World Championships in Canada

[Hank W.]

Well in '65 they won Norway 4-1... As they won, I'll look for a cod with slight freezerburn. that game was a total clusterf* ... though Switzerland-Belarus was similarily a "supposedly" good vs a "supposedly" weak. That after-win partying...

[sisu power]

Wednesday's game against Slovakia will be the first game of the Finns that is shown on TV here in western Canada. The Stanley Cup playoffs are certainly at centre stage right now and I'm not hearing as much about this tournament as I would like. as the Canucks have a new general manager, Canuck talk still dominates the airwaves here even though we're not in the playoffs.

[Hank W.]

The Swiss team also seems to be a nice surprise.

[otyikondo]

The Swiss team also seems to be a nice surprise.

Hmm.. I'm not sure where you are getting that from, Hank. Switzerland have for some years now been a cut above the pisteautomaatti teams in the World Championships. They aren't quite up to the big boys yet, but they would normally thrash the fourth team in a group and quite possibly the third as well. They beat the Czechs and the Canadians in Torino, and have been 8th or 9th on a regular basis at the Worlds over the last ten years. File under "not quite ready for the majors", but "unlikely to get relegated anytime soon". In fact pretty much like Finland used to be, except that then Finland were sixth or seventh best, and there WERE only eight teams in it in those days, so there was more scope for getting the big drop...

[Hank W.]

Well... their goalie is a liimanäppi, and the defence plays well together, they're keeping the quality up.

[Hank W.]

Vastaus on Kanada!

...darn, that was a good game!

[Salopian]

Thoroughly enjoyable game - especially for a prelim match! Great final period and a nice finish to it, though OT wouldn't have been too bad a thing here.

[Hank W.]

En Finne igen

Eurooppalaisten kannattajien käytös on herättänyt ihastusta, mutta myös kummastelua Halifaxissa. Paikalliset ovat havainneet, että viinakauppojen tiskeillä on pitemmän jonot kuin jäähallin lippuluukuilla.

Latvialaisia Halifaxissa on toistatuhatta. Suomesta on saapunut Leijonia kannustamaan lähes tuhat kannattajaa, joista monille ottelutapahtumaa tärkeämpää on örvistellä näyttävästi kaupungilla.

[Mark I.]

USA - Canada was about best hockey entertainment one can hope for.

What's interesting about Canada's team: They have full pack of top-scorer star players, who are used to mainly score goals in their NHL teams - but they don't seem to have players that "take over the game". USA was holding the puck, passing nicely, thus creating much more scoring chances - but having less brilliant snipers.

USA showed Canada is beatable, vulnerable. Having said that, team USA is definitely not a push over either. I think Russia has the same vulnerability as Canada.

[Salopian]

The Swiss team also seems to be a nice surprise.

Yet another good finish to a match. And the Swiss march on! Beating Sweden 4-2 is not to be snorted at by any team. Great showing again.

But now it's on to the main event...

Edit: Whoops! 1-0

[Hank W.]

*phew* now that was a game... tomorrows Latvia ought to go as a training match, but the weekends matches against USA and Canada will show where the chicken pisses. Switzerland beating Sweden was something I wasn't expecting... they have some hopes against Denmark. Norway might give a good match against Canada today as well.

[Salopian]

So Norway slithered through on their scaled bellies in the last five minutes. Impressive. Not good for the Finnish points in Group F though, and it also means Slovakia aren't going to be around to take points off Canada and/or "US and A". But I suppose the North American fancy dans have to be dealt with properly at some point...

[sinikettu]

. And the Swiss march on! Beating Sweden 4-2 is not to be snorted at by any team.

And the Swedes got nasty towards the end of their match.
Their defenceman Niclas Wallin was slapped with a two-game suspension for a hit to the head on Switzerland's Roman Wick.
http://www.thelocal.se/11612/20080508/

[otyikondo]

Did I hear somewhere that the Canada-USA match also reduced the numbers of Team USA? I think they said Tim Thomas was out for the duration, and maybe a couple of others. Given the fact that Canada and the USA are probably going to roll over Norway and Germany and therefore rack up points, i guess Finland's chances of qualifying from this stage in anything but the nosebleed seats rather depends on stuffing both Canada and the US, especially since we're a point down on the Canadians at the moment.

Winning the group (fat chance), would at least give one a sporting chance of getting the Swiss in the quarters *under normal circumstances*, but since the cuckoo-clock brigade are doing so well and will probably thump Denmark, too, and so will have NINE points... there's always a chance ...dadadadadadaaaaa.. we could wind up with the Swedes in the last eight by winning our group.

Switzerland's odd position in that group (though I did warn you) makes it not totally out of the question that a team might want to lose so as to meet them rather than Russia or the Czechs or the Swedes (on the principle that lightning isn't going to KEEP striking in the same place).

Last period last night was quite fun. Basically the Slovak goalie could have gone for a pint or three and not missed much. He didn't have a single shot to save, and the only times I saw him he was drinking from the bottle on the top of the net.

[Mark I.]

Now that Saku Koivu is in team, it's interesting to see how lines form. It's already announced that Teemu and Saku will play together , but who is going to play right wing? I hope not Peltonen - they need a hard working, physical player there. So, my conclusion is definite: Mikko Koivu (though he usually plays center).

Then second line could be around OJ. If Peltonen plays left wing there, they also need some "worker" on right wing. Jussi Jokinen would perhaps do.

So, my lines:
Selanne - S.Koivu - M.Koivu
Peltonen - O-Jokinen - J.Jokinen
Ruutu - Kapanen - Bergenheim
then the 4th out of Pihlström, Hyvönen, Hahl, Pyörälä.

Defence is a real problem. and I don't even know those players, so cannot say anything.