Quote:
Originally Posted by transplant99
In the last 2 games they gave up 76 shots....and 1 goal.
Today they were outshot 44-22. It was a fire drill the last period...shots were 21-3 Canada.....Finland scored twice.
I mean congrats...the gold is theirs and no one can take that away, but come on with the "better team" thing.
Better goaltender? Absolutely and he is part of the team but that was the only spot in the lineup they were better.
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They beat Canada twice with a combined score of 6-2. Canada had a lot of pushback in the third and padded the shot counter but before that they had also slipped up defensively enough times to be down a goal. Canadian defense wasn't anything special.
Let's remember Canada was half a second away from losing to Switzerland too, again despite outshooting the opponent by a wide margin. I don't think that's an accident. Canada looked more dominating than they actually were, in both games.
Canada couldn't get to rebounds all game and had a hard time getting one-timers, redirections or screened shots. Finland scored with one-timers, rebounds and screened shots. Yes that's part luck as always in sports, but I'm not sure if there was a rebound goal scored against Finland in the tournament. That's not just goaltending, that's a good, dedicated defense... And muscle.
Finland had a strong team that skated well, protected their net with fury, played an absolutely relentless in-your-face game and most importantly worked hard, were completely committed to team play and never panicked when it mattered. Those are good, winning qualities, and while Canada had the edge in skill, that's the only area where they had the edge. They weren't faster, they barely matched Finland in physicality, they didn't play as well as a team, they didn't defend as well.
Whats also amazing was that despite their absolute focus and dedication, Finland at the same time played relaxed. There was an interesting comment in the Totally Ice Hockey podcast after the semifinals that on the bench the Canadians look dead serious and extremely stiff, everybody sitting in the exact same position, while the Finns bench looks quite chill and relaxed. That's a big edge, and the kind of thing that tends to make a difference when you have a scoring opportunity.
Yes, Canada was also good. Yes they could have won. Finland however did quite enough to give itself a chance to by doing a lot of things right, before we get to goaltending. It's not like Murray wasn't good too.