Miracle In The Making; Switzerland Staging an Upset At World Championship

At the Stockholm group of the World Championships, there has been a minor upset brewing in the form of the Swiss hockey team. The Stockholm group of the World Championships was touted to be the tougher of the two groups as it featured talent packed teams, such as Sweden, Canada and Czech Republic. No one could have guessed that the Swiss that are stealing the limelight.

In the opening game of the tournament, the Swiss handed a 3-2 loss to the hosts Sweden and then carried on the run of upsets by beating Canada in the penalty shoot out and then convincingly seeing off the Czech team by 5-2.

The team is comprised of players who play in the Swiss National League. The only NHL name that might be familiar to people is Nashville Predators’ defence man Roman Josi or New York Islander’s prospect Nino Niedereitter. The other recognisable name in the Swiss roster to most hockey fans is goalie Martin Gerber, who won the Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes in 2006.

The Swiss have so far faced and won the toughest countries in its group  – and barring a complete disaster – should be progressing into the second stage of the competition as a team that should not be taken lightly. In the past few years it has been the Swiss who have taken the biggest strides in terms of developing their standard of players and their results at the World Championships stage and it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Swiss were in medal contention this year.

The team is getting steady scoring from all lines and in goal, Gerber has been strong, posting a 1.92 GAA and 92.31 Save percentage in three starts. Perhaps if the Swiss keep going the way they have been, we might see them in the medal games this year. Though it would take a lot to see them in the final, the Swiss could be on the way to building its own Cinderella story for this year’s World Championships.

 

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Three Games In: Finns Show Some Promise

With three games played in the World Championships, Finland has shown some promise in the early going. However, where the team has won all of its games (surrendered one point to Germany in opening game), there are areas within the team that do need a bit of work before heading to big games against USA and Russia.

 

Here are a couple of great surprises to myself that I did not expect when the roster was first announced:

1)      Antti Raanta: Not really a surprise to many, but given that I only saw Youtube highlights and a the stories of his and his team’s Cinderella run to the Finnish championship. Raanta has only appeared in one game so far, but will likely carry the goaltending duties against USA and Russia which will be his biggest test to date. The shutout against Slovakia was a showing of his talents, specially during the phases of the game when Finland were helplessly lost. According to Raanta’s agent, there are as many as five NHL teams after his signature and KHL is not an option.

2)      Sami Lepisto: For the past couple of years Lepisto has been an enigma, not only to myself, but to many Finns. During the EHT in Czech Republic, Lepisto was hopelessly lost in the defensive zone. When his name was announced on the final roster and you saw him in the top D pairing, many jaws fell to the floor. The positive thing is that Sami Lepisto has responded to his critics the best way possible and has raised his game and has started playing up to his potential.

3)      The first line: Aaltonen – Kontiola – Pesonen has been what the coach wanted out of the trio. Couple of the guys (Aaltonen and Pesonen) have been part of Jalonen’s teams since taking over as a coach. Kontiola has featured in the teams as well, but has been left to a limited role. This year, he has been thrust into the fore and has responded beautifully. In the three games that he has played he has notched up 3 goals and 4 assists for 7 points, which at the time of writing entitles him to the top scorer slot in the World Championships, ahead of Ilya Kovalchuck.

Things to improve upon

1)      Powerplay: Against Germany it was terrible (2 out of 9) and against Slovakia it was slightly better, but not great and against France, well it’s not really there. Special teams can be the difference maker in a tournament like this. The Finns seem a bit too content to chip the puck behind the net and chip it to the slot to a guy who is surrounded by two or three opposing players. It’s not really working so far.

2)      Play-book: Finland has often looked like they come out slow from the gates. It’s like watching a Diesel engine get going. Takes a while but when it gets going, it gets going. Slow starts like this are not going to be good against Russia and USA. Finland plays a puck possession game and likes to control the tempo of the game and for some reason I see this as a weakness, specially as the teams they will be facing will be stacked with individual talent, which can lead to trouble. However, hockey is a team game and is not decided on Individual talent.

3)      Scoring: Most of the scoring relies on the top line at the moment. Where the Finns have received some scoring assistance from the other lines, majority of the scoring responsibility has lied on the shoulders of the first line. Finland needs secondary scoring in-order to compete for a medal.

 

So there, a few thoughts on the Finns and how they are doing so far. There are big areas for the Finns to improve on, but given what the team has, many have been impressed by the team’s determination and guts. Are the Finns on pace for a medal? Time will tell. It would be easy to jump on the bandwagon and book the market square in Helsinki for the celebration, but it’s a long tournament and where the toughest games are still yet to come. 

Finnish World Championship Roster – Opportunity Knocking + Critique

Finland named its roster for the World Championships after the completion of the Euro Hockey Tour in Brno, Czech Republic. The tournament ended in disappointment for the Finns, who lost all of its games in a tournament. When I watched a couple of games from the tournament, I thought that the team looked somewhat lacklustre and was never really a threat offensively. Defensively there were some questionable players on the ice, but at least, Finland’s goalies were strong.

 

The roster itself is a bit of a surprise from recent years, but upon reflection, it was to be expected. There are not that many Finns in the NHL and majority of them are taking part in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Let’s face it, the Stanley Cup is a bit bigger than the World Championships. The Finns that were left outside the playoffs were: Sami Salo (Tampa Bay), Kimmo Timonen (Philadelphia), Kari Lehtonen (Dallas), Pekka Rinne (Nashville), Lauri Korpikoski (Phoenix), Olli Jokinen (Jets), Antti Miettinen (Jets), Ville Leino (Buffalo), Joni Pitkanen (Carolina), Tuomo Ruutu (Carolina), Sean Bergeinheim (Florida), Lennart Petrell (Edmonton), Teemu Hartikainen (Edmonton), Miikka Kiprusoff (Calgary).

 

So let’s take a look at that list. Salo, Timonen, Jokinen and Kiprusoff have all more or less retired from the national team and would only suit up for a major tournament, like the Olympics. Lehtonen, Rinne, Leino, Pitkanen, Ruutu, Bergenheim (did not play the whole season) and Petrell are all out due to injuries. Miettinen is healthy, but has had a tough season and I’m not sure whether he was asked to join the team.

 

The only one out of that list that has said that he would play is Lauri Korpikoski and his participation is pending a medical from Coyotes, which he has passed and will be joining the team for the start of the World Championships.

 

Since the list of guys who said no thanks to the World Championships, some influential members of the Finnish hockey community have criticised the decision. Hjallis Harkimo, owner of the Jokerit team said on Radio Nova in Finland that “When they (the players) need to get noticed and they need to get into the NHL, the national team is a must. When they have used the national team, then some of them are not interested at all. It’s wrong against Finland.”

 

Juhani Tamminen, former coach of TuTo in Mestis went on to say that “If my generation would have acted and thought like this, we would only have ten rinks and we would be a B-class country in hockey.”

 

 

Both were also critical of the leadership of the Coaching and general managers in the way that they approach the players. However, the chief of Finnish Ice Hockey Association, Kalervo Kummola was quick to defend the players who had said “no thank you” to the World Champs and said that all of the players who declined had good and valid reasons (either injuries or other matters such as contract negotiations to deal with)

 

Where yes, it would be a good thing to have all those names in the roster, I can’t help but wonder what these guys owe to the Finnish system? They have donned the jersey when possible and in the biggest competitions i.e. the Olympics. They have endured backlash from fans and media alike when after a gruelling NHL season they simply have nothing in the tank. Is that the type of players they want? Guys who would get into the team because of their name but are so tired and beat that they have nothing to give. There is no point in playing guys like that.

 

It’s OK for people to bellyache after players, but the reality is that the NHL is the main job for these guys, and the national team would be sort of like overtime if you will. I tip my hat to the guys who do come after a gruelling season and find that extra gear to dig deep for a while longer, but at the same time I don’t blame guys for saying no.

 

Let’s not forget that it is always a risk to the players to join the team as there are things like insurance to cover and the risk of injury is ever present. It’s not an easy decision to players, specially those with family, or who are facing free agency and can’t afford to risk injury.

 

The roster (see below) is nothing earth shattering and at on paper it doesn’t look like a championship contender, when compared to the likes of Canada or Russia who are loaded with individual talent.

 

I see that Finland’s opportunity is in how quickly the team gels together (properly). These guys have been together for the last EHT tournament and have gone through the camp together so I would expect that they are well on their way. I still question the playbook somewhat, but that’s up to the guys to assume and play to the coach’s instructions.

 

While I would like to see Finland staging an upset, I doubt that we will see the Finnish roster in the medal rounds, if we do, it is a massive feat from this team. The way I see this roster, after a lot of reflection, is that it is an opportunity for these guys to get noticed and maybe get big money deals from either the NHL or European leagues. The roster is relatively young and inexperienced at this level, which should feed the hunger for the players. I can see that one if not two of the Finnish goalies will be playing in North America after putting themselves in the shop window at the World Championships.

The Finnish roster is as follows:

Goalies,

Atte Engren – TPS – SM-Liiga
Joni Ortio – HIFK – SM-Liiga
Antti Raanta – Ässät – SM-Liiga

Defense

Juuso Hietanen – Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod – KHL
Lasse Kukkonen – Rögle – Elitserien
Teemu Laakso –  Severstal Cherepovets – KHL
Tuukka Mäntylä – Tappara – SM-liiga
Sami Lepistö – HC Lev Praha – KHL
Ilari Melart – HIFK – SM-Liiga
Ossi Väänänen –  Jokerit – SM-Liiga
Janne Jalasvaara – Dynamo Moscow – KHL

Forwards

Juhamatti Aaltonen – Rögle – Elitserien
Marko Anttila – TPS – SM-Liiga
Juha-Pekka Haataja – Kärpät – SM-Liiga
Niklas Hagman – Lokomotiv Yaroslav – KHL
Juha-Pekka Hytönen – Amur Khabarovsk – KHL
Pekka Jormakka – Pelicans – SM-Liiga
Miika Lahti – JYP – SM-Liiga
Petri Kontiola – Traktor Chelyabinsk – KHL
Jarno Koskiranta – Tappara – SM-Liiga
Janne Pesonen – Ak Bars Kazan – KHL
Antti Pihlström – Salavat Yulaev Ufa – KHL
Sakari Salminen – KalPa – SM-Liiga
Veli-Matti Savinainen – Ässät – SM-Liiga
Ville Viitaluoma – HPK – SM-Liiga 

Lauri Korpikoski – Phoenix Coyotes – NHL*

 

*Please note that I have not seen an updated team roster that would include the forward that will be dropped to accommodate Lauri Korpikoski. 

 

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IIHF Makes 2013 World Championships Live on YouTube (Hopefully)

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IIHF has announced that the 2013 World Championships will be streamed live online via YouTube. The service, which was launched last year was welcomed by hockey fans across Europe, but things soon turned sour after media partner pressure. The IIHF had imposed a blackout of the YouTube streams for countries that had exclusive TV broadcast deals in place, but then had to take further measures as tech savvy consumers found ways around the geo-blocking.

 

To many fans’ displeasure, the IIHF then had to move its broadcasts to start half an hour after face off to make sure that no-one would be circumventing the geo-blocking. However, this year the free – and more importantly – live broadcasts will be back. The service will be available across many countries, but IIHF has already ruled out some countries on its promotional YouTube video. Countries where YouTube broadcasts are not available include: Sweden, Finland (the host countries), Denmark, Norway, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Swizerland, Germany, Canada, USA, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and France.

 

Where last year’s streaming ended with a sour note, I do think that it is the right thing to do to bring hockey to a wider fan base. Even though the IIHF broadcast the games with 30min delay last year, my point will be that any sports event should be broadcast live. The word travels quickly these days and it is important that if you are broadcasting on a social platform such as YouTube, you provide a live stream instead of a deferred one.

 

So there, another year of hockey on the web by the looks. The 2013 World Championships will be played in Stockholm, Sweden and Helsinki, Finland between 3^rd and 19^th of May 2013.

The Granlund Enigma

Following the Finland vs Kazakhstan game from last night, I didn’t do my own take on the game, simply because there was something that was bothering me about it. It wasn’t the game itself or the performance of the team, but one player in the roster. The player just so happens to be one of the most hotly talked about Finnish youngsters, Mikael Granlund.

 

Granlund’s year has been manic to say the least. From winning the SM-Liiga championship in 2011, accompanied by World Championship 2011 to Finnish national service, to his every move being followed, to Veikkaus using Granlund on his only real day off for 15 hours to shoot a commercial, to being the carrying force for HIFK to carrying the Finnish U-20 team. He has been asked about his airhook goal more than any one cares to remember.  However, last night, almost a year after he was put on a stamp and when he became every mom’s favourite son-in-law candidate, Mikael Granlund was benched. And I’m sad to say, it was the right call.

 

Prior to the World Championships, Granlund was out with a nasty bug but came back to the roster and was not at his own level. After the SM-Liiga season was done, Granlund was put on rest, which seemed to bring him back, but come the World Championships, he has been not at his own level.

 

Let me iterate that Granlund’s attitude is there. He wants to compete, he wants to win and he wants to play the game, but the sad fact is that it’s impossible to compete or play with your attitude alone and be at the top of your game, while your batteries are completely and utterly empty. Everything that Granlund has achieved, those achievements do take A LOT out of a player mentally and physically. On March 27^th I wrote on https://pushforpros.wordpress.com/2012/03/27/mikael-granlund-and-that-damn-airhook-goal/  about some of the concerns that I had for Granlund. I still stand by the fact that people should’ve had alarm bells about the kid after the U-20 world championships. He looked tired and the media scrutiny at home over the missed penalty shot was shocking.

 

Going back, look at the year the kid has had! Do you think that with all the activities that he has had to endure, that he has had time to train properly. The sad fact is that Granlund has been driven to the ground and he is tired, despite what he says to the media. And speaking of which, no one gets asked such dumb questions as Granlund.

 

Looking at the Canada and USA games, it was the first time that Granlund played against his future opponents and he was invisible. Granlund wanted to show that he can play against the players on the NHL stage, but he was not able to, because he has nothing in his tank left to give. It has gotten to a point that a TSN commentator has now said “It looks like Granlund will play for IFK.”

Yes Granlund will be an NHL player, but in hindsight what would’ve been THE best thing for him this year, was to leave him out of the team and give him time to train properly and prepare for Minnesota Wild training camp. Granlund needs the hard training and good quality rest. After these performances, if it is the first time you’ve watched Granlund, you might ask yourself “This kid was drafted 9th overall?” The fact is that Granlund IS better than what we have seen from him this year.

 

I think that another part of the problem is the expectations that he carries on his shoulders. He was spectacular last year, in every competition he played in and that has set the bar for some that it is how he should play. Believe me, Granlund can play like that when he is fresh and when he is 100%. Because of the expectations, I think part of Granlund’s problem is psychological. I bet that somewhere in the back of his head he is thinking what kind of hype will the next play/goal/pass create. Another part of (a rather complex problem) is that he is trying too much. Last night we saw him try a pass to Jarkko Immonen twice on the power play. Immonen was on the side of the goal and could’ve done nothing but go behind the net. Why try the same move twice?

 

I think Granlund will still dress for Finland in this tournament, because he can play and I think he has the capability to bounce back, but I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if he is the 13^th forward for the Finnish team and is used sparingly.

 

For Granlund’s sake, I hope that after the World Championships are eventually done, that he is left alone to focus on what for what is best for his future and what is beckoning. Let the kid re-charge his batteries, let him spend time with family and friends and let him train and prepare and don’t bother him with moronic questions and ask him to do give 15 hours of his time to do a freaking TV advert.

IIHF World Championships: IIHF Bins Live YouTube Streams

In a shocking turn of events, the IIHF has turned around and stopped the free live broadcasts of the World Championships. The decision, is according to an IIHF statement, based on some fans in the geoblocked countries bypassing the blocking mechanism to watch the games, rather than use services provided by TV rights holders. The games will still be shown for free via YouTube, but with a 30 minute delay to the service, which negates the point of watching the games.

 

The World Championships have been a total farce from start to finish and this is the last nail in the coffin. The free YouTube streams were a step forwards in exposing the sport and the sponsors of the games to a whole new audience, whilst extending the service to those who wanted to follow their nation play, but lived in a country where there was no TV deal in place. The release by IIHF cites that “today’s step was taken to prevail illegal attempts to access the streaming countries that were geoblocked due to exclusive contracts.” I’m sorry, but bypassing a geoblock is not illegal. It may not be ethical, but it is by no stretch of imagination illegal. It’s a complete disgrace to the IIHF that they have blocked a service that was enjoyed by the fans, regardless of the fact whether some users bypassed the blocking mechanisms in place. Furthermore, I can’t believe that an organisation like the IIHF is so out of touch with the internet that they thought that a geoblock would work. What the IIHF has failed to realise is that as long as something is broadcast on to the web, whether by an “authorised” TV provider, the feed will ultimately end up in the Internet where users like myself can watch it for free. So my question is why block it on that premise? Surely the best way to tackle the issue of illegal streams is to do what the IIHF did in the first place, by offering a free, high quality stream of the games.

 

The official statement read: Bruno Marty, Excecutive Director Wintersports, said: “We deeply regret that we have to take this step, in particular for all the ice hockey followers out there who just want to enjoy the games online on YouTube. However, we currently see no other option to protect the existing media rights agreements with our broadcast partners, as some so called fans decided not to play fair and to illegally surpass existing copyright and geoblocking mechanism.”

 

I have a feeling that the geoblocking has nothing to do with the fact the games were pulled. I have a feeling that broadcasters in countries where the rights have switched hands (I’m looking at Finland here) have kicked up a fuss, because the live streams took away customers from the pay for channels. What makes the IIHF think that the users who have been watching the games via YouTube will suddenly flock to a TV provider and pay an arm and a leg for a viewing pack?

 

What’s surprising even further is that the IIHF has not even brought in an option it has hosted previous years and allow users to buy a country pass or a tournament pass to watch the games. That way users could at least still watch, what the IIHF calls legal streams, and make a profit out of it on the side. Delaying the games by 30 minutes just negates the point of watching a game! What is the point when you have an app for a phone that tells you the score. Wake the hell up IIHF.

 

Like I said these world championships have been a total farce from the start, with the ticket prices and price slashes and free ticket giveaways. All the while Rene Fasel and the organisers have talked about a great brand they have to protect, but this decision sees the IIHF take the brand and wipe its ass with it!

 

It’s completely puzzling how the KHL can show the entire regular season via YouTube, including playoffs, and have no trouble with it? How can the IIHF find this context so hard and difficult?

 

I will conclude this post on this picture as it is now more pertinent than ever (With thanks to Esko Seppanen and Urheilulehti). My parting thoughts would be to curse at the IIHF, but what’s the point?

 

IIHF World Championships: Finland Scores Two Goals in 120Minutes… Good Thing It Hasn’t Allowed a Goal (yet)

Finland’s start to the World Championships has been somewhat slow. The team has scored only two goals across 120minutes of play and luckily have not given up a goal as yet. I’m kinda happy that we haven’t allowed a goal as yet, as I said prior to the games starting that Finland won’t have any problem on the goal tending department. I won’t go into an in depth analysis of the playing style or the timing of the passes, because this post would probably be about 5,000 words long and my internet stream cut out so much that I gave up taking indepth notes half way through.  I

 

Speaking of the stream though, it was frustrating to have it cut out with about 10 minutes left in the game. I got it back with two minutes to go and then lost it again, only to have it back when Jukka Jalonen was shaking hands with  his assistant coaches after winning the game. The YouTube comments that run next to the IIHF Video stream were understandably filled with rage when the image cut out.

 

Finland has now had numerous power play opportunities in the two games it has played but has not mustered anything on them. The power play, as far as I can see it, is about nifty puck movement but there is not enough shots coming in on goal and the players are not quick enough to react to second chances on the rebounds. Somehow I feel that the guys are trying too much instead of keeping it simple. Whether it is the pressure of playing in front of a home crowd that’s getting to them or the 24/7 TV access to training and whatnot that is disturbing the flow of the game, but I have a feeling that there is something not quite clicking with the team yet.

 

If we look back to last year, Finland did have a slow start to the gamest then as well, but at least the team was scoring more goals in the first couple of games. I don’t know if the puck control game, or “Our Game” thesis that Jukka Jalonen is coaching with is causing the lack of scoring. Where I think that the style of play suits Finland from the point of view that the team is controlling the puck and flow of the game there is always that little bit that makes me think that they should be more direct and drive hard to the net.

 

On many of the offensive rushes that the Finns have had are like a throwback to Juha-Matti Aaltonen’s playing style. Drive hard from the boards and go behind the net. The Finns are trying to use Gretzky’s office as a place to create offence and there’s one player who can do that on the team and it is young Granlund. He dished out a nifty pass to Pesonen from behind the net. Pesonen fluffed the first shot but made good by getting his backhand shot to go top shelf.

 

Whatever it is, the team has to start scoring and playing a more up-tempo game as now it looks more like the players are going at walking pace on the ice. The opponents will only get harder as we are yet to play USA or the party-hard Canada team. Finland has to improve drastically for those games if it is to have any kind of hope for a repeat of its world championship. You simply do not win championships by scoring one goal per game. That is unless you are a soccer team and you score one goal and then go into a turtle defence mode. But that’s not the way hockey is supposed to be played like.

 

The goalies have both been solid. Vehanen dropped the puck a bit more than Lehtonen, but a shutout is a shutout. It poses an interesting problem for the Finnish coaching staff as to who to play more in the games, with both goalies being in good form and with Karri Ramo waiting on the wings.

 

I would expect that Jalonen realises the fact that he can’t have his team score only one goal per game and expect to go to the finals. He definitely needs to get more out of the power play and from Jussi Jokinen, who has been terrible in the first two games. Jalonen needs to also work on some issues that the Finns have on normal 5on5 game.

 

Good thing is, we have not (yet) seen anyone talk about the old Finnish adage of “Scoring is difficult” or “we had this many scoring chances in the game” it’s not the chances that win you the game, it’s the goals that you actually score.

IIHF World Championships: Sweden reduces ticket prices by 70%

After the huge backlash on the ticket prices at both Helsinki and Stockholm games, and after the embarrasement of attendance numbers in both Helsinki andStockholm, the Swedes have reacted to the critique and have slashed the ticket prices for the rest of the games by 70%.

For the remainder of the games the ticket prices at the Sockholm games are in the region of €44 (previous prices were at €145). Those fans who had purchased their tickets to the rafters at Globen for th Sweden vs Czech Republic game, will have the opportunity to move closer to the ice level.

Organiser, Christer Eglund said “We could have made more of a profit if we would’ve kept the prices as they were, as the World Championships boom would grow as the games progress. However, we have one of the greatest brands to protect and therefore we are eager to effer all supporters the opportunity to enjoy the games.”

The reaction comes after the first four games at Globen were watched only by an audience of 8,000. Seriously, 8,000 fans across four games. You do the math and the averages, but in either case it is bad!

Even Swedish superstar Henrik Zetterberg criticised the ticket prices. “It is an embarrasement and sad that only a small number of spectators turn up. The fault is not with the audience. With these prices families will not turn up at the arena to follow hockey.”

There has been no news as yet whether Finland will follow suit.

IIHF World Championships Day 1: Stream issues, empty arenas and Canadians night out in Helsinki

IIHF World Championships got underway today. The games started with a ton of media critique over the ticket prices and it showed in all of the games of the opening day. For the first game of the tournament between USA and France, the Hartwall Arena (with capacity of 13,000) in Helsinki drew 8,402 spectators (see picture below), while in Stockholm (Globen capacity is in the 10,000 region) the first game between Germany and Italy drew just over a 1,000 pairs of eyes to watch the games

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It didn’t go much better for the other games as Canada and Slovakia, with some super-star  names in their respective rosters, drew an audience of 6,400, which was depressing as under the bar stands of the Hartwall arena, there was not a single spectator watching the game (see picture below). Good on the Slovakian fans for making a lot of noise, cheering on their own. It seems that Slovakians love hockey no matter what game and at what level of play they are watching it

.

The games themselves were a bit sluggish. France held on valiantly for a period and a half before the US team finally clicked and started controlling the game. Rather empathically the French kept trying but the USA team had just way too much skill and speed on its roster for the French to match it.

There’s a lot that’s been said about team Canada, with its deep roster of NHL players. However, the game against Slovakia left me unconvinced that the team was something that would send shockwaves across the world. Perhaps part of it was due to the fact that several of the key players on the Canadian roster (Tavares, Getzlaf, Perry among others) were seen in the Helsinki nightlife the night before the game. There was a lot of speculation that the teams’ moist night out lead to the cancellation of the morning skate. Canada was visibly sluggish in the first period and the Slovakian’s held on to the very end, even if the Canadian team started to find its legs. I wouldn’t say that Slovakia will be a ‘pushover’ in these games as it was in the last years world championships. Canada won the game 3-2 in the end, but again, there’s a lot to be desired for from the Canadian team looking at the names they’ve got on paper.

Let’s hope that the guys on the roster aren’t treating the World Championship tournament as a roadie with the boys and a chance to have some fun away from home and play a few games of hockey while they’re at it. It is an easy thing to have happen in the world championships. I guess all the Finns remember the rumours from the Moscow world championships a few years ago with supposed helicopter rides to Helsinki and back and not all players being fresh for game days.

The Finland vs Belarus game did draw a big-ish crowd, reported at 12,354, which still left almost a thousand empty seats at the arena. The game itself was… well… it was boring. The Finns were in control for most of the game but couldn’t really get anything going. It seemed that the audience in Helsinki woke up to a hockey game in the 3^rd period when the first full arena “Suomi” chant was heard. Finland had plenty of power play opportunities in the game but didn’t make anything of it, except maybe prove that the team can pass the puck really well. That being said there were some good things to take away from the game and I’m carefully optimistic about the teams’ chances in the tournament. We won’t know our full capability until games against the likes of Slovakia, Canada and USA. Kari Lehtonen was definitely Finland’s MVP in the game. He had two saves in the first period and was sharp throughout the game when Belarus had some good scoring opportunities.

Even Finnish D-man Anssi Salmela had his bit to say about the attendance to the games. In a post game press conference he was quoted saying “I normally don’t pay attention to the stands, but I have to admit that it was quiet today.” I guess the Finnish teams’ PR person has to have words with Salmela again, just like after this interview after last years’ world championships: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03nIcG6mXVQ

EDIT:It didn’t go that well in Sweden either, where the game between Sweden and Norway only drew a crowd of 5,985 to Globen. Across the three games played in Globen, the games have so far drawn a total of 8,000 spectators. Now on any standards that is poor, specially if it is across three games.

One can only hope that the organisers will do something, ANYTHING, to the ticket prices or hire people to come in to watch the games. Otherwise, the 2012 World Championships will forever be remembered for the low attendance. People at the top can say what they want about the cost of organising the games, but no one can ignore the rafts of empty seats at the arenas. It’s not good for hockey or for the reputation of the World Championship tournament.

However, the YouTube streams of the games are a welcome plus. I can’t commend the IIHF and its media rights holder enough for getting the games on the web, live and for free. It’s a great feat and its a great way to follow the games, even if the commentators cause some hilarity, bless them though as for most of them, English is clearly not their first language.

However, the YouTube streams did cause somewhat of a debacle in Finland. At first, like reported here yesterday, it was said that Finland would be on the geo-blocked country list, but by the time the puck dropped for the USA – France game, people could tune into watch the games on YouTube. It wasn’t until midway through the game that the feed was blocked in Finland. It appears that the MTV3, who has exclusivity for TV rights in Finland had to place numerous calls to the IIHF to get the games blocked as it went against the contract they had signed for the games.

Oh well, there are ways around it with different proxy settings and so on, so all is not lost.

Hopefully the games will pick up from here and we are in for some great hockey in the tournament and that we will see both the arenas, Hartwall Arena in Helsinki and Globen in Stockholm, filled with fans. Though with those ticket prices the sarcast in me thinks we’ll not see a sold out arena, except for the final.

IIHF Game Times in GMT

I’ve had a lot of requests from the UK for the game times. Ask and ye shall receive. Below are the Group stage games in GMT times. I will post the quarter, semi and final times once the pairings are set.

Remember you can stream all the games live and for free via: http://www.youtube.com/icehockey

Friday 4.5.2012

10.15 USA-France Helsinki
12.15Germany-Italy Stockholm
14.15 Canada-Slovakia Helsinki
15.15 Czech Republic -Denmark Stockholm
18.15 Belarus-Finland Helsinki
19.15 Sweden-Norway Stockholm

Saturday 5.5.2012

13.00 Swizerland-Kazakhstan Helsinki
15.15 Latvia-Russia Stockholm
17.00 Canada-USA Helsinki
19.15 Sweden-Czech Republic Stockholm

Sunday 6.5.2012

10.15 France-Kazakhstan Helsinki
11.15 Denmark-Italy Stockholm
14.15 Finland-Slovakia Helsinki
15.15 Russia -Norway Stockholm
18.15 Switzerland-Belarus Helsinki
19.15 Germany-Latvia Stockholm

Monday 7.5.2012

14.15 France-Canada Helsinki
15.15 Czech Republic-Norway Stockholm
18.15 USA-Slovakia Helsinki
19.15 Denmark – Sweden Stockholm

Tuesday 8.5.2012

14.15 Belarus-Kazakhstan Helsinki
15.15 Latvia-Italy Stockholm
18.15 Finland -Swizerland Helsinki
19.15 Russia-Germany Stockholm

Wednesday 9.5.2012

14.15 Slovakia-Kazakhstan Helsinki
15.15 Norway-Italy Stockholm
18.15 Canada-Switzerland Helsinki
19.15 Sweden-Germany Stockholm

Thursday10.5.2012

14.15 USA-Belarus Helsinki
15.15 Denmark-Russia Stockholm
18.15 France-Finland Helsinki
19.15 Czech Republic-Latvia Stockholm

Friday 11.5.2012

14.15 Kazakhstan-USA Helsinki
15.15 Italy-Czech Republic Stockholm
18.15 Finland-Canada Helsinki
19.15 Russia-Sweden Stockholm

Saturday 12.5.2012

10.15 Slovakia-Belarus Helsinki
11.15 Norway-Latvia Stockholm
14.15 Switzerland-France Helsinki
15.15 Germany-Denmark Stockholm
18.15 Kazakhstan-Canada Helsinki
19.15 Italy-Sweden Stockholm

Sunday13.5.2012

14.15 Finland -USA Helsinki
15.15 Russia-Czech Republic Stockholm
1815 Switzerland-Slovakia Helsinki
19.15 Germany-Norway Stockholm

Monday 14.5.2012

14.15 Belarus – France Helsinki
15.15 Latvia-Denmark Stockholm
18.15 Kazakhstan- Finland Helsinki
19.15 Italy-Russia Stockholm

Tuesday 15.5.2012

10.15 Canada-Belarus Helsinki
11.15 Norway-Denmark Stockholm
14.15 Slovakia-France Helsinki
15.15 Czech Republic-Germany Stockholm
18.15 USA-Switzerland Helsinki
19.15 Sweden-Latvia Stockholm