Finland trained on Thursday at the Tampere arena with a full crew. The World Cup opener will be played on Friday at 16:20 against the USA.
TAMPERE. On Thursday, Leijonat prepared for the World Cup home games at the Tampere arena. The first match awaits on Friday at 16:20 against the USA.
In Thursday’s training, we could see what kind of formations the Lions are going into the tournament with. Finland’s number one star Mikko Rantanen plays first fist Sakari Manninen and Teemu Hartikainen alongside. The trio was expected after the third link in Manninen and Hartikainen’s long-term chain Markus Granlund was left out of the World Cup team.
NHL forwards Kaapo Kako and Joel Armia are playing Antti Suomelan with. Kasperi Kapanen the place is Juho Lammikon in the chain.
Thursday’s training showed, for example, a decent bit of superiority. The lions’ number one superiority is built around Rantanen, Manninen and Hartikainen. In addition to them, the top five are Jere Sallinen and Mikko Lehtonen.
Lehtonen, operating on the blue line, laughed when the puck didn’t sink at the end of the yv pattern.
– Hey, clear hook! Next, five against three, Lehtonen meowed.
Finnish compositions
Teemu Hartikainen–Sakari Manninen–Mikko Rantanen
Kaapo Kakko–Antti Suomela–Joel Armia
Jere Sallinen–Juho Lammikko–Kasperi Kapanen
Ahti Oksanen–Hannes Björninen–Marko Anttila
Mikko Lehtonen–Atte Ohtamaa
Olli Määttä–Miika Koivisto
Mikael Seppälä–Ville Pokka
Niklas Friman–Nikolas Matinpalo
Goalkeepers: Emil Larmi, Jussi Olkinuora, Christian Heljanko.
Outside the chains: Waltteri Merelä, Harri Pesonen.