Finland and Sweden will meet today in the quarterfinals of the World Youth Ice Hockey Championships. Finland’s tournament has been quiet so far, but Sweden hasn’t convinced either. This is not visible in the speeches of the Swedish players.
14:06•Updated 14:12
The quarterfinals of the World Youth Ice Hockey Tournament begin today in Moncton, Canada. Finland and Sweden meet in a match starting at 18:00 Finnish time. Finland, which is playing a sluggish tournament, has a place to wash its face after a weak match against the United States, while Sweden is trying to improve on its loss to Canada.
Sweden lost a teenage star by Connor Bedard for leading Canada 5–1 in a match where the maple leaf jerseys led 2–0 after just over two minutes. Despite the ugly defeat, Sweden is looking forward to meeting Finland.
– It is fun. We had some hot encounters in August. We have created a duel that we are looking forward to, the striker of the Swedish team Oskar Pettersson anticipate according to the Swedish newspaper Expressen (you will switch to another service).
The teams met in the semifinals of last year’s World Cup, which was moved to August due to the coronavirus. At that time, Finland was better 1–0. In addition, the teams played against each other in practice matches.
– We played against each other in August, we know each other well. We have a lot of information about them from this tournament, the head coach of the Swedish national team Magnus Hävelid told Expressen.
Hävelid mentioned after the Canada match that these age groups of Finland and Sweden have played against each other since the under-16 tournaments. Both teams have the same seven players as in the tournament played in August.
– The playoffs are the reason why we are here. We’ll go there and deserve a semi-final spot, Swedish defender Ludvig Jansson confidently stated the traditional Swedish magazine According to Aftonbladet (you will switch to another service).
The Swedish players foresee especially the physical game as the strength of their team.
– We have to learn from the things we did badly now and come into the match with a great speed. I think we can punish them with physical play, team captain Victor Stjenborg commented after the Canada game.
– We have all the conditions to beat Finland. I don’t consider them early favorites. We are bigger than them, Jansson emphasized.
In the simulated lineup data for the tournament, the average height of the Finnish team’s field players is 183.5 centimeters, Sweden’s 184.2. Finland has two field players at least 190 centimeters tall, Sweden has three. The average weight of Finnish players is 83 kilograms, Sweden’s 83.6.
Sports expert Topi Nättinen too does not consider Finland to be the early favorite for the match.
– The Finland-Sweden match is always a story of its own. I hope that Finland will also bring out the emotional side. I believe that Sweden will raise it. Game-wise, the differences between Finland and Sweden are very small. Finland will not start as early favorites and that can even be a good thing, Nättinen analyzes on Sunday in Urheilustudio.