WC: May 3 GDT - Switzerland vs. Finland

http://www.iihf.com/Hydra/Tournaments_07/output/WS/hydra.iihf.com/113/

Unfortunately Jarkko Ruutu isn't in the lineup so it will most likely be about as boring as the afternoon airing time would indicate. Aki Berg is still there though. :sarcasm:

Ruutu is the 13th forward, he will probably see little icetime. He is not needed for this kind of game. He is needed against better opponents. See his icetime increased big time against sweden.

Ruutu is the 13th forward, he will probably see little icetime. He is not needed for this kind of game. He is needed against better opponents. See his icetime increased big time against sweden.

This reminds me, didn't J.Ruutu have a little scrum with Hedström in the 2005 Vienna tournament?

This reminds me, didn't J.Ruutu have a little scrum with Hedström in the 2005 Vienna tournament?

Yeah I think it was Hedström. At least he did tell some swede to come settle things and gave his hotel room number.

I wonder if Hedström took that as a threat, or a date offer :D

Yeah I think it was Hedström. At least he did tell some swede to come settle things and gave his hotel room number.

I wonder if Hedström took that as a threat, or a date offer :D

Will be interesting to see them both on the ice on sunday, nevertheless. :yo:

Will be interesting to see them both on the ice on sunday, nevertheless. :yo:

It certainly will :handclap:

Lehtonen is still questionable for todays game. I think he should be our 1st goalie.

I expet alot from our first and third line. Kontiola has been brilliant so far. He's big, strong has a good hockey sence and can feed his wingers.

I really hope the Swatches play their best game so far and will give the Nokias hard time. That will help us when we meet the Ikeas.

J. Ruutu is loading his batteries for Hedström...

I expet alot from our first and third line. Kontiola has been brilliant so far. He's big, strong has a good hockey sence and can feed his wingers.
If only he could also score goals. Still happy with his play though.

Hopefully Suomi plays like they did in 3rd period against Russians. D has to improve a lot.

Hopefully Suomi plays like they did in 3rd period against Russians. D has to improve a lot.

They should beat Sui even with their B game

Unfortunately Jarkko Ruutu isn't in the lineup so it will most likely be about as boring as the afternoon airing time would indicate. Aki Berg is still there though. :sarcasm:

I'm glad that Jarkko Ruutu is not playing, he is anyway good for nothing. He only receives unnecessary match penalties.

Lehtonen in goal and one huge save from defensive blunder. PP coiming up.

The first PP of the Finns wasn't convincing, I hope they will improve.

An early impression: not many lessons learned since the game with Russia

Koivu and Kontiola with good chances, no goals. Seems like Finns are shying away from physical contact, no hitting at all.

Koivu and Kontiola with good chances, no goals. Seems like Finns are shying away from physical contact, no hitting at all.

For what Koivu received 10 minutes is a mystery for me.

Said something to the ref

Said something to the ref

Yeah.

Finns dont look strong, but im sure they will improve.

Yeah.

Finns dont look strong, but im sure they will improve.

I hope so, they especially have to improve the precision by the shots and passes in the powerplay. The first powerplay was not good.

So far the shots have been harmless.

Guess Demitra taugh him some cussing.

Will be interesting to see them both on the ice on sunday, nevertheless. :yo:

As interesting as seeing Martha Stewart in the ring with Mike Tyson :)

Is this game broadcasted somewhere on the net?

http://myp2p.eu/NHL.htm doesn't work for me >-<

It seems that the Finns need a special training in shooting. So far the shots have been with no precision and power, just harmless.

ah found it ^^

The swiss don't look like the team that got whipped by sweden. they look alright.

Finland looks disinterested.

I am not sure the Finnns are sure they need points from this game.....

Can't they just put some effort in it for one shift and score a goal? :/

I was wondering what the swiss player was doing alone in front of the finnish goal but then I realized that Berg was on ice again.

The swiss seem to be waking up...

At least the scrubs who can't be sure they get to play that much should show some will...
Pärssinen, Kallio etc.

Nummelin with some nice agressivity, loved the elbowing in the face ^^

and he gets called for... Holding!

There was 3-4 things he could've gotten the call for.

Nice to see him want to win this one though, had a nice slapper in the Swiss zone less than a minute earlier.

Only 2mins for Nummelin? :sarcasm:

The swiss seem to be waking up...
Nice movement on the Swiss pp, if they just could get their passing a bit more precise it would be really dangerouse.

The swiss have the old-styled Bengt-Åke PP. Finland usually has problems with this kind of collapsing Umbrella type of PP.

YLE's internet broadcast is without picture right now, great..

Can't they just put some effort in it for one shift and score a goal? :/

As long the Finns shoot all the time directly against the stomach of Hiller, they will never score.

Kari Lehtonen! :bow:

So calm!

Team Switzerland is a good team, they can even afford to keep their only world class player (Canadien David Aebischer) on bench. I don't know what the score is but I think they're going to win easily:handclap:

Team Switzerland is a good team, they can even afford to keep their only world class player (Canadien David Aebischer) on bench. I don't know what the score is but I think they're going to win easily:handclap:

If Finland would try, they wouldn't have a chance in heck.

Their passing seems worse than ever, and no superb technique and skating shows like they use to have.. Did their confidence go away with the sweden game?

Any other internet broadcast playing right now? YLE is ****ed up

Lehtinen and Kontiola look like they're born to play on the same line, some nice passing.

Any other internet broadcast playing right now? YLE is ****ed up

download tvants.

here is the broadcast for tvants:
tvants://www.tvants.com/tvants/?k=18e597d5ead42950b2408963b11e2800

Any other internet broadcast playing right now? YLE is ****ed up

Something wrong with your TV?

Team Switzerland is a good team, they can even afford to keep their only world class player (Canadien David Aebischer) on bench. I don't know what the score is but I think they're going to win easily:handclap:

Actually, Hiller is a (at least currently) better keeper than Aebischer.

Heard the swedish commentators ponder if the coach put Aebischer against sweden to keep Hiller fresh for this fight.

And after yesterday and this game so far I don't think we'll see Aebischer any more this tournament.

Miki Koivu is looking hungry. But needs to skate more.

Söderholm 2min for holding

The swiss look WJC-calibre when it comes to the physical play.

Miki Koivu is looking hungry. But needs to skate more.

Will he get food then? :dunno:

Jere Lehtinen with a nice breakaway on the PK, Hiller with the stick save.

Something wrong with your TV?

YLE is showing the game in digi-side, and I don't have a digibox, hence i too need to watch via YLE internet stream.

Something wrong with your TV?

No, im watching USA-SVK from there, cause i dont see YLE extra channel or what ever it's name is these days.

in short, i dont have a digibox :)

Will he get food then? :dunno:

No, but maybe a goal ;)

If Finland would try, they wouldn't have a chance in heck.

Their passing seems worse than ever, and no superb technique and skating shows like they use to have.. Did their confidence go away with the sweden game?

Tournament hockey can generate some strange games.

It's hard to believe that this is the same Swiss team that got steam rolled yesterday.

Is there anything to gain for Finland if they don't win? :)

Tournament hockey can generate some strange games.

It's hard to believe that this is the same Swiss team that got steam rolled yesterday.

Is there anything to gain for Finland if they don't win? :)

Finns usually don't throw games to gain something, we leave that for the swedes ;)

I can't believe it's the third period and the finns haven't gotten any goals.

Finns usually don't throw games to gain something, we leave that for the swedes ;)

But that's the point, isn't it? Sweden throw games away when it gives us some kind of advantage. The finnish team has got it all wrong. ;)

But that's the point, isn't it? Sweden throw games away when it gives us some kind of advantage. The finnish team has got it all wrong. ;)

:biglaugh:

Seriously though finns look lazy and seems to be inept to generate anything.

Did Finland just clear the puck out of the swiss zone? O_o

Finns usually don't throw games to gain something, we leave that for the swedes ;)


Exactly.
And guess who got the easiest ride to the final and won it? :)

"In war and love, everything is permitted", and hockey is kind of but war and love at the same time :)

Exactly.
And guess who got the easiest ride to the final and won it? :)

"In war and love, everything is permitted", and hockey is kind of but war and love at the same time :)

No need to remind us how the final went:cry:

The swiss seems contempt on just having a wall on their own blueline.
Nice play by Kontiola.

Exactly.
And guess who got the easiest ride to the final and won it? :)

"In war and love, everything is permitted", and hockey is kind of but war and love at the same time :)

Yeah nothing really wrong in being smart. We'll start throwing games too to gain when the coaching staff is changed.

I hope Norrena is watching closely, he must be wondering how its possible to move from side to side like Lehtonen. Thank GOD we have our #1 goalie set now.

As long as we don't face the Czechs in the quarter finals we'll be fine.


PP chance for the finns.

Our pp looks terrible.

What is wrong with the Finns today? They play an awful powerplay!

This game freaking sucks!

About frickin time!
Goal!!!!!!!!

Guess twice who did it ;)
T.Ruutu once again with an important goal.

Finally a dirty goal.

Tuomo RUUUTU!

Probably just to prevent anyone to ask for refunds on their tickets.

The Russian commentator just cracked: "50 men worked hard for this sole goal for 50 mins, and finally they succeded"

The Russian commentator just cracked: "50 men worked hard for this sole goal for 50 mins, and finally they succeded"

Who were the ones who were working hard? O_o

bookmakers?

Edit: I am guessing it is the russian definition of working hard. (J/K)

Good play by M.Koivu, way to get a stupid penalty.

T.Ruutu with a questionable penalty.

Gotta love Kari's way of following the game.

T.Ruutu with a questionable penalty.

Yeah they forgot to tell the players "ABSOLUTELY NO HITTING, EVER!"

Who were the ones who were working hard? O_o

bookmakers?

Edit: I am guessing it is the russian definition of working hard. (J/K)

Well, maybe a mistranslation on my part, "labouring" a better word. The connotation is to drudge.

Just used 5 min to find smiley about ZZZZZ but i found this instead.

:grinch:

How boring a hockey game can be?

And one of the russian commentators sounds like Ray Romano.

You can tackle more in a Floorball game than this...

Swiss don't want to play pp.

How stupid can Hentunen be?
Breakaway on an empty goal and he goes offside.

And Peltonen with an empty-netter. We win but this was embarrasing.

Wow, what a goal :yo: :yo:

They played Finntroll after the goal.:D

The good thing is that the next game the lions will play is a bit more high profile :)

Just let us dust of the danes first, then let the battle commence :)

This game made me go :shakehead

They did the necessary, nothing more.

I am just getting really sick and tired of the refereeing. You can hold and grab, but all clean hits are banned. This is supposed to be HOCKEY world championships. Not bandy.

Ok, 2-0 for Finland!

But it wasn't a good game of Finland, in my opinion the best Finn was Kari Lehtonen, solid and no mistake.

I hope it was just a bad day of the Finns.

Yeah, refereeing must explain today's exciting show

Yeah, refereeing must explain today's exciting show

As usually you misinterpret hes message so you had something to say.

Every tackle where the receiver falls seems to be illegal. The referees should let them play.

I am just getting really sick and tired of the refereeing. You can hold and grab, but all clean hits are banned. This is supposed to be HOCKEY world championships. Not bandy.

I was just about to write the same sentence, but you were quicker.

Still I'm pretty satisfied with Kari Lehtonen. He was solid. It was a hard game coz Switcherland was just defending their zone. Pretty boring game. Tuomo Ruutu scored a BIG goal, but Pärssinen-Hentunen-Kapanen line was really out of order. In this kind of game you just have to dump the puck to the net and crash the net. You can't play pretty tick-tack-to when other team is just defending with 5 players.

I am just getting really sick and tired of the refereeing. You can hold and grab, but all clean hits are banned. This is supposed to be HOCKEY world championships. Not bandy.

True in general, but Ruutu's hit didn't look that clean.

Leading with his elbow and both skates of the ice.
Not saying that he actually hit with that elbow, nor jumped in.

There is loads of calls being because it 'looks' dirty.
But players must learn to tuck their elbows in when they hit, or they'll get the false call. To his defense I'd add that if you are losing your balance the natural reaction is to bring your elbows up to regain the balance or control the fall.

And they have to keep their sticks off the other players midriff, or they will get a false call.

Unless you are blind you should be able to know where the other player is without resting your stick on him. But we see that all the time, D skating to contain a puck carrier, keeping his stick just touching the other's midriff.
And of course, if the player is tired or whatever, he'll flop and it'll look like a hooking.

I agree that there is tons of craptastic calls every game.
But it isn't just the refs that are stupid, the players need to shape up to.

They did the necessary, nothing more.

I am just getting really sick and tired of the refereeing. You can hold and grab, but all clean hits are banned. This is supposed to be HOCKEY world championships. Not bandy.

I agree 100%

Some refs allow big hits, while others give penalties from them. This has to change, or we're in big trouble.

:shakehead

Awful game. Finland found almost no tools to open the Swiss trap and when they were able to create scoring chances the shots were weak and missed the killer instinct. Shooting is one of the biggest weakness of our team overall.

Also our centers are far from the level of a finalist team. Koivu took really stupid penalties and was not even close to the expectations. Kontiola had some good tricks, but missed a lot of good scoring chances, lacked attitude in the defensive zone (lost his player totally in the 2nd period) and seemed not to see anyone else than himself on the ice (same goes with Bergenheim). Kapanen was a reliable 3rd line center. IMO we must put T. Ruutu to play center, because we need at least one quality center and especially leadership.

Kukkonen was the only Dman able to play on the same level throughout the game. Nummelin was good on the PP, but lost a lot of pucks on own end. Mäntylä, Saravo, Söderholm were more or less one second late in every opening pass. Berg was lost again - totally.

Only Kari Lehtonen was really impressive and took a big step ahead of Norrena towards the starter's role in the decisive games.

True in general, but Ruutu's hit didn't look that clean.


I guess you have to see it again. :)

:shakehead

Kukkonen was the only Dman able to play on the same level throughout the game. Nummelin was good on the PP, but lost a lot of pucks on own end. Mäntylä, Saravo, Söderholm were more or less one second late in every opening pass. Berg was lost again - totally.


Nummelin was good also on 5 on 5. He lost puck few times but he is alot more better with puck than any other d-man on our squad. He is (like Alpo Suhonen said) at the moment our best player.

He is (like Alpo Suhonen said) at the moment our best player.

He is not the best, but one of the most important players for our team in the long run, because we lack shooting skill from the blueline. That's why we are using the famous rebound goal and traffic specialist Pekka Saravo on the second PP in front of the net.

The best player for our team is at the moment Kari Lehtonen.

Today everyone was so disinterested. In the first period our best playmaker was J. Ruutu, and he also earned us that penalty ( with a dive :D ) in the 3rd that got us the goal. So people like Den can keep on asking why he is playing....

Lehtonen was my favourite for #1 goalie and now it should be clear to Erkka also. Ruutu brothers, Lehtonen and Lehtinen were the only ones who seemed a bit interested in playing today. Even Nummelin was surprisingly disinterested and only did few things good.

But still no worries. Canada does the same often...they play lame games against the weaker teams and everyone worries about them, but when the going gets tough, the tough get going. It'll be fine.

He is not the best, but one of the most important players for our team in the long run, because we lack shooting skill from the blueline. That's why we are using the famous rebound goal and traffic specialist Pekka Saravo on the second PP in front of the net.

The best player for our team is at the moment Kari Lehtonen.

Kari Lehtonen was the best player for this match, but if we look back to some past games like game against Ukraine and game against Denmark I would lift Nummelin as our best and key player. He's scored few important goals and he is the only one playing at his own level at the moment. And the fact is that he is our scoring leader and after this game he is 4rd at the scoring leaders list.

But still no worries. Canada does the same often...they play lame games against the weaker teams and everyone worries about them, but when the going gets tough, the tough get going. It'll be fine.

This is true. Play well when it really matters. Win the important games.

Tuomo :yo:

This game was as boring as can be.

But I still saw a couple good things today.

1. We now have a clearcut #1 goalie. Lehtonen was very impressive today. And I just love his relaxed attitude that really shows when he's beeing interviewed. No wonder they call him the big calm.

2. We got 3 points, doesn't matter how you get them. This is what I like about Finland today, just like Canada always does, we only did what was neccessary to get 3 points. Nothing more nothing less.


I'm already looking forward to the Sweden game which, in the words of the great Don Cherry, I think will be a real "ding-donger". I like Finland's chances since Swedens' goaltending is highly suspect, and they haven't played a real game yet this tournament.

2. We got 3 points, doesn't matter how you get them. This is what I like about Finland today, just like Canada always does, we only did what was neccessary to get 3 points. Nothing more nothing less.

What worries me is that Team Finland seemed not to be able to do more. It was not about the lack of the attitude, but the lack of a game system itself. There was no "only" in the battle today. We had to fight our best to get the win.

I hope that we are more prepared for the games later in the tournament or this song ends shortly.

Boring game with bad ref. Swiss had a great chance for a big win there, good thing Lehtonen was in net. It's up to players and coaching staff to bring some life to this team, I mean they cant play any worse can they?

I mean they cant play any worse can they?

Once again I would like to remind that big reason why Finns didn't win by 5-6 goals was the Switzerlands tactic and defence. We didn't make that kind of mistaked like we did against Russia. We had quite solid defence and good goaltending. Only few mistaked on our own zone, and we had 5-10 mistakes against Russia.

Give credit to Switzerland, they had solid defence and the defended well with 5 players. As you can see from Germany-Czech game, even the first seeded can loss.

Ah didnt mean to put Swiss down in any way. They played great game, tight defence, superb game from Hiller and safe plays out of their own zone worked. Played just like underdog should. They had 2-3 great chances to score but Lehtonen prevailed. It was a cointoss wich team wins by 2-0.

Team defence -> low scoring games have been our strengts in international tournaments of last. Sadly only Kukkonen in my eyes has been playing to his level on D (or the level required to be successful in international level). Its easy to see why PHI fans like him, nothing spectacular but gets the job done. Team has been chosen and theres not much that can change. Activating Laamanen doesnt help on defensive problems, Salo on the other hand would give us anchor on D and good shot for PP.

Guess I'm still hoping that Berg, Mäntylä, Söderholm, Saravo and Nummelin can raise their level of play.

The Swiss Team needs to finds it's offense. 4 goals, and they are still in race for the quarters... :shakehead

After the collapse vs. Sweden there were 2 Team meetings. Mark Streit actually yelled in the lockerroom after the 2nd period vs. Sweden.

The D feels more save with Hiller, so he'll start vs. Denmark, maybe Abby will play vs. Russia. Poor Abby, after his season w/MTL now this in the WC.

The Finns won cuz the Swiss can not score. Simple as that.

Guess I'm still hoping that Berg, Mäntylä, Söderholm, Saravo and Nummelin can raise their level of play.

I hope the same, but as I've said many times, Nummelin is on his level. He has never been good at the d-zone and he needs a good defensive d-men to pair him, but he is really good at offensive zone. He has smooth hands and good shot.

Berg should play like a big man, even Mäntylä is alot more physical than Berg. Saravo has been something I expected, but Söderholm plays like Berg. Berg-Söderhölm should raise their level. They should be ALOT more physical and alot more carefull with the puck. They can't give any good passes and they loose the puck quite alot at their own zone.

The Finns won cuz the Swiss can not score. Simple as that.

Quite true. A goal for Swiss would have been interesting factor for that game. As a Finn I'm satisfied with this result tought :)

The Finns won cuz the Swiss can not score. Simple as that.

The swiss were concentrating on not making this a blowout. That's why they didn't score. But with how Finland played, question is what would happened if they would've gone at it and trading chances...