The Finnish men’s under-20 ice hockey team lost a three-goal lead in the bronze medal game to the Czech Republic. According to head coach Lauri Mikkola, the opponent took advantage of Finland’s weak moments.
Joel Holma,
Jussi Saarinen
The World Cup tournament of the Finnish men’s under-20 national ice hockey team in Sweden ended with a miraculous meltdown in the bronze medal match.
Finland still led the Czech Republic 5–2 at the end of the second period. The Czech Republic started its streak in the last minute of the second set by narrowing it to 3-5.
Finland’s game finally went completely awry at the end of the match, and the Czech Republic scored four goals (two into an empty net) in the last two minutes and won 8–5.
Captain of the Finnish team Jere Lassila arrived at the interview looking really disappointed.
– The game wavered a lot and the guy was able to turn it around for himself. It’s really sad. The game was in our hands, formulated Lassila in an interview with Urheilu.
Finland started the match strongly by scoring two goals within ten minutes Rasmus Kumpulainen and Jani Nymanin with hits. The Czech Republic tied things up at 2-2, but the Young Lions quickly turned the game around to make it 5-2 in the second period.
– Bronze games are often such that both teams want a medal and the game fluctuates. We had a lot of strong moments when we were efficient, said the Finnish head coach Lauri Mikkola To .
Finland lost the semi-final 2–3 to the United States late on Thursday evening. So there was little recovery time for the bronze medal game.
However, the head coach and captain did not believe that fatigue and short recovery time contributed to the loss.
– You could always explain, but the fact is that you can do things well even when you are tired, said Mikkola.
– Isn’t everyone who leaves the tournament a bit heavy, but you can’t go behind it, Lassila underlined.
Mikkola: “Let’s talk in the booth and give perspective”
Head coach Mikkola estimated that the Czech Republic knew how to take advantage of Finland’s weak moments.
– The Czech Republic is a flow team. It smells blood and gets more frenzy from it. The strong belief was that we will win this. However, the Czech got a good grip and beat us to the punch.
According to Lassila, there was a quiet atmosphere in the booth after the match.
– We are really disappointed, a sad feeling. We have spent many years with the same guys and now this ends like this. Bitter taste, but a great group.
JYP striker Lassila was one of Finland’s best players and, for example, scored a great solo goal when Finland beat Slovakia 4–3 in the extra round on Tuesday.
– Yes, I have good memories of this tournament, even though the last game was like this.
According to Mikkola, the final match and the tournament are discussed thoroughly with the team.
– Surely this kind of game will remain in everyone’s mind, but the sun will rise tomorrow. The players return to their club teams and the games continue. Now we’ll talk in the booth and give this a perspective, Mikkola decided.