RASK ROCKS AS FINLAND ELIMINATES SWEDEN

By Lucas Aykroyd

The quarter-final between Nordic hockey rivals turned into a tense waiting game, and Finland outlasted Sweden, triumphing 1-0 on defenceman Teemu Laakso’s power play goal with 34 seconds left in overtime. The Finns will face Canada in Tuesday’s first semi-final at GM Place (16:00 PAC), while Sweden will play for fifth place on Wednesday.

Tuukka Rask put on the greatest goaltending display of the tournament to date, posting 53 saves for the shutout. Sweden’s Daniel Larsson had 24 stops.

On the winning goal, Finnish defenceman Timo Seppanen’s point shot ended up in Lauri Tukonen’s skates in front of the Swedish goal. The Finnish power forward swiveled and couldn’t control the puck, but it squirted loose to Laakso in the faceoff circle to Swedish goalie Daniel Larsson’s left, and he fired it high into the net over the sprawling netminder and Swedish defenders.

The first period started out at a cautious pace as the teams felt each other out, occasionally throwing hits along the boards.

At 4:03, Backstrom was slashed by Leo Komarov as he cut out of the corner to Rask’s left and nearly stuffed the puck past the goalie’s blocker. The Swedes applied pressure around the Finnish goal on the power play, but Rask was there every time.

Fredrik Petterson had two dangerous chances on the rush at the end of the period, but again, Rask stood his ground. Sweden had the better of the play and outshot Finland 20-6 in the first.

Bergfors had a pair of great chances for Sweden in the fifth minute, as Rask first denied the Swedish forward’s hard wraparound attempt at the right post and then a follow-up shot from the faceoff.

Halfway through the game, the Swedes had the Finns so hemmed in that some Canadian fans began chanting “Let’s go, Finland!” for the first time in the game.

The Finns started playing the trap, and at one point both teams were standing still in the Swedish zone as Tre Kronor looked for an opportunity to break out.

At 13:46, Finland’s Jesse Joensuu was tagged for elbowing, and more Swedish power play pressure resulted, with Rask making a nice save on a Sebastian Karlsson wrister off to the goalie’s right. Just as the penalty expired, Johannes Salomonsson stickhandled his way right in front with Rask sprawled out of position, but failed to put the puck into the empty net as the Finns desperately knocked over the Swedish attackers.

Finland’s Petteri Wirtanen had a monster shift to start the third period, throwing two big hits deep in the Swedish zone and then going to the front of the net, where he nearly tucked one past Larsson, who had to be alert to cover up by his left post.

A small group of fans chanted “We want a goal!” as the two teams kept virtually all the play on the perimeter, seemingly afraid to take any risks.

Near the midway mark of the third period, Finland’s Jari Sailio raced down left wing and took a wrist shot that hit Larsson’s glove and flipped over it, barely trickling past the goal post as the Swedish goalie stood immobile.

The hitting picked up with less than 10 minutes remaining in regulation time, and Leo Komarov got a little carried away, tackling a Swedish forward in the Finnish zone at 12:27. The Swedes swarmed Rask’s crease but couldn’t tuck home their close-in chances.

At 17:41, Timo Seppanen was called for high-sticking off a faceoff in the Finnish zone, and Rask stood on his head during the Swedish power play. He stoned Johannes Salomonsson twice in a row right in front of his crease. The Swedish forward clutched his head in disbelief after Rask’s saves.

In the extra stanza, Rask had to be solid on a wraparound attempt by Nicklas Bergfors and two whacks by Johan Ryno coming around the Finnish goal.

With 2:07 left in overtime, Sweden’s Tobias Viklund was called for tripping in the offensive zone, and Finland took full advantage of its chance to win the game with Laakso’s tally.

Finland has now won four straight games versus Sweden at the IIHF World Junior Championships.

The Players of the Game were Johannes Salmonsson for Sweden, and, of course, Tuukka Rask for Finland. The fans chanted “Rask! Rask” as the netminder accepted his award, and even Salomonsson gave him a disbelieving smile and a congratulatory slap.The quarter-final between Scandinavia’s hockey rivals turned into a tense waiting game, and Finland outlasted Sweden, triumphing 1-0 on defenceman Teemu Laakso’s power play goal with 34 seconds left in overtime. The Finns will face Canada in Tuesday’s first semi-final at GM Place (16:00 PAC, TSN/RDS), while Sweden will play for fifth place on Wednesday.

Tuukka Rask put on the greatest goaltending display of the tournament to date, posting 53 saves for the shutout. Sweden’s Daniel Larsson had 24 stops.

“I was really tired after the game, very tired,” said Rask. “It was a big win for us. I just have to concentrate for tomorrow’s game, but I have good self-confidence.”

“I thought Finland’s goaltender certainly was the difference here tonight,” said Team Canada Head Coach Brent Sutter, who watched the game closely. “He played extremely well for them. He stopped 50-plus shots, and some of them obviously were very difficult ones.”

“It’s tough,” said Swedish Head Coach Torgny Bendelin. “It’s really tough. The Finnish team took the little, little chance they got. I’m proud of my team. I’ve been in the game for 27 years, and I’ve been with the [national] team for three years. This is maybe the toughest loss in my career.”

On the winning goal, Finnish defenceman Timo Seppanen’s point shot ended up in Lauri Tukonen’s skates in front of the Swedish net. The Finnish power forward swiveled and couldn’t control the puck, but it squirted loose to Laakso in the faceoff circle to Swedish goalie Daniel Larsson’s left, and he fired it high into the net over the sprawling netminder and Swedish defenders.

“I’m as happy as I can be,” said Laakso. “It was awesome. Rask played a really good game, and one goal was enough.”

The first period started out at a cautious pace as the teams felt each other out, occasionally throwing hits along the boards.

At 4:03, Backstrom was slashed by Leo Komarov as he cut out of the corner to Rask’s left and nearly stuffed the puck past the goalie’s blocker. The Swedes applied pressure around the Finnish goal on the ensuing power play, but Rask was there every time.

Sweden’s Fredrik Pettersson had two dangerous chances off the rush at the end of the period, but again, Rask stood his ground.

Sweden had the better of the play and outshot Finland 20-6 in the first.

Halfway through the game, the Swedes had the Finns so hemmed in that some Canadian fans began chanting “Let’s go, Finland!” for the first time in the game.

The Finns started playing the trap, and at one point both teams were standing still in the Swedish zone as Tre Kronor looked for an opportunity to break out.

At 13:46 of the second period, Finland’s Jesse Joensuu was tagged for elbowing, and more Swedish power play pressure resulted, with Rask making a nice save on a Sebastian Karlsson wrister. Just as the penalty expired, Johannes Salomonsson stickhandled his way right in front with Rask sprawling, but failed to put the puck into the empty net as the Finns desperately knocked over the Swedish attackers.

Finland’s Petteri Wirtanen had a monster shift to start the third period, throwing two big hits deep in the Swedish zone and then going to the front of the net, where he nearly tucked one past Larsson, who alertly covered up by his left post.

A small group of fans chanted “We want a goal!” as the two teams kept virtually all the play on the perimeter, seemingly afraid to take any risks.

Near the midway mark of the third period, Finland’s Jari Sailio raced down left wing and took a wrist shot that hit Larsson’s glove and barely trickled past the goal post as the Swedish goalie stood immobile.

The hitting picked up with less than 10 minutes remaining in regulation time, and Leo Komarov got carried away, tackling a Swedish forward in the Finnish zone at 12:27. The Swedes swarmed Rask’s crease on the power play but couldn’t tuck home their close-in chances.

With 2:19 left in regulation, Timo Seppanen was called for high-sticking after a faceoff in the Finnish zone, and Rask stood on his head during the Swedish power play. He stoned Johannes Salomonsson twice in a row right in front of his crease. The Swedish forward clutched his head in disbelief after Rask’s saves.

In the extra stanza, Rask had to be solid on a wraparound attempt by Nicklas Bergfors and two whacks by Johan Ryno coming around the Finnish goal.

With 2:07 left in overtime, Sweden’s Tobias Viklund was called for tripping in the offensive zone, and Finland took full advantage of its chance to win the game with Laakso’s tally.

The Swedes didn’t like the call. “It’s a [lousy] penalty,” said Pettersson. “He’s just trying to get the puck and the guy’s stepping on his stick. How can you take a penalty like that?”

But it doesn’t matter. Finland has now won four straight games versus Sweden at the IIHF World Junior Championships.

“I am a lucky coach,” said Finnish Head Coach Hannu Aravirta. “In every game, we nominate the ‘Lion of the Game,’ and this time it went to the [entire] team. I can imagine Sweden is very disappointed. They had chances to win the game. But when you fight with big heart and you have excellent goalkeeping, anything can happen.”

The Players of the Game were Johannes Salmonsson for Sweden, and, of course, Tuukka Rask for Finland. The fans chanted “Rask! Rask” as the netminder accepted his award, and even Salomonsson gave him a disbelieving smile and a congratulatory slap.

“He’s a good goalie,” said Petterson. “He’s a very good goalie. We had [more than 50] shots and he took them all.”

“We don’t play the style of game or the systems that those two teams played,” Sutter commented, looking ahead to Tuesday. “Finland might play differently against us. They’re a team that’s going to compete and compete very hard.”

PREVIEW: SWEDEN - FINLAND

By Dhiren Mahiban

Sweden: After dropping the opener against the Russians 5-1, the Swedes stormed back to win their next three, earning the right to play Finland in a quarter-final matchup tonight. In their final three games of the Round Robin, Tre Kronor outscored its opponents 19-5. In goal, the tandem of Daniel Larsson and Magnus Akerlund have split duties throughout the tournament, Larsson has a 2-0 record from wins over the Czechs and Slovaks, while Akerlund dropped the opener against the Russians but followed that up with a 10-2 victory over Latvia. Defencemen Oscar Hedman and Anton Stralman boast the tournament’s best plus-minus ratings at +9 and +6 respectively. Up front, the tandem of Nicklas Backstrom and Sebastian Karlsson have led the way for the Swedes. Both Backstrom and Karlsson have three goals and three assists, good for a share of fifth place in the scoring derby. This one is almost too close to call, but based on the Round Robin victories they racked up, the Swedes may finally be ready to turn the corner after years of disappointments.

Finland: The Finns were intimidated versus Canada and sloppy, if occasionally inspired, versus the USA. However, they’ve rebounded, showing good offensive confidence in a 9-1 thrashing of Norway and competitive poise in a 4-1 win over Switzerland. Now it’s a matter of how they’ll cope versus their great historical rival, Sweden. At the senior level, the Finns have often collapsed psychologically against Tre Kronor, such as in the 2003 IIHF World Championship quarter-final in Helsinki, where they led Sweden 5-1 but wound up losing 6-5. But in World Junior play, Finland actually has the edge, accumulating a record of 13 wins, 10 losses and two ties between 1977 and 2005. Finland has beaten Sweden in the last three meetings (5-4 and 4-3 in 2005, 3-2 in 2003), with its last loss coming in 2001 (5-1 Sweden). If the Finns have a concern heading into this game, it could be the penalty-killing, which is limping along at 72.4 percent. Goalie Tuukka Rask has gotten his confidence back after a rough outing against Canada, and the hard-nosed Lauri Tukonen and Aki Seitsonen are keying the Finnish offense, supplemented by the creative instincts of Perttu Lindgren. Every member of the defence corps enjoys a positive plus-minus rating. Today, it’s just a matter of how they execute. It’ll be interesting to see which (if either) team gets the most cheers from the Canadian crowd today.