With Alexander Ruuttu it might not be so much about how good he’s at the moment, but how good he could become if things work out. He still has a lot of work ahead of him and he’s far from a sure thing, but he has a good foundation to build on. He’s a competitive and smart player, a good skater and strong in face-offs. He plays a fairly straightforward game and is a pretty good checker, his style of play should be fitting for North American rinks. He has grown a lot during the last year or so. Getting bigger and stronger has helped his game, and improved his confidence and courage on the ice. He’s still a pretty scrawny kid, so once he gets more strength he’ll probably be a difficult player to play against. I’m not sure if I’d rank him as highly as Central Scouting has, but I can live with it.
As far as Mustonen goes, he might be a slightly better player than Ruuttu is at the moment. That just based on the J20 SuperElit Semi-Finals and Finals that were streamed online. Mustonen is a smaller player, which might be one of the reasons that he’s ranked below Ruuttu.
Thank you very much. This is exactly what I was looking for.
As it stands at the moment, Fasthockey.com has tonight's WU18C's Canada-Finland match on their schedule. The "NOT BROADCAST ON FASTHOCKEY" tag that previously was there has been removed.
Registration is required and one game credit costs 6.99$ = roughly 5€. The picture quality is usually pretty weak and I'm not sure if they'll have commentary in this game, but if you are desperate like me, this could be your only option seeing the game without taking a flight to Germany.
is there anyway Mika Zibanejad could play for finland if he so wishes too?? he has a finnish parent and i know he was born in sweden and he's played for sweden u18
is there anyway Mika Zibanejad could play for finland if he so wishes too?? he has a finnish parent and i know he was born in sweden and he's played for sweden u18
Well I'm pretty sure he considers himself Swedish first and foremost, anyways he just represented Sweden in a IIHF sanctioned event so he's committed to only playing for them for the foreseeable future.
Well I'm pretty sure he considers himself Swedish first and foremost, anyways he just represented Sweden in a IIHF sanctioned event so he's committed to only playing for them for the foreseeable future.
yeah i dont think he would change national teams just wondered if he was able too
Change of national eligibility (The ‘four-year’ case)
A player, who has previously participated in IIHF competition, can switch national eligibility (but only once in a player's life) if:
He is a citizen of the new country of his choice
He has participated for at least four consecutive years in the national competitions of his new country, during which period he has neither transferred to another country nor played ice hockey within any other country and has not played for his previous country in an IIHF competition during this four year period.
He has an international transfer card (ITC) that shows the transfer to the national competition of his new country and which was approved and dated at least four years before the start of the IIHF competition in which he wishes to participate.
Sami Aittokallio, Ilves
Christopher Gibson, Chicoutimi Sagueneens
Henri Auvinen, JYP
Jani Hakanpää, Blues
Valtteri Hietanen, JYP
Konsta Mäkinen, Ilves
Olli Määttä, JYP
Julius Nyqvist, HIFK
Patrik Parkkonen, Medicine Hat Tigers
Simo-Pekka Riikola, KalPa
Miro Aaltonen, Blues
Joel Armia, Ässät
Joonas Donskoi, Kärpät
Mikael Granlund, HIFK
Markus Granlund, HIFK
Petteri Halinen, JYP
Mikael Kuronen, Ilves
Otto Paajanen, HPK
Mika Partanen, Missisauga St. Michael's Majors
Teemu Pulkkinen, Jokerit
Teemu Rautiainen, HPK
Alexander Ruuttu, Jokerit
Miikka Salomäki, Kärpät
Simon Suoranta, Kärpät
Oui, but try to understand my frustration. Most of our skilled young forwards look like they are part of the Japanese national team. Rajala (5'10''), Mi.Granlund (5'10''), Pulkkinen (5'10), Rautiainen (5'7''), Ma. Granlund (5'10''), Järveläinen (5'6''), Torniainen (5'10'') Teräväinen (5'10''), J. Ikonen (5'6''), Tanus (5'7''), Lehkonen (5'9'')... There's plenty of skill, but most of them won't top the average height of Finnish men under 30, which is 5'11''.
I noticed this trend as well, seems very strange to me for the reason you mentioned almost all seem to be under the average national height. In a country with a good amount of registered players and the sport being very popular, you would think they could muster some more physically able forwards.
It will be very interesting to see Barkov and Tanus next season playing. Btw, do you guys think that Barkov could already play with the Finland's U20 team?
Has anyone ever seen Ville Ahlgren play? If so, anyone have a scouting report? I don't know how highly touted he is but he is likely coming to play this year in the USHL. Thanks.
I noticed this trend as well, seems very strange to me for the reason you mentioned almost all seem to be under the average national height. In a country with a good amount of registered players and the sport being very popular, you would think they could muster some more physically able forwards.
I believe we tried that for couple years, and well... we didn't have a player drafted in the first round in four years (2006-09).
Not sure if this is the right thread but Jokerit A-juniors beat Jokipojat (Mestis side, Tier 2) 2-1 in an exhibition game. Jokerit second line had players aged 15, 16 and 16. Plus Joonas Korpisalo was reportedly stellar in goal. Tomek Valtonen is going to be a really good coach someday, if he's this good with juniors.
Not sure if this is the right thread but Jokerit A-juniors beat Jokipojat (Mestis side, Tier 2) 2-1 in an exhibition game. Jokerit second line had players aged 1, 16 and 16. Plus Joonas Korpisalo was reportedly stellar in goal. Tomek Valtonen is going to be a really good coach someday, if he's this good with juniors.
Where would one find lineups for this game? Would be interesting to see the names
Who is this Timi Lahtinen and on what basis has he been chosen in the U18 team when he's still eligible for the U17.
Having not yet seen him play, I would imagine he was impressive, or at least intriguing at Young Lions and 182/88 as a 16-year-old, particularly when the team has featured many talented smaller players in recent seasons, probably was a factor.
Having not yet seen him play, I would imagine he was impressive, or at least intriguing at Young Lions and 182/88 as a 16-year-old, particularly when the team has featured many talented smaller players in recent seasons, probably was a factor.
Teräväinen - Barkov - J.Ikonen was the 1st line at the Hlinka Memorial tournament and barring injuries there’s no reason for the coaching staff to change that for the upcoming WU18C’s in April. They have an option to form the other 3 lines around proven duos that work well in Jr.A; Artturi Lehkonen-Rasmus Kulmala (TPS), Topi Nättinen-Samu Markkula (JYP) and Jonatan Tanus-Henrik Haapala (Tappara). These players are on the smaller side, so it could be beneficial to complete these duos with bigger and hopefully stronger players. Henri Ikonen will certainly be one of those players and Saku Salminen could very well be another one.
I’m thinking that the line-up could be something like this if Olli Määttä is still playing OHL play-offs:
Teuvo Teräväinen - Aleksander Barkov - Juuso Ikonen
Henri Ikonen - Rasmus Kulmala - Artturi Lehkonen
Henrik Haapala - Jonatan Tanus - Saku Salminen
ForwardX - Topi Nättinen - Samu Markkula
ForwardY
Esa Lindell - Ville Pokka
Mikko Vainonen - Matias Pulli
Mikko Lehtonen - Rasmus Ristolainen
Niklas Tikkinen - (Atte Mäkinen)
Henri Kiviaho/Atte Tolvanen/Joonas Korpisalo
Janne Juvonen/Jean Auren/Oskari Setänen
---
Timi Lahtinen could be one of the many candidates to fill one of those remaining roster spots. I’ve only seen one Jr.A game from him so far this season, so I’m not that familiar with his game, but he has a big body, skates quite strongly on a straight line, showed some effective forechecking as a member of a unit and had enough skill to create some offense from the turnovers that they caused. He could be a serviceable 4th line winger for that team.
Korpisalo and Auren have so far been the netminders for the U18 national team, but personally I’ve been more impressed with how Kiviaho and Tolvanen have played in Jr.A, so hopefully they also get their chance to play on the international level. To make things even more unclear, Oskari Setänen has finally recovered from his injury, so I guess he’s also one of the candidates for net alongside with Janne Juvonen.
Kapanen seems to be a serious force in that tournament. GWG and an assist in the opening game; the goal to make it a 2-2 tie, the GWG and an assist in a tight win against Russia.
Our 1996s will play for gold medal this year, so congrats! Obviously there's been a lot of buzz around our 95s (Barkov, Ristolainen, Lehkonen, Ikonen etc) and some around Julius Nättinen (-97) and Jesse Puljujärvi (-98). But at least for me, our U16s have been under the radar the whole year. So, are there any kids with GranlundArmiaBarkov-potential in that age group? Here's Pohjola-leiri's All Stars:
G: Joonas Harald (Pelicans)
D: Joni Tuulola (HPK)
D: Jaakko Hälli (HC Nokia / Tappara) MVP
F: Manu Honkanen (TPS)
F: Miikka Pitkänen (KalPa)
F: Joel Kiviranta (Jokerit)
I've heard some good things about Tuulola and Hälli but that's it. Although Kapanen wasn't selected in the All Star Team, he's been Finland's best player at the Youth Olympics.
Plus Joonas Korpisalo was reportedly stellar in goal. Tomek Valtonen is going to be a really good coach someday, if he's this good with juniors.
