The Ice Hockey World Cup starts in less than a week, but the Lions have not impressed in the EHT upload. On Saturday afternoon, a faded Finland suffered a 1-2 loss against Switzerland.
Switzerland got a hole in the Lion defense even before five minutes had been played. Marco Miranda got a free position and put the puck up in the right cross behind goalkeeper Jussi Olkinuora.
Forward Harri Pesonen lost the puck in the offensive zone and defender Petteri Lindbohm was out on an offensive raid. Back Nikolas Matinpalo and center Antti Suomela then did not have time when Miranda stepped up the pace.
Finland’s only goal came late in the first period. A Swiss blunder by NHL defender Janis Moser behind the own goal gave another NHL defender, Olli Määttä, a good shooting position and it was tied at 1-1.
The winning goal came when 24.49 had been played. Lindbohm lost the marker in front of his own goal and Calvin Thürkauf was able to steer the puck in undisturbed from close range. Olkinuora had no chance on goal.
Olkinuora gets full credit for his effort between the posts.
– They didn’t have many chances, but neither did we, Olkinuora summarizes the match in Discovery’s interview.
“The offensive was weak”
It was a pale and offensively blunt Finland that did not impress. Switzerland won the shots on goal 23–14 and the victory was by no means undeserved.
– The offense was weak. It was noticed that we replaced six players. It is difficult to find the interaction, not least in the power play, says head coach Jukka Jalonen in Discovery’s interview.
Jalonen was asked how important the preparatory EHT matches really are.
– Of course they are important, above all in view of the team selection for the WC.
Finland’s lineup
Attack Chains:
Kasperi Kapanen – Sakari Manninen – Teemu Hartikainen
Harri Pesonen – Antti Suomela – Waltteri Merelä
Toni Rajala – Mikael Ruohomaa – Joel Armia
Jere Sallinen – Hannes Björninen – Marko Anttila
Back Pair:
Juuso Riikola – Mikael Seppälä
Olli Määttä – Valtteri Kemiläinen
Petteri Lindbohm – Nikolas Matinpalo
Niklas Friman – Miika Koivisto
Goalkeepers:
Jussi Olkinuora
(Emil Larmi)
Utanför laget: Christian Heljanko, Mikko Lehtonen, Atte Ohtamaa, Ville Pokka, Markus Granlund, Juho Lammikko, Ahti Oksanen.
Finland ends the EHT tournament with a match against Sweden on Sunday at 1 p.m. and after that the WC squad will be nailed down.
– Now we will look at the match and analyze. We get to judge who gets the chance to show off tomorrow, says Jalonen.
Förbundskaptene fick even queren om målvakten Christian Heljanko får trust in the goal. Emil Larmi and Olkinuora have stood in the first match.
– It is possible, but no decisions have been made.
On Friday at 4:20 p.m., the World Cup opener Finland-USA will be played.
Results
Switzerland–Finland 2–1 (1–1, 1–0, 0–0)
04.28 1–0 Marco Miranda (Dario Simion)
18.23 1–1 Olli Määttä
24.49 2–1 Calvin Thürkauf (Romain Loeffel, Gaetan Haas) PP
Goalkeepers:
Leonardo Genoni, SUI: 5+5+3=13
Jussi Olkinuora, FIN: 6+11+4=21
