Can Finland upset Canada again?
Finland’s opening loss to the 5-2 Olympic winner, the Americans, did not create the best basis for Canada to meet on Saturday. If Finnish women want to do more than hopefully repeat the bronze medal they won in the 2018 Winter Games and the 2021 IIHF Women’s Ice World Championships, they have to get their attack to snap so they can’t get away 52-12.
“In the first and second episodes, we were not really there,” said Finnish captain Jenni Hiirikoski. “We didn’t win enough battles and loose discs. But we returned in the third installment and improved our game.
That might be a generous estimate, as the shots in the third set favor the U.S. 19-5. Still, Finns must maintain an optimistic outlook in Beijing, despite the sudden circumstances.
In the latest development, Finland announced on Friday that Pasi Mustonen, head coach of the team from 2014-15, will return home due to his family’s health problems and will be replaced by Juuso Toivola, an assistant appointed as leader. coach after these Olympics.
Finland is definitely down against Canada with 85 losses, two wins and one draw in all-time national team matches, but the plot has thickened recently.
Since 2017, Finns have shocked Canada twice in their last six IIHF matches, including both the Olympic and Women’s World Cups. This includes a 4-3 group stage victory in the 2017 Women’s World Championships in Plymouth from Ronja Savolainen’s late finish and a 4-2 semi-final win in the Espoo 2019 Women’s World Championships, where Savolainen rose again with two goals and a pass. .
At the 2022 Olympics, Canada-Finland may be the most likely single group stage game to produce a legitimate shock. No other women’s hockey state can challenge the great powers of North America like Finland.
On the contrary, the latest data offers a shower of cold reality. The Canadians – defending the 2021 Calgary World Championships in Women – not only beat Switzerland 12-1, but also convincingly swept the Finns in a three-match show series in Helsinki and Turku in November (4-2, 8-0, 5-1).
Finns are unlikely to win against Canada or the United States unless they score two or fewer goals. Most notably, they made it to the video review of the Americans being knocked out in the World Cup finals 2019, even though the winner of Petra Nieminen’s 2-1 sudden death was disputed and Finland lost in the penalty shootout.
In Beijing, everyone is looking at Finnish goalkeeper Mustonen after a surprising decision to exclude four-time Olympic winner Noora Raty from the list. Realistically, against the United States, Anni Keisala – selected as the best goalkeeper and star in the tournament at the last World Cup – played 47 times compared to the previous time Raty faced the Americans in the Olympics (33 fights in 2018 with a 5-0 semi-final loss).
However, it was not Keisala’s best outing. In the first episode, 24-year-old Ilves ’net guard seemed to be guarded when Amanda Kessel cut the net to open the goal and when Alex Carpenter’s 2-0 power game hit his short side less than two minutes later, even though he had little defense. However, U.S. captain Kendall Coyne Schofield’s two goals and Carpenter’s tight bend to 5-1 readings were fantastic games for which the Keisala had little chance. You could not tie this loss to the goalkeeper.
– Of course, there is room for improvement, but I think we worked hard and tried to implement what we talked about, said Minttu Tuominen, the fourth defender playing at the Olympics.
Finland’s biggest plus in the attacks was getting a two-thirds power game goal from Susanna Tapan, even though it was too little, too late. But they still need more out of Michelle Karvinen, who has not scored a goal in the IIHF race after a 3-1 win in the 2019 semifinal Czechs. Tapani, Karvinen and Petra Nieminen’s top line needs more secondary support overall, even though the power game stays hot. That line offered seven of Finland’s 12 opening shots.
Disciplinedly, Savolainen should look at his steps after Thursday’s game. After losing the scoring spot, a talented, aggressive 24-year-old defender stumbled upon superstar Brianna Decker with her left leg behind the net, and the three-time U.S. Olympic champion was stretched due to a lower body injury. Decker will miss the other Olympics.
Savolainen has been a magnet for this type of case in the recent history of IIHF, both at the delivery and reception end.
In the 2018 semi-finals, then-US captain Meghan Duggan nailed the Finn’s knee in the extended first period and he jumped off even if he returned in the middle frame. In the 2019 semi-finals, Savolainen pushed Blayre Turnbull from behind to the boards, and the Canadian not only dropped but also lost the bronze medal 7-0 from Russia. Oddly enough, none of these cases resulted in penalties or bans.
It seemed that the Finns were hanging and the US rose after hearing Decker’s pain cries. For NHL fans, it reminded them of the pace at which the Boston Bruins reacted after Vancouver Canucks defender Aaron Rome’s open ice hit that knocked Nathan Horton out of the 2011 Stanley Cup final. Finns must show greater flexibility.
The Canadian team may, of course, face its own significant injury problem. Melodie Daoust, MVP and scorer of the 2021 Women’s Worlds (12 points), left the opening game midway and did not return after receiving a hard illegal hit from Swiss Sarah Forster.
Still, there is so much depth in Canada that – with or without Daoust – the Finnish shock on Saturday still seems unlikely. Look, for example, at the remarkable serenity of its Olympic newcomer “Princeton pair,” 21-year-old striker Sarah Fillier and 24-year-old defender Sarah Thompson.
They may not be as famous as other Princeton alumni, such as Jeff Bezos and Michelle Obama, but Fillier made his mark early in Canada’s first two goals against Switzerland, and Thompson scored a staggering five points.
Star blueliner Renata Fast praised Fillier’s debut: “Talk about getting into the Olympics.
“In front of Kiers and the seas just seemed to stand out and I made my shots,” Fillier said of his second goal scored by captain Marie-Philip Poulin. Fillier is already predicted to be Poulin’s heir.
Veteran leaders like Natalie Spooner (2 + 3 = 5), Rebecca Johnston (1 + 3 = 4) and Blayre Turnbull (2 + 2 = 4) would also dazzle at the big evening. Canada really fired all the cylinders when it beat Switzerland 70-15.
Finland’s best hope for the A-block shock to cope here is if Canada lulls itself into a false sense of security. That seems unlikely to the relentless crew of coach Troy Ryan. But the honest truth is that no coach wants to win 12-1 from a psychological standpoint. If the Swiss had retreated harder on the first day with Canada playing just as well and even kept the score at 5-1, it would naturally inspire a greater sense of urgency going forward.
The Finns could not defeat Canada in their last official match at the 2021 Women’s World Cup, but Finland beat two early puck past goalkeeper Ann-Renee Desbiens and fell 5-3. No other country – except the Americans in the finals – ever managed to lead Canada in that tournament.
Such small crumbs of hope must sustain the Finns as they face a Canadian team that looks much more energetic than the one they shocked in the semi-finals of the 2019 World Cup.