Finland is a reigning Olympic champion in hockey, but renewing the championship in next winter’s tire competition is hard work.
The NHL stars will enter the Olympic Tournament for the first time since 2014 at the Milan-Cortina Games.
The Lions got a taste of the upcoming NHL four -country tournament, where it was clearly left behind by North American top teams Canada and the United States.
The Finnish legend, the winner of the Stanley Cup, followed the match on the spot Teemu Selänne gave an example of the standards of the match. Your Selänne highlighted the current captain of Finland, the Stanley Cup winning Alexander Barkov speeches.
– Even Barkov said he had never been in such a tough match. And said he couldn’t sleep even for a day’s sleep when he is so tense and excited. It tells how players experience this tournament.
Your back threw a smile on their lips as well Kalervo Kummolan in the direction of. In an interview with EPN, Kummola suspected the NHL’s four -country tournament as a “play tournament”. By this, Kummola meant comparing the appreciation of the tournament to the Olympics.
– I can tell Kale that I put the glasses on the head and look more closely. Here we go and hard, your back would crumble.
The hardest to learn
Sports Hockey Specialist Ismo Lehkonen According to Finland, Finland got a lot to learn about where the international tip of hockey is currently at the individual level.
Today’s hockey requires reverse change, skating skills and skillful hands. You need to be able to give the passes and get at a high speed, and there are many more contacts with your opponent than, for example, in the World Cup.
– The evolution of hockey is moving at a tremendous pace. If we get some competitive advantages, then we go to the tactical side, the five -game play and, above all, the role. Players must have clear step marks and clear expectations of what their job is, Lehkonen says.
Even in Finland, Finland has a huge NHL bundle right now, but against North Americans, it was not enough for anything. And the future does not look good when looking at the number of Finnish reservations in the NHL.
– You always have to worry if your neighboring countries have more first round reservations, says your back.
Your back emphasizes that first individuals are made, then only the teams.
– It is really important to me that Finland focuses specifically on the individual’s individual skill training and skating.
Looking at the World Championships in the Junior Championships, Selänne has considered US junior players quite overwhelming.
– The way they play is creative. It’s about dancing.
NHL teams?
So Finland, especially for the attack, got a name for the team in the four -country tournament, but almost all – national team bunch Mikael Granlund With the exception of – they were at their best level.
For example in the second chain Sebastian Aho and Roope Hintzin The grips were muted, and the other team chains did not succeed.
Finland quickly fell into several goals against both Canada and the United States. Ismo Lehkonen emphasizes that the attack’s plan should be carefully refined and the defense game should be very accurate.
-In play, you can model NHL teams that are used to “match-ups”. That is, what the player’s roles are when he plays against the prescribed field, how he takes away the strengths, and so on, Lehkonen describes.
– Yes, there is a lot of construction site to take on the challenge the Finnish people set on the national team.
For the Finnish head coach For Antti Pennanen The tournament was a fierce teddy bear stone. He had to bring his team together in a short time, and there was hardly any preparation or training time.
For Pennanen, the games in North America were the first major tournament as the Lions head coach.
– However, it is not so simple that we go into a small trough with the tactics of the Euro Hockey Tour. Then the retriever should be pretty quickly, Selänne laughs.
– It is really good for Pennanen to go through these things. This tournament gave a good study material on what to do and what to do differently. He certainly got a lot of new information about the players, Lehkonen says.