Crippled by illness, Finland holds on to miracle victory

Finland celebrates their victory on Wednesday at the SaskTel Centre.

     Finland head coach Pasi Mustonen was still processing all that has happened to his team at the 4 Nations Cup women’s hockey tournament on the health front.

     Playing with 15 skaters - three short of the full complement of 20 - Finland jumped out to a 3-0 first period lead against Sweden and withstood a furious late third period comeback attempt to pull out a 3-2 victory on Wednesday afternoon at the SaskTel Centre. The win at the 4 Nations Cup allowed Finland to even its record at 1-1, while Sweden fell to 0-2.

    Finland pulled out victory despite the fact a flu bug has been dogging the team since falling 6-0 in a pre-tournament game against Canada on Sunday at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert.
    The Finns had 15 skaters and two goaltenders dressed, and if they were at full health, they could dress 20 skaters and three goalies under International Ice Hockey Federation rules.

    “We got a virus in Prince Albert together with the Canadian team,” said Mustonen. “We had 14 players that could play today. Eight of them were healthy.

Sweden goalie Maria Omberg stops Finnish winger Emma Nuutinen.

    “The rest of them have been vomiting yesterday or the night before.”

    Mustonen said four players in the team’s management group are ill, six players ill to an average degree and two are ill to an extreme degree. The bench boss bluntly spelled out how grave the situation is for his squad.

    “It was a surprise we could win,” said Mustonen. “We should have not won.

Netminder Jenna Silvonen makes a stop in goal for Finland.

    “Sweden should have beaten us easily. They didn’t. I’m satisfied with that.”

    None of the players from Finland came out for post-game interviews due to the illness situation on the team.

    Finland struck first at the 6:30 mark of the third period on a goal from star left-winger Venla Hovi. The Finns closed the opening frame scoring twice in the final 3:50 with goals coming from the sticks of Riikka Valila and Emma Nuutinen.

     After being outshot 19-8 in the opening frame by Finland, Sweden made a push back in the third period holding a 12-5 edge in shots on goal for that stanza. Finnish netminder Jenna Silvonen held the fort to ensure her side still had a three-goal edge heading into the second intermission.

Emma Nuutinen had the eventual winning goal for Finland.

    That set the stage for a frantic final three minutes of the third period. With 2:44 remaining in the frame, Swedish left-winger Lisa Johansson roofed home a shot to cut Finland’s lead to 3-1. Just 15 seconds after that tally, left-winger Hanna Olsson scored for Sweden to cut Finland’s lead to 3-2.

    Finland appeared to gain some breathing room, when centre Viivi Vainikka scored with 72 seconds to play in the third. Her goal was call off as the officials assessed a too many players on the ice penalty to Finland.

    Frantically, the Finns protected their one-goal edge until the clock expired.

Silvonen made 28 saves to pick up the win in goal for Finland. Maria Omberg turned away 28 shots to take the setback in Sweden’s net.

Sweden celebrates their second goal in their comeback attempt.

    “We do our very best,” said Mustonen. “Their spirit is there. I am glad.

    “Their spirit is there. The ladies showed great spirit. They keep on fighting, but there is no energy in their body.”

    Mustonen said he hadn’t seen anything like the flu bug his team is battling over the past 25 years he has been involved in the game of hockey. He said Finland assistant coach Kari Eloranta, who played in the 1980s for the NHL’s Calgary Flames, mentioned he hadn’t see anything like the illness epidemic plaguing Finland’s women’s team in the last 40 years he has been involved in the game.

    Mustonen said he team can play better than they have, if they were healthy, and noted this week might be a write off for his team.

Finland battles to keep the puck in the corner to preserve victory.

    “It is a pity to fly over here full of expectations to play good hockey against the North Americans,” said Mustonen. “All the time, somebody is falling out.”

    Sweden returns to action on Friday taking on the United States at 3 p.m. Finland faces Canada later on that same day at 7:30 p.m. Both games are at the SaskTel Centre.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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Playing women’s hockey powers always a learning experience for Finland

Netminder Noora Raty made 44 saves on Tuesday for Finland.

    Venla Hovi doesn’t shy away from the obvious, when it comes to Finland’s women’s national women’s hockey team.

    When her Finnish side plays either the United State or Canada, the veteran winger knows her side is in for a huge challenge. The odds of coming out with a win are heavily weighted in the favour of the two traditional powerhouse nations in women’s hockey.

    With that in mind, Hovi said gaining the experience of playing those two squads is always huge for the players that play for her country’s national team.

    “I think for a lot of players especially who play in the Swedish or in the Finnish league, the pace is obviously not like this,” said Hovi, who stands 5-foot-7. “It is kind of mental game to you know get your system going and knowing that you need to move the puck faster.

Brianna Decker had a goal for the United States.

    “You need to react faster all the time (and) have your head on a swivel to kind of know who is coming behind you. It is just mostly like mentally just preparing at the speed and pace will be faster than usual.”

    In the opening game of the 4 Nations Cup tournament on Tuesday afternoon at the SaskTel Centre, Finland took on the United States, but it took a while before the predictable result occurred.

    The Finns took a 1-0 lead at the 11:59 mark of the first period on a goal from Hovi’s line. Right-winger Emma Nuutinen came through with the goal, and centre Tanja Niskanen and defender Nelli Laitnen picked up the assists.

    Finland’s lead held up after the first period ended, where the United State held a 9-3 edge in shots on goal.

    In the second, the U.S.A. juggernaut awoke. The States score five times in the second period and cruised to a 5-1 victory.

    Dani Cameranesi, Sydney Brodt, Hilary Knight, Cayla Barnes and Brianna Decker all netted singles for the U.S.A.

The United States celebrates one of their second period goals.

    Noora Raty was sensational making 44 saves to take the setback in goal for Finland.

    Maddie Rooney turned away nine shots to pick up the win in goal for the States.

    Hovi, who helped the University of Manitoba Bisons women’s hockey team win a U Sports national title last March, said it was a big thing for her side to lead the game for as long as they did. The 31-year-old said you could tell the mood was possible for an upset the longer Finland stayed ahead.

    “Obviously the longer we get to carry it, they will get frustrated,” said Hovi. “They always have chances.

    “They can’t score right off the hop, and the longer we go, there is some frustrations, so it is obviously good for us. We just need to fix our second period. It has been our problem for a while.

    “We need to concentrate on that.”

    On an obvious front, teams like Finland don’t have the depth the United States or Canada does.

Venla Hovi, left, sets a screen in front of the United States goal.

    Hovi has been a standout herself for some time. She helped her country win two bronze medals at the Winter Olympics including 2010 in Vancouver B.C., and last February in PyeongChang, South Korea.

    As rookie with the Calgary Inferno of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, Hovi has two goals and four assists in her first six games.

    Overall, she liked her team’s effort on Tuesday. Finland had some absences due to the flu. The Finns were two skaters short of the full complement of 18.

 

Hannah Brandt (#20) of the United States battles a Finnish centre for a draw.

  “It was a good battle,” said Hovi. “We were missing a lot of players.

    “We don’t play with three lines usually, so it was obviously physically harder to. We usually run four lines, but now we’re kind of waiting for some of those players to be able to play.”

    In the setback, she said her side did a lot of positive things.

   “I think we defended really, really hard in the first and the third period (and) blocked the middle,” said Hovi, who is also an assistant coach with the Bisons women’s team this season. “Every time we got the puck, we moved it fast.

    “I thought it was a great team effort. Like I said, we need to fix the second period and be more ready in our D-zone.”

Finnish goalie Noora Raty covers the puck during a net scramble.

    Finland returns to action at the 4 Nations Cup on Wednesday, when they face Sweden at 3 p.m.

The United States faces Canada on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

    The 4 Nations Cup runs in its entirety at the SaskTel Centre with the medal round games being held on Saturday.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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    If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.