Finland vs Germany
February 20, 2010, by Homme De Sept-Iles
Fin-Ger Musings and In-Game Scribbles
My English is as good as yours, I just write these in a stream-of-consciousness mode that I insist excuses me from small things like rules of grammar or general etiquette. Let’s call it conversational English, hopped up on beans. You know what kind of beans (no, Carl Mellesmoen, not the magic ones).
Finland versus Germany (Preliminary Round)
Friday, February 20, 2010
Missed the game? Musings and In-Game Scribbles are typed during the game then edited and posted. Usually the RDS telecast of the game. Musings take about 20 minutes to read. More detailed than an article, less waiting than for a looping highlight and good with morning coffee.
Olympic Dawg (watching)
Finl-Any Musings and In-Game Scribbles. Or would you prefer Fin-Ger Musings and In-Game Scribbles?
Your goalies are Dimitri Patzold for Germany and Niklas Backstrom for Finland. Patzold plays for ERC Ingolstdt in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. Man, I love it. What a great name.
First Period
Early possession by the Fins ends.
Saku Koivu’s line is on with just over a minute elapsed. The intrepid ex-Jet Teemu Selanne is on with him.
Puck flies out of play.
Niklas Backstrom is in net for Finland.
Pierre McGuire is on colour tonight. He polarizes fans. Overall, I respect him.
We get a shot of Uwe Krup, the German head coach. He looks like a bespectacled Keanu Reaves. He played in the NHL. He’s got style. Nice jacket and haircut. Ah, those Europeans, eh. I’m a Red Rooster guy, myself. Or do you prefer Moxie’s.
Germans dump it in and a Finn defender plays it with a high stick. Whistle.
McGuire is on ice level for the telecast. Behind the boards,eh.
Finns win the faceoff. Pitkanen ices the puck. Drove it in before the red line. McGuire agrees with Gord Walker, who is on play-by-play, that the play counts as a gaffe.
Finns resume control.
Break out. Mini-dump to the slot area is pushed out. Finns again have control.
They work to avoid an offside at the blue line but are whistled nonetheless.
Germans are called. Hooking on the same play.
First wave includes Koivu.
Timonen blasts it from the point off the won faceoff.
Puck goes out of play.
McGuire says that Timonen is a key for the Finn powerplay. Land of a Thousand Lakes.
They control. Koivu has it over the circle. He releases it down low and then gets it back. Sends it crease-ward.
Save and held.
Faceoff. Finns win it. Puck moves around the perimeter briefly. Shot from the blue. Puck sits like a mouse inside the post and on the line. The Finns are fastest. They poke it in.
Finland 1, Germany 0
Finns are not as robust following the goal as I thought they might be. But they settle into a slow controlling rhythm. Jarkko Ruutu gets a shot from the mid-slot. Save.
Fins regroup and send it down again. Line change.
Finns are quick to the puck and the Germans seem cowed by the task in front of them.
They have had zero offensive possessions with fourteen minutes left in the first.
Now the Finns trip and Germany will go to the power-play. Let’s see what they have.
One commercial.
Jokinen got hit hard in the neutral zone.
McGuire says the Germans are big and will “plaster you”.
Mikko Koivu Is on the first kill-pair.
Germany fights and wins the faceoff. Terrier style.
They move the puck with one man on the blue.
Now two.
One shot so far. Second shot goes wide.
Finland’s Jere Lehtinen moves the puck out and nearly creates a two-on-two. But it ends inside the blue.
Spelling error on one of the Ruutu brothers’ jerseys.
The rest of the power-play is in vain. But with thirteen seconds in the power-play, Finland is called. McGuire mentions that Germany has great team speed.
Two-man advantage for ten seconds results in one bad-angle shot for Germany.
Puck is cleared again.
Saku is on the second kill pair.
He is watching the puck on the forecheck as Germany regroups. Tracking it. His great speed is not in evidence thus far. One of my Calgary affiliates said that he saw Saku in a game against the Flames recently and that the former Canadiens captain does not seem to have the same desire as he had in Montreal.
Hmmm.
Germans gaffe around in their slot and nearly give up a goal. No sticks could touch the puck for Finland.
But the power-play ends.
Saku is wearing the captain’s “C” for Finland in this tournament.
This flipping NHL website is not user-friendly and it took me this long to get the team rosters up. Or maybe it’s my outdated browser (I refuse to upgrade because that’s just asking for trouble. Firefox, in this case.)
Oh my god, the names. And the double-t, single-t consistency rule is an optimistic fiction. Some are double. Some are single. Lehtinen. Miettinen. Ruutu. Nittymaki.
Luckily Germany has Michael Wolf, Marcel Goc and Marcel Muller. That should balance it off. Carpal musings.
We’re back from commercial.
Faceoff just outside the Fin blue.
Mikko wins it (Saku’s younger brother).
Germans intercept it inside the Fin red and force a regroup.
Pitkanen moves it up. Fins collect it in the corner to Patzold’s right. Point pass hops over a stick.
Moments later a stoppage occurs.
Finland is apparently the most hockey-crazed country outside of Canada. Saw a special on it (just wanted to say “saw a special on it”. Thanks, Frank.)
Jokinen blasts one over everyone and everything inside the blue. Big boom nothing.
Now Saku is in. Moving into the slot. Same creativity and space awareness. McGuire tells us this move is the “panther jump” as coined by Koivu himself. Go wide and then move to the slot. The shot was wide.
Selanne starts a rush. Gets it to Koivu. Sturm interrupts. Germans ice it now. Pass was too long.
Germans are defending again.
Defenceman Sami Lepisto moves it up for Finland. This incursion is stopped. Next one results in a puck up and out of play.
Finns win the faceoff. They are in and then back out again.
Finland’s Tuomo Ruutu hits defenceman Sven Butenschon in the corner to Patzold’s left. Puck is moved out anyway. At 6-4, 215 pounds, Butenschon is Germany’s largest defenceman.
Germans get their first quality chance. Backstrom is down and leaning back, peering out of his net like a felled grandfather. Germans can’t jam it in.
German forward Manuel Klinge comes in next. Somehow he works his way into the slot uncovered and takes a pass to fire a direct shot. Backstrom takes it away. Best save of the night so far.
Just under a minute in the period.
Koivu is led by Jokinen. He skates over the line and is taken down. With proper international refs, that would be a whistle. Really, it’s a call with today’s NHL refs, too. But the Germans get a pass.
The period ends with Finland regrouping in their own zone.
We hear some over-the-green-hill trumpet music as we go to another needlessly pleasant commercial. Maple syrup.
First Intermission
Finland 1, Germany 0
Only five non-NHLers on Finland’s roster. And only seven NHLers playing for Germany. Four of the five Finlanders are playing for powerful non-NHL programs. Or at least known to me. Ak Bars Kazan, Dynamo Minsk and Avangard Omsk.
The intermission time is wasted on interviewing some guy in a Canada toque. They should be analyzing the game.
This guy is brimming like Brett. Hull. Yay. Yay, hoo.
I have it muted now so I have no idea what’s being said.
They go to another commercial but promise us some panel discussion of the first period.
There are far too many Canadians in these Olympic hockey crowds. Red jerseys everywhere. Give someone else a chance.
Hodge, McKenzie, Pang and Kypreos are on deck.
McKenzie gives us some Finland power-play history and how it relates to their medal successes over the past fifteen years.
Kypreos talks next. It’s hard to concentrate. He always loses me. My brain goes even greyer. His voice goes to white noise. My ears and brain recorded every word but I couldn’t tell you what he said.
Pang is up next. Pang thinks Sweden has the edge. I guess in an upcoming game. What Canadian would dare pick Sweden to win gold. What Canadian would dare pick any team but Canada to win gold.
With very little reason supplied, Sports Illustrated magazine picked Canada to win gold, as well.
Happens in every sport, I suppose. No. That’s too generous.
Here are mine. And if everyone else is excused from providing reasons, I will excuse myself, as well (but you know, I admit I have put some thought into it).
Gold – USA
Silver – Slovakia
Bronze – Russia
Fourth – Finland
I also feel partial to this alignment:
Gold – Sweden
Silver – Slovakia
Bronze – USA
Fourth – Finland
I really don’t want to go with any picks til I’ve seen each team play. But I will say this: Ryan Miller is the best goalie in the NHL. And he is the best goalie in the tournament. Will that be enough? Russia has the best offensive roster and Sweden has the best overall team. What does it all add up to? Certainly not medals for all. Or maybe just those three.
Second Period
Finland 1, Germany 0
Long German pass is called for icing. Again. This one was from Christian Ehrhoff.
Finns win the faceoff. Selanne shoots. It beats Patzold. It trickles. Only black jerseys around. Germany clears.
Finns begin to pressure. Selanne and Koivu cycle it. Two passes. Now it’s to the point. Down the side to Saku. He carries it up, floating to the blue line. Releases. And more buzz. And now a German penalty.
Mikko and Niklas Hagman are on the first wave. Janne Niskala and Pitkanen are the defence pairing for Finland.
They create two quality chances. The keep it going.
About six complete passes til Mikko’s backhand pass is intercepted.
Finns have to chase and reset. Am I allowed to spell it “Fins”? I’m just time-conscious.
Saku’s line is on for the second wave. They have it at the hash. Saku. Looks, still gliding. Low. Now back up the boards. Passes. To the end line beside the net to Jokinen. Through the crease. It’s in. Kimmo Timonen advanced from the blue to the crease to tip in the perfect pass from Jokinen.
Finland 2, Germany 0
Just over fifteen minutes left in the second period.
Germany responds with pressure of their own. They’re behind the Finland net and nearly send a pass to the crease. Finland closes the lanes and moves the puck out.
They resume control. Pace is slow throughout. But deliberate. It’s like watching two teams that play a lot of zone. Two, uh, football teams.
I like this kind of hockey. It’s precise.
Salo misses a pass. Christian Ehrhoff is the beneficiary. But a whistle follows soon afterward.
I hope not too many non-Canadians are watching our commercials. I’m so embarrassed. I prefer our stoic and humble image. This new image master is not doing it for me. I don’t need jigs, fiddles and shots of crowds to stoke my Canadian nationalism. I have it without prompting. And it’s conversational. Not torch-bearing and hectoring. Surround the moat, boys! She’s a gonna get a-wee!
Finland keeps the passing going. They are two strides ahead of Germany now. Saku has it low. Nobody challenges him. He leaves it for a teammate.
Finland is controlling as if it’s a power-play. McGuire says the Germans are doing a good job taking away the five-man cycle. And they do take the puck away. Interesting. I’d like to sit down with Pierre and a chalkboard and just listen to his theories.
Faceoff to Backstrom’s right.
Fins lead on shots 16-10.
Eleven minutes left in the second.
Finns are taking the body a bit more. Ville Peltonen and Jarkko Ruutu both deliver checks behind the German net.
Puck leaves the German zone and Finland is able to retrieve and regroup. They send it in to get their own line change now.
Germany’s Marco Sturm chases the puck down the side. Goch keeps it in. Sturm has it. Shot. Backstrom gets most of it but it rolls to the goal line. Backstrom gets it at the last moment. Finland clears.
Moments later Patzold smothers a disc in his crease after a mild save.
Faceoff inside the German blue. Finland comes up with it.
Germans are behind on most key stats. At least from my anecdotal observations. Less hits, won faceoffs and captured pucks.
They lose another faceoff but the post-drop stick melee results in a pass to the point. Shot goes wide. Finland exits.
Filppula has it on the boards to Patzold’s left.
Finns’ continue their control.
Filppula and Mikko Koivu work the puck. Another Koivu backhand pass is intercepted. A no-looker.
Mikko strikes me as a bit too certain as a player. He’s got it all, though. He could be a regular first-team all-star in the coming years. We shall see.
Some chaos ensues. Germans fall. They are out of position.
Peltonen advances to the circles to shoot an errant puck. Wide.
Commercial. There is altogether too much pressure on women to wear skirts. It still exists. It’s subtle and much less frequent. But it’s there. Ask around.
Faceoff to Patzold’s left. What an ideal last name to have for an Industrial Tournament like this one. Gold.
They should give out different awards for each Olympics.
Germany moves in. Sturm. Backstrom is on his knees. He makes the moves needed anyway. And Germany is called. McGuire expresses his disappointment in the timing of the infraction. Germany’s Jochen Hecht. McGuire says it takes away any of the momentum from the sharpness of the last incursion.
Finland sets up their power-play.
Jokinen is in the slot and doin’ the screen thang. Very well, I might add. Voop. Left. Voop. Right.
Saku and Selanne are on, too.
Excellent control. Germany’s defenders are working a diamond. And they are doing well to take away passing lanes.
But a long shooting lane is there. Shot from the point sees nothing but net. Pitkanen. Scores.
Finland 3, Germany 0
Selanne gets an assist, Saku retrieves the puck and Teemu is the scoringest player in Olympic history.
McGuire says that Finland has the most veterans of the tournament and that they will be a team to be reckoned with before it’s done.
They discuss Selanne’s passion for the game.
Selanne is wearing a chin-guard along with the regulation visor. Selanne’s career 37 points is announced and evinces a standing ovation. We aren’t shown how many people actually stood but whoever did made a nice gesture, to be sure.
Germany’s colours remind me of Vancouver’s yellow and black uniforms from the eighties. Oh, you know which ones. I loved them. Or something. Brassy, anyway. Well, I loved that they existed. The dark ones were better.
Finland has another power-play.
They control with aplomb.
Mikko Koivu blasts one. Twenty-five footer. It’s wide. And cleared.
Time runs out on the period.
Second Intermission
Finland 3, Germany 0
I like how some woman claims to be a naturopathic doctor on this commercial and then recommends some man-made drug. Waste of thirty precious seconds. Hey. The NHL record is three goals in twenty-one seconds. A lot can happen.
There is no hockey analysis during this intermission. Just some flag-waving and some very expensive commercial spots.
We don’t need an Industrial Tournament to have some cool hockey matchups. And we don’t need commercial to have a pro league. We never did.
And, by the way, the next time you have an upset stomach, have a glass of water. What spinning spatulas.
We see some replays. Goal replays. Boring. I’d rather have some analysis of the game.
Third Period
Finland 3, Germany 0
Goc loses the faceoff to Mikko Koivu.
Finland retreats, starts their breakout and then go offside.
Uwe Krupp is talking to himself.
McGuire says he has to squeeze a lot out of a little. Seven NHLers. And the best of them is probably Jochen Hecht. Or maybe Marco Sturm. They are both second-line guys. Good players but no comparison to the heavyweight teams in the tournament.
Saku circles the rear of the German net. Rubber-elbows it over to the slot. Germany negates it.
Finland is back and making trouble again. Patzold has to make a save. Knees. Retains. Faceoff.
Miettinen line is on. He has it briefly after a long pass but loses it crossing the blue.
Now Germany starts their breakout. Schmidt has to circle back. The breakout fails. Finland ices.
Faceoff to Backstrom’s left.
Kapanen loses the draw. But team blue and white has it back.
Another whistle.
There is no criminal behaviour tonight. No thuggish gestures. I guess the teams involved have a lot to do with that.
Interesting that some fans are eager to apply the thug label to black NBA, CFL and NFL players but are offended when the same terms are applied to white NHL players. Take note. It’s an interesting double-standard. I wonder how many are aware that they do it?
What is Germany going to do to get pressure on Backstrom? They try a dump and chase and that fails.
Finland is forechecking with one man.
They intercept a pass inside the German blue line and nearly get an opportunity. Germany stops it.
Faceoff.
Finland wins it. Swerve and lean. Turning circles are gulls with sticks. Patzold has the angle. No fish and no shriek. This time. Faceoff.
Finland resumes control. Each battle is crucial. Each effort must be made if you are German.
If they can complete five passes in a row, they’ll have some chances. But they are not able to. Finland is beating them to the pucks.
McGuire believes that Jokinen is doing more for Finland than he did in his time in Calgary. Gord Walker defends Jokinen and suggests that teammates and ice time may have been factors. McGuire responds that he did the Flames playoff games last year and that Jokinen had good linemates and plenty of ice time. He says it was an “el foldo”.
Chemistry doesn’t happen quickly. That’s my only suggestion. It was Jokinen’s first season with the Flames.
Any takers?
McGuire is a lot of things but one thing he isn’t, is culturally biased. He calls em as objectively as a hockey humanoid possibly can.
Finland scores.
No coverage.
Tuomo Ruutu. Was allowed to receive a puck and then make a backhand move. He is hit after the goal is scored. Germany’s defensive coverage is too passive.
Finland 4, Germany 0
Mikko gets in alone in the crease. Backhand. Sure goal.
Certain save.
Patzold shows great quickness and commitment.
McGuire says it’s a spectacular save.
From the side, I can see Mikko’s resemblance to Saku. Never thought they had any similarity facially til that brief shot there.
Eleven and a half minutes left in the third.
McGuire says that Jarkko Ruutu is a character. They show his first Olympic goal ever. It happened another year.
Jarkko Ruutu is a character, alright. No, he’s no Dalmatian.
Germany is called for tripping.
Finland wins the faceoff. Pitkanen has it on the point. Fires. Scores. Gord says that too eight seconds. Mikko won the faceoff.
Finland 5, Germany 0
Slapper from the middle of the blue. One-timer. Patzold didn’t see it.
Germany can’t do anything. It’s one finger less. As each minute agonizes by.
Finnish cliff.
They don’t give up. Mueller swerves in the corner to Backstrom’s left. But within instants, Finland lifts the puck and they are down and dangerous. Again.
Germany is forechecking with two men. Defencemen are advancing. They’ve pulled out the stops. But they should have done so in the first five minutes of the period. Easy for me to say, I know.
But at 3-0, why wait?
Now it’s 5-0 with just under ten minutes.
Germany is in. Alexander Sulzer carries it in from his own blue line a la Larry. Sulzer is a defenceman.
Turned away.
Germans regroup. I’d nickname them the Germs but I’d get misconstrued on it. It’s just a dag nickname. Ah, well.
Germa? Gers?
G-men?
Hecht drives in on the left. Gets a shot.
Greilinger gets a shot from the circle now. Wolf’s forecheck helped create that chance. McGuire notes Jokinen not competing hard enough on that sequence. I have to chuckle. McGuire is a persistent man. And he has one of those never-forget memory sticks. Luckily there’s limited space on those. But you can get a lot on there.
Uh, I would know.
Action is intense now. First time. Germany is going after Finland. They’re playing with a sense of urgency that’s been missing for all of this game.
Shots are 32-18 in favour of Finland right now. Just under seven minutes in the game.
Walker is getting conversational now. Just do the play-by-play.
Finland has it deep. Puck goes high.
Mikko Koivu has an intimidating on-ice demeanour. Unforgiving.
Advertisement.
Germany drives. Greilinger. Turning near the blue. Taking a pass. Pivot and shot. Long wrister. Stopped but Backstrom lets it bounce off him. Picked up by Finland. Must have been purposeful as there were no other G-Men around.
Germany goes to the box. Again.
Five and a half minutes left in the game.
First entry is stopped. Saku’s line is the first wave.
Goc and Muller are the kill-pair.
Selanne hits the post from thirty feet.
Koivu is quarterbacking from the phone booth and up to the blue. With this team, he doesn’t have to go to the slot. Man. Imagine if he’d had one big linemate in Montreal. One that goes to the net. So, uh, Higgins doesn’t count. Ryder was always in the Dagenais area; high slot and such. Koivu and Tim Kerr.
Imagining.
Finnish power-play is sputtering.
Germany gets three men in. Shot from the slot. Backstrom has to be sharp. And is.
Just under three minutes and the Germans make it out without giving up the sixth.
Germans work it on the Finnish boards and draw a penalty.
Puck goes high and Backstrom fields it.
Ruutu was holding. Jarkko. Not a fan.
First sequence is a clear by Finland.
Germany starts off from behind their net. Seidenberg lobs it in. Whistle. Puck went out of play.
Finland wins the faceoff and clears.
Too much flubbing by the Germans. One guy does something good but the other guy doesn’t or can’t support it. Where is the team speed McGuire mentioned?
Faceoff outside the Icelandic zone. Ah, I just wanted to hear it that way.
Ice. Blue. White. I’m just some ignorant Canuck in the end.
Germany’s Sturm works in the corner. Gets it to Goc. To the point. Kapanen forces them out.
Twenty seconds in the power-play. And just thirty seconds in the game.
Finland clears.
Patzold fires it up to start a rush. It ends in a puck smother by Backstrom. Faceoff is to his right. No Barker.
Puck mumbles and rolls out of the zone.
Germany gets one last rush. Backhander is weak and turned away easily.
Finland 5
Germany 0
HDS Stars: Joni Pitkanen, Teemu Selanne, Marco Sturm
TSN Stars: They don’t do stars at TSN, methinks
Dommage
We are told after the telecast that Tomas Plekanec scored a goal today for the Czechs. Ok, we aren’t told but I see his name on the scoring summary. I feel great. A Plekanec goal is a Plekanec goal. Whether it is tape-delayed and odd-jerseyed. Montreal scored today. Montreal scored. (Czechs won 5-2 over Latvia)
I kind of miss Ante-Chambre. But I don’t miss the pain. There is always pain regardless of what the scoreboard says.
The player I’m thinking about most these days, who knows why, is Marc-Andre Bergeron. I dunno.
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