness and efficiency to score goals.
– This game did not challenge us. It is natural and understandable, but not acceptable. Yes, we found the means for that, Toivola stated.
However, according to Tuominen, there are good blanks in the preponderance and it has been more versatile than before.
– More has been built near the goal than before. However, the biggest thing is that the shots mostly miss the goal. When going towards the goal, someone could put in the return puck.
3. Finland has to give equalization
Finland has played its first group match in Herning, but despite its tougher group, it travels two and a half hours away to Frederikshavn on Wednesday.
Tuominen wonders why the competition organizers made Finland travel to another location.
– Finland is in the upper group and finished third. It should be worse than before where Finland is. Now the better placed gives an equalizer here. If Finland goes to the semi-finals, they still have to travel back to Herning.
The other countries in Group A, i.e. Canada and the United States, for example, are allowed to play in Herning throughout the tournament.
– Does this cause unnecessary stress for Finland, that they have to pack up and move to a new environment? Finland will have to give quite a lot of compensation to move there, says Tuominen.