The Finnish squad for the IIHF U18 World Championship tournament has been announced:
Goalies
1 Karri Rämö Pelicans 1986 6'2" 187 L
29 Tuukka Rask Ilves 1987 6'1" 163 L
2005 top prospect Rask will probably be the #1 goalie. Rämö made his SM-liiga debut with Pelicans late in the regular season and passed Aleksis Ahlqvist as the backup.
Defense
2 Tuomas Gärdström KooKoo 1986 6'2" 194 L
3 Antti Turunen JYP 1986 5'10" 181 L
4 Risto Korhonen Kärpät 1986 6'2" 190 L
5 Vesa Kulmala Jokerit 1986 5'6" 154 L
6 Teemu Laakso HIFK 1987 6'0" 181 R
7 Matti Pinomäki TPS 1986 5'7" 143 L
8 Jussi Ruohola HPK 1986 5'11" 174 L
Exactly the same defense that won the Viking Cup, minus Leppänen. Good size and two 2005 eligible top prospects in Laakso and Korhonen. Losing Leppänen and replacing him with another midget (I'm all for a Kulmala-Pinomäki pairing) hurts.
Forwards
9 Lauri Tukonen Blues 1986 6'2" 196 R
10 Mikko Alikoski Kärpät 1986 5'7" 172 L
11 Joni Finell Blues 1986 5'10" 170 L
12 Miika Lahti JYP 1987 6'0" 179 L
13 Petteri Wirtanen HPK 1986 6'0" 181 L
15 Jarmo Jokila TPS 1986 5'8" 176 L
16 Jari Sailio HPK 1986 5'10" 168 L
19 Jesse Joensuu Ässät 1987 6'3" 190 L
20 Antti Jaatinen Tappara 1986 6'1" 174 L
22 Janne Kolehmainen SaiPa 1986 6'3" 194 L
25 Miikka Tuomainen TuTo 1986 6'3" 209 L
26 Lauri Korpikoski TPS 1986 5'11" 168 L
27 Petteri Nokelainen SaiPa 1986 6'1" 190 R
The core of the Viking Cup team remains, but Nokelainen and Tukonen should add their flavour to the team. Korpikoski had a very good 4 Nations tournament in February.
Team Finland has been left without a medal for two years in a row, but this team should be able to change that.
Korkki 03-11-2004, 09:16 AM The Finnish squad for the IIHF U18 World Championship tournament has been announced:
Goalies
1 Karri Rämö Pelicans 1986 6'2" 187 L
29 Tuukka Rask Ilves 1987 6'1" 163 L
2005 top prospect Rask will probably be the #1 goalie. Rämö made his SM-liiga debut with Pelicans late in the regular season and passed Aleksis Ahlqvist as the backup.
It would be very hard to predict who will be the #1 goalie. In the Pori area tournament Rask was a lot better but what I heard from Pelicans - Ässät -game Rämö was very good. Rämö has a lot more experience, but does that count?
Jussi 03-11-2004, 10:09 AM Ah :) I love that we have these goaldtender "problems" on the jr teams too :)
Yes, it's a wonderfull Finnish tradition. :D
Pekka Lampinen 03-11-2004, 12:23 PM It would be very hard to predict who will be the #1 goalie. In the Pori area tournament Rask was a lot better but what I heard from Pelicans - Ässät -game Rämö was very good. Rämö has a lot more experience, but does that count?
He would've had to make the headlines to top Rask's recent performances. Rask has had a humane record in only one of the four games of the relegation series, he's keeping Ilves alive all by himself. It was Rämö vs. Ahlqvist all along.
Beyond that, there was no room for surprises. This is one of the least controversial national teams ever, as it was bound to be.
Korhonen - Leppänen
Laakso - Gärdström
Ruohola - Turunen
Kulmala
Nokelainen - Jokila - Tukonen
Alikoski - Wirtanen - Korpikoski
Tuomainen - Lahti - Joensuu
Finell - Kolehmainen - Jaatinen
Sailio
or something like that. It's impossible to say what becomes of the successful line combinations seen earlier this season (like the Tukonen-Korpikoski connection), so those lines are built according to the normal style-strength-ability tradition.
Stidi 03-11-2004, 02:29 PM I wonder if there is an opening for Aki Seitsonen if the raiders fall in the whl-playoffs...he would be a great no.1 or 2 center for the team.
One interesting note: Tukonen, Wirtanen, Sailio, Ruohonen and Seitsonen were all part of the same junior C team of Ahmat Hyvinkää (http://www.sm-liiga.fi/finhockey2/kokoonpanot_seura.asp?TID=801&joukkue=1792) back in the days.
I almost started complaining about Pasi Salonen not being on the team, but it then occured to me that he is too old.He could be a real sleeper in next years draft, as Finn's who can put the puck in the net are few and far between.
I almost started complaining about Pasi Salonen not being on the team, but it then occured to me that he is too old.He could be a real sleeper in next years draft, as Finn's who can put the puck in the net are few and far between.
I agreed that. I think he goes maybe 3-5 round but i think his potential is early 2 round.
Padawan 03-17-2004, 06:40 AM Erkka Leppänen is on the injured list for the rest of the season. He will have his shoulder operated today.
Korkki 03-17-2004, 07:02 AM Erkka Leppänen is on the injured list for the rest of the season. He will have his shoulder operated today.
Considering only the Pori area tournament this is not a big disappointment. However Leppänen has played good games according to reports.
EDIT: Continued after break... On Pori area tournament Leppänen was poor (in Finnish : paska). In the last game against USA I even thought can this guy skate at all or pass to the own guys...
Teemu Laakso has been out of the lineup since IFK's 3rd quarter final game against Blues Jrs. It's really going to hurt the team this year if two of the top three d-man are out.
Stidi 03-17-2004, 08:54 AM IMO the absence of Leppänen is a huge loss to the team. In the two games that i have seen him in, he has played pritty well. He has an amazing slapshot. To bad he will miss both the A-junior finals and the U18 wc`s. :cry:
Batkorny 03-29-2004, 02:24 PM Teemu Laakso has been out of the lineup since IFK's 3rd quarter final game against Blues Jrs. It's really going to hurt the team this year if two of the top three d-man are out.
How bad is Laakso injured?
Can he play in the U18 WC?
If not who will take his place? Koistinen (Tappara)? Turunen (JYP)?
Leppänen has been replaced by Matti Pinomäki of TPS (see details in the opening message), but Laakso is still listed on the finhockey.fi website, so I suppose his injury isn't tournament threatening.
Pekka Lampinen 03-30-2004, 02:12 AM Methinks Juho Mielonen wasn't tested enough during the season. Junior national teams don't take achievements in a younger age group into account much, perhaps worrying about team chemistry more. He could've added some size, but I do agree that on a U-18 team with a god between the pipes and exceptional talent up front the blueline's offensive talent is very important compared to brawn.
Jyssy 03-30-2004, 03:53 AM It sucks that Leppänen is injured. Very solid defenceman all around.
Gilgames 04-06-2004, 04:02 AM Team Finland and Team Sweden played two warm-up games at 3rd and 4th of April. Finland won the first one 4-1 and in the second game was a 2-2 draw.
Statistics and line-ups are available here
http://www.sm-liiga.fi/finhockey2/sjl_sarjaohjelma.asp?TID=1301
The most surprising detail is Finland's goalie selection. Karri Rämö played in both matches, while Viking Cup MVP Tuukka Rask was opening the hatch. Rämö has been great this season and especially spring but still I wouldn't believe that this would happen. Rask has hasn't played a game since the end of february so he should have been the one playing. Rämö played his latest game 20th of March. Of course there is a possibility that Rask is injured but atleast any information about that is not given.
Korkki 04-06-2004, 05:37 AM . Rämö has been great this season and especially spring but still I wouldn't believe that this would happen. Rask has hasn't played a game since the end of february so he should have been the one playing.
That's not correct. Rask played on junior A relegation series on 20th of March his last game. Last two games of Ilves were played with Krister Antila (younger brother of Edmonton "prospect" Kristian). Ilves secured its place in junior A SM-liiga so they could rest Rask and let Antila play last two games.
Got to admit that Rämö was good against Ässät seniors on SM-liiga, Rask wasn't that good against Ässät junior A:s on relegation playoffs.
Gilgames 04-06-2004, 08:32 AM Sorry, my mistake. I didn't remember Ilves was that bad this season so I didn't even check the relegation stats. :blush:
Panopticon 04-21-2004, 02:59 AM but Laakso is still listed on the finhockey.fi website, so I suppose his injury isn't tournament threatening.
It was, but thankfully he recovered. They had a replacement all the way through the camps in Vierumäki and Turku just in case. I hear they told the replacement he wasn't needed only a day before they flew to Minsk.
They took a risk with Laakso, but it seems to have worked out. He was on the ice during only 3 goals by the opponents and two of them were empty-netters. And he was the only defenceman on the scoring leaders top 30 list, thus winning the defencemen scoring stats with 2+4.
He got injured in the tournament a bit too. He dived in front of a russian slapshot and the result was quite painful. He played through the rest of the games with his right leg under local anesthesia, but it didn't seem to slow him down in the Belarus game.
BTW, what do you guys think of him? The leading defenceman scorer in the U18 championships and the Best Defender award winner from the Viking Cup (with more goals scored than anyone else in the finnish team in the cup. One of them was an empty-netter though) and yet he still can play with the U18 team next season. Does this guy maybe have a future?
He's maybe not as big as Risto Korhonen or some other players in the team, but he has good game reading skills and he can play physical if needed, too. If anyone watched the Viking Cup final broadcast they might know what I mean.
His current U18 national team stats are 6 goals and 5 assists in 20 games.
BTW, what do you guys think of him? The leading defenceman scorer in the U18 championships and the Best Defender award winner from the Viking Cup (with more goals scored than anyone else in the finnish team in the cup. One of them was an empty-netter though) and yet he still can play with the U18 team next season. Does this guy maybe have a future?
I dont now much about him but i am so glad that he is HIFK junior. I´m so thrilled when i going to see him playing SM-liiga maybe next year. If his not get ice time next year in SM-liiga, then i have to go look him to the A-juniors where his going to play most of 2004-2005 year, i think.
Panopticon 04-22-2004, 05:58 AM Here's a little article about Laakso that was on todays "Kiekkolehti":
Read it here (http://koti.mbnet.fi/hiv69/kiekkolehti.png). It's a PNG-image so it might not work for everyone.
There were other WJC-articles too, but the biggest one didn't fit into my scanner and I didn't feel like playing around with it so this will have to do. You can buy the magazine from somewhere, but I don't know where.
|