The women’s lions got their opening win at the World Cup by defeating Switzerland. Finland has been successful in finishing in the last few games, but there are plenty of things to fix.
The Women’s Ice Hockey World Cup will be played in Utica, USA. follows the events of the Games in the service, Urheilurutu and Urheiluradio.
Finland ended its preliminary group with its first victory of the World Cup, when the probable quarter-final opponent Switzerland bowed with 5-2 goals.
Finnish captain Jenni Hiirikoski raised his level from previous matches and scored 1+3. They also succeeded in scoring Petra Nieminen, Ronja Savolainen, Sanni Vanhanen and Susanna Tapani.
Sports expert Mira Jalosuo according to him, the victory was really good for self-confidence.
– The last goal to nothing, but these goals should give the players confidence. Finland dominated the first two sets and started the match really well, says Jalosuo.
Open doors in your own head
In the final set, Finland’s game started to falter. It was allowed within a minute by the Swiss star striker by Lara Stalder twice a drive through. Finland managed to survive these without a setback, but a moment later Sinja Leemann shot the puck from a drive-through to the top shelf.
– Finland received good video material on how to defend against Switzerland if the teams meet in the quarterfinals, says Jalosuo.
According to Jalosuo, there is no reasonable explanation for the momentary collapse of Finland’s defense. However, he states that in the final set, the bottom defender should always see five Swiss players in front of him.
– Those situations must be played with certainty. Such lulls and breakthroughs cannot happen in the third period. The game could fall on them in the playoffs.
Success for Hiirikoski
Coaching had made changes to Finland’s chains and especially to the defense. Had problems on the defensive end Jenni Hiirikoski got next to me Nelli Laitinenwho ended up playing 20 minutes.
According to the expert, Hiirikoski played much better than in previous matches.
– Laitinen had been raised next to Jenni and that must have helped somewhat. Great to see him score. Nice level up.
According to Jalosuo, the changes seemed to be successful anyway. Especially during the first two periods, the Finnish defenders did not waste their own players in the defensive area.
– Sometimes it’s really good for the boss that changes are made. If your head has been hit against the wall, you will get new energy on the field. Change is basically the beginning of something new.
There is enough to file
However, the third set of the Switzerland game showed that Finland must continue to be careful in the quarterfinals, especially defensively. There is still a lot of room for improvement in the quality of inputs as well.
According to Jalosuo, Finland’s direct attacks against Switzerland were really good when the passes clicked carefully from platform to shoulder.
– When Finland didn’t succeed in the first easy pass, then it was in trouble and Switzerland was able to convert quickly. You have to be much more careful when feeding.
From the point of view of the quarter-finals, however, it is positive that Finland has scored seven goals behind the goalkeeper in the previous two matches.
– Superiority has also been good. You should build on these for the quarterfinals.
The Czech Republic goes into the match against Switzerland as early favorites. If it beats Switzerland, Finland and Switzerland will meet in the quarterfinals.
The situation will only change if Switzerland steals three points from the Czech Republic. Then Finland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland are tied.
After this, the matches between these teams would be examined. Since the points in the mutual games are equal, we would go to the goal difference in the mutual games. If that doesn’t bring a solution either, let’s look at the number of goals scored in mutual matches.
After these, superiority can be measured against the best placed team in the group. In this case too, we look at points, goal difference and goals scored.
The last options are a comparison against the runner-up in the group, after which superiority would be measured by ranking.
Block situations conveniently on teletext.