The Semifinal round at the World Junior Championship concluded with a historic rivalry as Sweden and Finland battled for a spot in the Gold Medal Game.
Finland won 1-0, fairly easily shutting the Swedes down after scoring their 1-0 goal. The Swedes played as well as they could, but their inability to score and the Finnish Trap yielded a well-earned win by the Finns.
Finland will play Canada for Gold on Saturday at 8 PM (on TSN and the NHL Network).
Sweden will play for Bronze vs. Czechia at 4 PM (TSN/NHL Network).
In terms of Red Wings prospects playing in the game:
Simon Edvinsson: Edvinsson played on the Swedes’ top defensive pair with Helge Grans. He finished even with no shots in 22:43, and that pretty much summed up his game, because Edvinsson looked really uncomfortable on the ice at times. I don’t know whether it was lingering effects from food poisoning, lingering effects from whatever injury he suffered in the exhibition round, or what, but the elegant-skating, super-talented Edvinsson did not look quite like himself throughout the tournament, and he’s going to have to have a “gut check” tomorrow vs. Czechia.
Theodor Niederbach: Niederbach centered the Swedes’ second line, between Oskar Olausson and Daniel Torgersson. Niederbach finished even with 1 shot in 17:33, but he was plucky, he went to the net for rebounds, he eventually won more faceoffs than he lost early on, and he displayed an edge that I didn’t know he had. He was a pleasant surprise on a rough night for the Swedes.
William Wallinder: Wallinder played on the Swedes’ third defensive pair, alongside Emil Andrae. Wallinder finished even with no shots in 17:23 played, and there were moments when he made mistakes, but he’s still learning, and the massive 6’4″ defenseman was efficient and smart for the most part, strong-skating and solid.
Eemil Viro: Viro played on the Finns’ third defensive pairing, with Aleksi Heimosalmi. Viro finished even with no shots in 20:15, and he looked very solid, spare, and simply efficient–and he got away with a couple of nasty checks and hacks and whacks that I’ve rarely seen from him. At 6′ and 165 pounds, he’s going to have to overcome his size, but he does a good job with that short stick and his smart skating to play bigger than he is.
In terms of the game’s narrative…
1st period:
The Finns started goaltender Juha Jatkola instead of Leevi Merilainen, their presumptive starter, opposite Jesper Wallstedt.
The Swedes started Niederbach’s line and it lose the opening faceoff, so Finland chipped and chased, and Andrae and Wallinder saw a puck slide out in front…
Which Daniel Torgersson chipped into the crowd at 17 seconds of the 1st period, giving Finland a power play.
Niederbach actually started the PK, as did Edvinsson, and Edvinsson was on the right side, doing his best to front a shot and clear the puck, which he was unable to do on his own.
The Swedes eventually chipped the puck out as Edvinsson dumped and the Swedes changed, and the Finns brought the puck up ice and fumbled around a bit until Joakim Kemell ripped a shot wide of Wallstedt.
Wallinder finished out the PK and did his best to keep Wallstedt’s vision clear as the Swedes killed the Finns’ electric power play.
Edvinsson was playing right point on the faceoffs and left point with Grans sytematically speaking, which made little sense, but that’s the Swedish team plan for you.
The game felt like it was going to be particularly long early on, and the Finns led in shots 4-1 after the first 4 minutes of play.
Wallinder and Edvinsson played together for a moment, and Edvinsson sent a centering pass to Torgersson that Jatkola had to stifle in goal.
Niederbach lost a rare faceoff (he’d been averaging about 60% on draws) some 4:30 into the 1st period, and Edvinsson gapped up to prevent a Finnish rush, looking a little calmer than he had in previous games.
The Swedes were willing to give Finland point shots in order to clear Wallstedt’s field of vision, and that was a bit odd.
When Wallinder took to the ice at 5:45, the shots were 5-2 Finland, and Fabian Lysell soon made that deficit 5-3.
With the rink nearly empty on a Friday night in August, Viro took his first noticeable shift on a Finnish rush, and he helped facilitate a rush that yielded a shot;
Edvinsson “got away with one” in breaking up said rush;
Both Edvinsson and Niederbach came back defensively to help break up another Finnish flourish;
Niederbach was mobile and smart and good defensively, using his smart stick and skating abilities to dissect Finnish attempts;
Edvinsson didn’t look as comfortable, but he looked better than he did on Wednesday.
Viro? Quiet in a quiet game.
A game whose fate might be determined by who scores the first goal.
Wallinder was just steady–his fundamentals are very good, he’s a massive 6’4,” he skates superbly and just does his job quietly and efficiently, often using his defensive partner to really move the puck…
9:40 into the 1st period, at the first TV timeout, the shots were 7-5 Finland.
Edvinsson really tries to be as physical as he can be. Hes’ a hard-edged player.
Speaking of which, Viro is not hard-edged, but he avoids hits against quite well, and he did a good job of lurking in front of the Finnish net to clear Jatkola’s sightlines. His stick is short, but it’s an asset.
Just as was the case in the first Semifinal, the refs were “going to let the players decide the game,” so that meant that the teams were pretty much on their own…
Niederbach continued to pursue pucks and Edvinsson pursued hits…
And Emil Andrae took a penalty at 12:00 for dumping Simontaival into the end boards with a dumb cross check, and the refs called it a 2-minute minor for boarding.
On the power play, where both teams were laying out heavy hits and moving the puck up and down the ice slowly.
Wallinder and Edvinsson worked together on the 2nd PK unit, and the Finns really set up but Edvinsson blocked a couple of shots and the Swedes killed the penalty.
Without giving up a shot.
Edvinsson was being double-shifted with Andrae as well as Grans…
And when Niederbach was boarded by Kapanen, his linemates came to his defense.
Wallinder engaged in a good exchange with a back-checking Swedish forward to serve as a relief valve, and Andrae really got the first couple of Swedish scoring chances off some 15:26 into the 1sst period…
Edvinsson has immense talent, but he can tend to do too much himself.
Even when he was cycling down low with Niederbach, there was a tendency to crank things up and play with flourish, and it’s just not necessary.
Viro was calm and collected as he afforded the Finnish breakout some time behind his own net…
The Swedes began to crank up the pressure some 17:30 into the 1st period, but the Finns threw up their Finnish Trap, and a heavy hit by Edvinsson didn’t persuade the Finns to do anything less than send more pucks in on Wallstedt.
The Finns seemed to be figuring out Niederbach, too, as Theodor was losing draws as he and his linemates tried to shut down the Raty line.
Mike Johnson praised Niederbach for being solid and dangerous offensively, and he noted that Niederbach’s offensive game had become “win it by somebody else.”
As had Sweden’s.
Finland ended the first period up in shots 10-8.
2nd period:
The 2nd period began at 8:58 PM EDT, and the Finns’ Raty line did not start opposite Niederbach’s line, but Swedish coach Tomas Monten didn’t choose to line-match as much, and so the Swedes chipped and chased, the Finns iced the puck, and Niederbach won a draw opposite Raty.
So maybe the line-matching was still in effect.
Edvinsson does have a tendency to drift a little bit because his skating is so very good, and that can be a detriment to his game. Sometimes he needs to just stand around and be in position.
Viro really hammered Lysell on one of the Swedish rushes, and Viro poked the puck off Emil Andrae’s stick and head-manned a Finnish rush before going off on a change.
Edvinsson also got warned by the referees after being very very very physical on a shift some 3:20 into the 2nd, cross-checking an opponent repeatedly.
Jatkola made two big stops on Ohgren…
And with 3:53 gone in the 2nd period, the Swedes got tagged for too many men, despite protests to the contrary.
Finland went to their 3rd PP.
The Finns’ attack crystalized to some extent, but Wallinder made a good clear some 1:45 in, he battled his way back, and Wallinder and Hirvonen blocked a tremendous shot by Simontaival.
The Finnish power play couldn’t be denied forever. Kasper Puutio deked around the Swedish defensemen and slid the puck five-hole on Wallstedt to open the scoring at 5:18.
Kasper Puutio gets Finland on the board with the power play goal! #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/yZ3hu4IXY6ā TSN (@TSN_Sports) August 20, 2022
šØ POWER PLAY GOAL! Kasper Puutio pushes past the Swedes to get @leijonat up 1-0!#WorldJuniors #SWEFIN pic.twitter.com/jT3ymaMf3Aā IIHF (@IIHFHockey) August 20, 2022
It was 1-0 Finland.
Edvinsson took the next shift on defense, and he did a lot of cruising, but not in a bad way.
Wallinder looked REALLY solid as a defensive defender at times…
Niederbach was very hungry on pucks…
Edvinsson’s defensive partner, Helge Grans, then took down a Finn and headed to the box for tripping at 8:06.
Wallinder worked on the 2nd PK unit, and he was–again–having trouble winning faceoffs…
And there was a LOT of Finn-on-Swede, after-the-whistle violence going on during the PK. LOTS of pushing and shoving and hacking and whacking.
Without Grans on his side, Edvinsson didn’t take a PK shift, and the Swedes held Finland to 1 shot as the Finns got a bit too cute.
Viro and Puutio had a bit of a communication problem on the Finnish blueline, and they were unable to connect holding the puck in the offensive zone…
11:10 in, the shots were 19-11 Finland.
Edvinsson did return to the ice for a quiet shift;
Edvinsson did find a Swedish player Stakesstad, and Viro’s stick was sent out of his hands, but the Finns cleared, and Edvinsson worked his tail off to generate a chance without luck just south of 13 minutes into the 2nd.
13:17 into the 2nd, the shots were 19-11 Finland.
Again, Niederbach had a terrible time with faceoffs on Friday, which was just odd…
Edvinsson can use his long stick and stature to steer players away from the net, and he managed to do a fairly good job of steering opponents away from Wallstedt on his shift;
Wallinder and Viro were quieter. Wallinder steady and smart, with good poke checks and good positioning; Viro is small, but he was spunky and smart.
Both move the puck sharply and crisply, and they’re efficient and almost error-free.
The game took on a particularly physical tone some 15:45 into the 2nd, and the Finns were fine with it–they were dominating play.
This is just a typical Finnish win in progress right now.
Finland up 1-0, leading in shots 23-11, driving the Swedes to distraction.
That being said, with 3:48 left in the 2nd, Sweden will go to their first power play.ā George Malik (@georgemalik) August 20, 2022
Eetu Liukas headed to the penalty box for interference at 16:12.
The Swedes won their opening faceoff, but had to chase the puck down the ice…
And Finland’s Maatta took a high-sticking penalty at 16:38, yielding 1:34 of a 5-on-3.
The Finns complained and the Swedes essentially took a time-out.
Niederbach tied up his draw, but the Swedes were unable to hold the puck in, and they had to re-set at center ice.
Andrae and Grans worked on the blueline, and Jatkola made a smart blocker stop on Andrae.
Niederbach won the next draw, and the Swedes cycled, cycled, and Niederbach played the down-low man, but Grans’ shot was blocked by Niemela, and there was nothing to do for Sweden…
Which didn’t ice Edvinsson. Instead, Andrae fired a shot into Jatkola’s glove, and there were only 20 seconds left in the 5-on-3.
Niederbach won another draw, and Lysell deked around and fired a shot in on Jatkola, who saw the shot.
The boisterous Finnish bench cheered the penalty-kill, and with 25 left in the PK, Niederbach dropped to Lysell, and the Swedes couldn’t hold the puck in at their blueline, so Finland killed both penalties.
Sweden only got 3 shots.
Edvinsson made a skate save on a Finnish shot working with Wallinder on the next shift;
Viro also took to the ice and head-manned the puck out of trouble;
Viro chipped a puck off a Swede and Edvinsson cleared his zone as the 2nd period expired.
The shots were 23-15 Finland after 2 periods of play.
3rd period:
The Finns were smiling on the bench as the 3rd period began with Niederbach taking and winning a draw;
The Swedes were stoic and staid.
Edvinsson got caught high in the offensive zone but came back racing back to stop Jarvente from breaking toward the net–after Edvinsson knocked a Finn off his block with a cross-check…
The Finns were clearly going to battle their way toward a 1-0 or 2-1 victory, as is their usual game plan, and the Swedes didn’t seem to have the energy to sustain a counter-attack.
Niederbach’s stick got knocked out of his hands and the Swedes then iced the puck, yielding a deep defensive zone faceoff which he lost, and Viro ripped a shot just wide of Wallinder;
All of that being said, Niederbach raced into the Finnish zone, chased a dump-in, and got some cross-checks to the back as a Finnish “welcome.”
Edvinsson blocked a Finnish shot, lurked in the defensive zone, and watched the Finns play catch on defense as the 4-minute mark passed;
Wallinder got backed in as the Finns’ Maenpaa hit the crossbar behind Wallstedt about 4:40 into the 3rd…
Niederbach helped generate one of the best chances that Sweden had in the entire game, generating a forecheck’s worth of pressure with Torgersson, but the puck flubbed on Niederbach’s stick on the first chance, and his wrap pass to Torgersson didn’t yield a goal.
Edvinsson did a good job of blocking off a Finnish forward’s stick as the Swedes got caught down 3-on-2…
Wallinder also pinched up in play on the next shift, looking smart, and smarter still when he got back to defuse the Finnish rush;
You could hear the Finns talking to each other. The Swedes weren’t as vocal.
The Swedes really took some energy into the mix as the 8-minute mark passed…And Aatu Raty was STONED on a breakaway by Wallstedt;
On the next shift, Edvinsson made a couple of smart plays, assuaging for missing the puck at the blueline, affording Raty that breakaway.
The Swedes really tried to work the puck down low in the Finnish zone some 8:55 into the 3rd, with Wallinder helping hold the puck in with Andrae, and Andrae really made some pretty plays, but went offside.
The Finns hit the goalpost behind Wallstedt for a second time with just over 10:00 remaining in regulation;
Edvinsson tried to key offense with Niederbach on the next shift, and again, Niederbach got pushed and shoved as he went for the rebound of a Torgersson shot, taking sticks to the chest as a result, but he did not back down.
Edvinsson carried the puck in himself some 11:25 into the 3rd, and the Swedes at least attacked the Finnish blueline, but they didn’t get much further.
Niederbach chipped and chased with 12 gone in the 3rd, but he didn’t have much support;
Niederbach also sent a shot in on Jatkola while Viro shoved Torgersson into his own netminder and complained to the ref about it.
Edvinsson was making good blocks in his own zone, but he was a little too cute in the offensive zone, affording some mediocre turnovers to the Finnish defense.
Wallinder got walked around by Vaisanen, who deked and dangled his way into the slot and shoveled the puck right into Wallstedt;
With 5:23 left, the last TV timeout hit, and it felt like a matter of time until the Finns would pull this one out.
Edvinsson didn’t look completely comfortable.
His skating was effortless, but his passing was “off.” Hie missed Lysell and iced it with 4:28 left in regulation, trying to make a 3-line pass…
Wallinder got a shot off with about 4:15 left…
And the Finns almost got another breakaway as Lysell hacked Maatta…
Finland looked like it was going to win 1-0. Their shots were 28 to Sweden’s 21…
Niederbach at least had some energy and gumption.
There was just no support for the puck carrier, as Mike Johnson noted, and the Swedes were too static.
Wallinder helped Sweden keep the puck in as Viro lost a glove with 1:45 left, but the Finns cleared the zone;
Wallstedt headed out with 1:20 left, and Niederbach worked down low, Grans fired a shot that put the mask off Jatkola…
Sweden called timeout with 47.4 left in regulation.
Viro was out for the final flourish for Finland…
Niederbach was out for Sweden. But he didn’t take the faceoff.
Andrae dropped the puck to no one, and the Swedes had to re-set at center;
Niederbach battled the puck as Viro at it along the boards, and the Swedes got the puck, worked it to Andrae, Niederbach was cross-checked, Grans cycled, and Andrae’s shot was blocked, and that was it.
Sometimes all it takes is 1 goal to punch your ticket to the gold medal game! š«š®@leijonat will face @HockeyCanada for the #WorldJuniors trophy! š pic.twitter.com/8p3YBwJKYYā IIHF (@IIHFHockey) August 20, 2022
One step closer to gold š #WorldJuniors @leijonat pic.twitter.com/3ASWiG5UWVā IIHF (@IIHFHockey) August 20, 2022
