YLINIEMI’S FOUR POINTS LEAD FINLAND TO FIRST WIN

by Heather McIntyre

Finland is finally into the win column at the 2008 IIHF World Women’s Under-18 Championship after a 7-2 win over Germany in a placement game on Saturday night.

The Finns, who went winless through the round robin and were outscored 26-5, will met Germany for 5th place on Saturday afternoon (1:30 p.m. MT) looking for redemption – Germany beat the Finns 4-2 in the tournament opener for both on Monday night.

In a first period that saw an almost unbelievable 39 shots – 26 for the Finns and 13 for the Germans – Karoliina Maenpanen and Pia Lund put pucks past Swiss goaltender Sophie Anthamatten to give the Finns a 2-0 lead within the first 10 minutes.

Swiss Player of the Game Fabiola Bachmann scored a powerplay goal for the Germans late in the period, cutting the lead in half heading into the intermission.

Finland continued to dominate in the second period, and did not waste any time lengthening their lead.

Linda Valimaki beat Anthamatten just 3:28 after the period’s opening face-off, roofing a shot over the shoulder of the Swiss netminder, and Maiju Yliniemi put the Finns up 4-1 less than two minutes later.

Valimaki scored her second of the period on a slapshot from close range at 13:39, and the Finns headed to their dressing room up 5-1 after 40 minutes.

Switzerland came out with their strongest effort in the third period and cut the lead to three goals when forward Andrea Fischer finished off a pass from Camille Balanche.

The Swiss pressure continued after Fischer’s goal, and forced Finland to call a timeout. Whatever was said on the Finnish bench had some effect, as Yliniemi potted her second goal of the night off the ensuing face-off, restoring the Finns’ four goal lead at 6-2.

Yliniemi added two assists to her total, finishing with a game-high four points.

Needing a minor miracle to pull out the victory, the Swiss pulled Anthamatten with five minutes to go, and a Finnish penalty gave them a six-on-four advantage.

After Finnish goaltender – and Player of the Game – Piia Raty robbed Swiss forward Sara Benz, Tanja Niskanen took the puck the other way and rounded out the scoring with an empty net goal.

The loss sends Switzerland to the 7th-lace game against Russia on Saturday morning (9:30 a.m. MT).