Finland’s under-20 men’s national ice hockey team will meet Sweden in the World Cup quarterfinals on Monday evening. Finland will not go into the match as early favorites, which expert Topi Nättinen thinks is a good thing.
Emma Hyuppa,
Petra Manner
Finland, which has won two and lost two of its opening group matches of the under-20 men’s ice hockey world championships, will face Sweden in the quarterfinals on Monday. The match to be played in Moncton, Canada starts at 18:00 Finnish time.
Sports expert Top Nättinen according to Sweden is a mentally easier opponent for Finland than champion favorite Canada, who could have been Finland’s opponent in the first playoff match. The North American teams were strong in the first group: the United States crushed Finland 6–2 and Canada crushed Sweden 5–1.
Nättinen stated after Saturday night’s losing match against the United States that the Finnish players seem to be in plaster and the feeling has not been shown.
– 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.
The head coach Tomi Lämsa really expect a lot from the match against Sweden.
– Sweden is very dangerous. They have a lot of skilled and well-moved players, says Lämsä.
The collective game has to work when individuals don’t shine
In the previous World Championships, Finland achieved silver and Sweden bronze. This time, at least one will be left without a medal. According to Topi Nättinen, the sticky start to the tournament has dispelled expectations of success.
– If Finland falls in the quarter-finals, it is pretty close to what is deserved. The build isn’t as good as it once was. There is no clear number one goalkeeper and number one centre. If the story ends, it wouldn’t be such a big surprise in the end, says Nättinen.
According to Nättinen, there are many question marks in Finland’s game, which the team preparing for the quarter-final match should no longer have.
– Yes, you have to worry a little. I’ve tried to see that if the collective game doesn’t work, then individuals should step up. If individuals don’t step up, then the collective game should work. In the United States game, neither worked, nor did the goalkeeper play.
According to head coach Lämsä, improvement is required in many areas if the Young Lions want to be in the medal games.
– The USA game was a real game for the first group and it showed what the requirement is from now on. A heavy workload, competitive playing and playing under pressure are the things where you have to be really alert, says Lämsä.
Will Jani Lampinen return to Finland’s goal?
In the important final game of the first group, Finland made a save with a goal Aku Koskenvuo, for whom the loss was the second of the tournament. In the semifinals, Nättinen would replace Finland’s goal keeper after saving two wins in the opening group Jani Lampinen.
– In my opinion, playing Koskenvuo was a questionable solution from a coaching point of view. Was Jani Lampis booed? I think it was the wrong decision. On the other hand, I understand that the quarter-final is the most important game and you have to have the best goalkeeper. If this works, the coaches will appear as geniuses, Nättinen reflects.
In Nättinen’s opinion, the mutual chemistry between the chains has been lost to such an extent that some changes have to be made to the chains.
– There is always a risk of changing, because now three games have been played with the same chains. Still, I would change the players’ positions in the chains. I would like it to be clearly one superiority, when up to now there have been bets on two equal ones.
Finland will meet Sweden in the quarterfinals on Monday evening at 6 p.m. Urheilu follows the youth World Cup tournament in this article.