Sweden was supposed to be Finland’s toughest opponent in the B-level group. Damkronorna’s opening loss to Germany gave indications that Finland could get through Easter Sunday’s midday cleanup a little easier. After all, it had also taken all the previous meetings of the season in the EHT tournaments against Sweden, even with a goal difference of 14–4.
However, the opposite happened.
The first two sets were confusing from Finland and somewhat surprisingly, Sweden started the final set with a 2–0 lead.
– The human mind is interesting. We’ve played good games against Sweden and won, so I don’t know if that had an effect, head coach Juuso Toivola reflected after the match.
– This was a big game for us. That, for its part, certainly affects the way things are done. A little tension and the game starts to slip from the basics.
In the final set, however, Finland struck four times and came from two goals behind to win 4–2.
– In the final set, when the puck dropped on the ice, you could immediately see that it was a completely different mood, a completely different look of the game. We started skating and playing together. Sweden didn’t have any seam in the finals in the finals, they hit twice Ronja Savolainen your sum.
Finland’s goals struck Viivi Vainikka, Petra Nieminen and twice hit Savolainen. All of them represent Lulea – and were able to score goals with their club teammates by Sara Grahn behind the back.
After the match, a teammate sent an immediate receipt to the Finnish defender.
– Grahn came to say, no damn, damn it, when you scored goals for me, Savolainen said.
Savolainen revealed that before the match he had a dream about Grahn’s clean sheet.
– I thought that it really won’t happen like that now! It was nice to be able to score a couple of goals for him. He played a great game, it’s a shame that the team couldn’t help him more in the goal.
Before the match, Savolainen had told SVT with a twinkle in his eye that would like the team to play badly. (you switch to another service)
What does the Finnish defender think, did the wish come true?
Savolainen answers the question with a laugh.
– Yes, I was surprised the first and second time in Sweden. At the same time, we weren’t quite involved either, we gave them all the positions and made the game difficult for ourselves. They had a bad third set when they couldn’t keep up with us anymore.
– A great win and it’s nice that we were able to turn the third set around.
Petra Nieminen scored 1+1 in the match and took the top spot in the tournament (3+4). Viivi Vainikka is second (4+2) ahead of Sweden’s 16-year-old who lost power points against Finland Hilda Svensson (3+3).
In the western neighbor, two batches were celebrated
For Sweden, victories over Finland in value tournaments are rare. The previous one was almost ten years ago, when the Women’s Lions lost to Sweden in the quarterfinals of the Sochi Olympics.
Sweden’s recent years in women’s hockey have been dark. After Finland’s 2019 World Cup home games, Sweden was even relegated to the B division. It made it to the World Championships played last fall because of Russia’s ban.
That’s why even the leading position in the western neighbor took all the joy out of it.
– 2–0, who would have thought? Absolutely awesome! SVT expert, ex-player Maria Rooth flamed up on air.
– Sweden leads Finland in the World Cup! This is absolutely incredible, commentator Chris Härenstam accompanied
The joy ended briefly in the final set, when Naisleijonat started its rise and finally struck four times.
– Finland plays really well. Sweden is stagnant, Härenstam admitted.
In the post-match interview Sara Hjalmarsson admitted that the team’s mental strength did not last.
– I think we played really well in two sets. In the third, they immediately leveled and passed. We couldn’t handle it mentally.
In Sweden, the fear of a possible relegation to the B division was already raised. The team is third in the group with three points.
Group victory in own hands
Finland, playing in the B-level group for the first time, has managed the World Cup tournament without a loss so far. On Monday, it has a chance to secure the group win with a win over Hungary.
The win over Sweden was very important for Finland, because with a group win, Finland would ensure that the winner of group A and the second-placed team, i.e. most likely USA and Canada, would meet in the quarterfinals.
Hungary has played two matches, one of which they lost to Sweden 2–6 and in the other they defeated France 4–2.
Finland last met Hungary at the World Championships played in the fall. In this case, the victory was only achieved in extra time, when Elisa Holopainen scored a 3–2 hit in 61.26.
– Most recently, in the last games, it was a really tough game against them. I expect them to skate really hard, and we have to do our own things really well to win the game, commented Petra Nieminen.
Finland–Sweden 4–2 (0–0, 0–2, 4–0)
21.08 0–1 Thuvik (Hjalmarsson)
38.59 0–2 Jungåker (Kjellbin, Johansson)
43.42 1–2 Vainikka (Rantala, Tulus)
46.06 2–2 Savolainen (Nieminen, Tulus)
47.51 3–2 Nieminen (Liikala, Vanhanen)
58.34 4–2 Savolainen (Tulus, Hiirikoski)