Another win for USA, Finland also victorious in todays games

Published November 2, 2022

Photo: Timo Kupiainen

Another win for Team USA over Team Czech

USA and Czech faced off for the second time this week. Team Czech has been improving their game for the past few days but couldn’t quite challenge the US.

– I think we did really good at generating opportunities. We definitely did better on covering the neutral zone and I do think we can work a little bit more on taking more shots and pushing more on that triangle blocking those post passes, Thea Cazzanti from Team Czech said after the game.

USA displayed their danger immediately as Diana Coolidge scored only a few minutes into the game. Czech evened the score out not much after but couldn’t hold the control of the game for much longer. USA controlled the first period that ended in their lead 4-1.

The game continued in Team USA’s control in the second period. The home team scored twice on power play and the Czech’s also got a chance to try for a goal on power play but did not succeed.

Both teams switched goalkeepers for the second half of the game and Veronika Hůlková got to work as the US kept on shooting at the goal. The Czech defence got much better for the third period and they were able to block almost all tries to score from Team USA. The home team only scored once during the period and the last period started in USA’s 10-1 lead.

The fourth period only went on for 16 seconds when Campbell Schnurr broke from Czech defence and shot the ring to the net. This was Schnurr’s third goal of the game. Team Czech took advantage of power play and scored for the second time, but USA was clearly the better of the two today. The match ended in Team USA’s 14-2 win.

– We just love playing at this venue. So many fans and everyone was really so excited, Denise Berry from Team USA said after the game. A lot of school groups assembled to Tapiola ice hall today and they kept the atmosphere high, and Berry was thrilled to have been playing in front of such a good audience today.

The Most Valuable Player for Team USA was Sara Hayami and for Team Czech Šarlota Tomasco.

Finland’s U18 team took a win from Sweden in an exhibition game

Photo: Timo Kupiainen

The Finnish U18 team faced off with Team Sweden in an exhibition game that ended in Finland’s clear win. Finland got a good start to the game and scored after only a couple of minutes into the game. Jenni Mikkola scored when Finland had power play of five against three. The first period already set the tone for the game as Finland scored four times during the first 15 minutes.

Team Sweden got to play with five against three as well, but Finland’s defence held their ground and kept the goal empty. The Finns scored only once in the period as Sweden’s Kaisa Juntunen was working tirelessly by the goal posts. Sweden scored twice in the period, even though Finland was controlling the ring more.

Finland kept the control of the game during the third period as well and the numbers started to look it too. The third period ended 2-8 in Finland’s favor. Sweden scored once in the fourth period while Finland scored three more times. The match ended 3-11 for Finland.

– We played well on our own level even though we hadn’t played together for a while. Despite that we made good situations and maybe this was the reason we won, Saaga Tuomi from Team Finland U18 said after the game.

–  Finland was a great opponent, we enjoyed playing with them. We won the second quarter which was the highlight of our game, Sarah Esmail said after the game, at the end of the day we are here because we love the game and we want to play as many games as possible, so it was a great challenge, we had a great time, she concluded.

Sweden’s Kaisa Juntunen and Finland’s Jenni Mikkola were selected as the Most Valuable Players of the game.

Finland victorious against Canada again

Photo: Timo Kupiainen

Canada started strong as Britney Snowdon broke through Finland’s defence and scored in only 28 seconds. Canada was a totally different team from yesterday and was able to control the ring much more.

– I think that the adjustments that we made, we did a really good job at executing those, Erika Kiviaho from Team Canada said after the game, I think it’s important that we don’t lose track of those adjustments and also get a little bit more time on the offence, she concluded some ways to keep improving their game.

The start of the game was quite physical, even though not nearly as many penalties were seen as yesterday in Turku. Canada took a couple of penalties and Finland’s Anne Pohjola scored, which let something loose in Finland’s game play. After that Riikka Sjögren put Finland to lead with a quick shot to the net. Susanna Tapani also scored her first goal of the game and before the end of the first period Sjögren scored skillfully from a rebound shot.

Finland started the second period strong as Tapani broke through Canada’s defence and scored again. Canada answered to this quickly with Jenny Snowdon’s beautiful goal. Canada was controlling the ring and checking quite efficiently, but Finland was more efficient in front of the goal as Katariina Kurikko shot the ring to the right upper corner of the goal. Canada’s Laurie St-Pierre played very well and her hard work kept the net empty for the remainder of the second period.

Finland switched Maria Perkkola out from goalkeepers post and the first-time WRC-goer Hanna Minkkinen in at the beginning of the third period. Minkkinen started strong and was able to stop quite a few Canadians from scoring. As Minkkinen kept Finland’s goal empty, so did St-Pierre on her end of the rink as well and goalkeepers on both teams were responsible for some glorious saves. Not a single goal was seen during the third period, even though both Canadian and Finnish forwards didn’t lack at trying.

As two Finns were warming the penalty box bench, Canada got a chance to play five against three. However, they were not able to score, and the Finns turned the situation around as Tapani broke through yet again and scored Finland’s seventh goal. Tapani’s goal during two Finland penalties seemed to break the Canadian spirits. Finland was able to score three more times as the Canadians didn’t get to control the ring enough to create dangerous shots to Minkkinen’s goal. The match ended in Finland’s 2-10 win.

– Our defence performed well and we made a lot of goals. We still need to improve our ontrol of the ring, crossing the blue lines and finishing, Finland’s Camilla Ojapalo concluded after the game.

The MVP’s of the game were Jenny Snowdon for Team Canada and Riikka Sjögren for Team Finland.