Posts Tagged ‘mikael granlund’




Semi-finals set at World Juniors

Monday, January 2nd, 2012

Team Russia will now play Team Canada and Team Finland will now play Team Sweden in the semi-finals of the World Junior Hockey Championships at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary on Tuesday.

On Monday, Team Finland beat Team Slovakia 8-5 in a game where the goaltending was very poor. Finland, scored four unanswered goals in the second period to blow a 2-2 first period tie wide open. Mikael Granlund led the way with a goal and three assists, and his younger brother Markus, a draft pick of the Calgary Flames scored two goals and one assist.

Finland also got great production from their youngsters. Rasmus Ristolainen, a young 17 year-old defenceman was excellent on the Finnish blue line and picked up two assists. Aleksander Barkov, a 16 year-old forward, scored the game winner.

On Monday night, Russia defeated the Czech Republic in overtime in a game with brilliant goaltending at the junior level.  Andrei Vasilevski made 38 saves in a 2-1 Russian overtime win. Petr Mrazek responded with 43 saves for the Czech Republic. With the score tied 1-1, and the Russians moving up ice following a Russian penalty late in the third period, Grigori Zheldakov scored on a pass from Nikita Kucherov to send Russia to the semi-finals.

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Amateur Sports |

Finland beats USA at World Juniors

Wednesday, December 28th, 2011

In my opinion a tournament doesn’t officially start until there is an upset. Well, on Wednesday, we had our first mild upset of the 2012 World Junior Hockey Championships in Edmonton and Calgary.

Wednesday afternoon at Edmonton’s Rexall Place, Finland scored three third period goals en route to a 4-1 victory. It was a key game for Joel Armia, who was -3 against Canada. Armia, a first round draft pick of the Buffalo Sabres, had two goals and an assist with a +3 rating. So you could say it’s an interesting way to get an even rating over the first two games of a tournament.

Mikael Granlund and Miikka Salomaki also scored for Finland, who played much better defensively with Sami Aittokallio in between the pipes.

Sticking with the goaltending theme, the American decision to dress John Gibson over Jack Campbell was an interesting one. Gibson looked shaky and took a dumb third penalty that gave Finland significant momentum. Do not be surprised if Campbell plays the rest of the tournament for the Stars and Stripes.

Finland improves  to 1-1, while the United States fall to 1-1 in Group B play.

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Amateur Sports |

Sweden to play Finland in World Hockey Championship Final

Friday, May 13th, 2011

Patrik Berglund (Bridget Samuels, Wikimedia Commons)

It will be an all-Scandianavian final at the World Hockey Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Friday Finland defeated Russia 3-0 and Sweden defeated the Czech Republic 5-2. It will also be a rematch of the 2006 Winter Olympic Games’ Gold medal match where Sweden defeated Finland 3-2.

Mikael Granlund led the Finnish attack with a goal and an assist. In the second period, Granlund lifted the puck on to his stick behind the goal and went top shelf to beat Russian goalie Konstantin Barulin.

In any case, it will be a candidate for the goal of the year. Finnish goalie Petri Vehanen made 30 saves for the win.

In the other semi-final, Patrik Berglund of the St. Louis Blues continued his excellent World Hockey Championship by scoring two goals. He leads the tournament with eight. Mikael Backlund of the Calgary Flames also played a high level, notching a goal and an assist with seven shots on goal.

(more…)

  • Share/Bookmark

Tags: , , ,
Posted in NHL |