International Ice Hockey Federation

Finns win again

Finns win again

Home team claims Karjala Tournament

Published 27.01.2014 20:02 GMT+4 | Author Martin Merk
Finns win again
Reason to celebrate: Finland finished the 2013 Karjala Tournament ahead of Russia while Petri Kontiola (left) was named Best Forward of the event. Photo: Richard Wolowicz / HHOF-IIHF Images
Finland continued its winning ways in the Euro Hockey Tour and also claimed the second event, the Karjala Tournament, on home ice in Helsinki.

Finland extended its undefeated streak this season to 5-0 when it defeated Russia 4-3 on Thursday and the Czech Republic 3-2 on Saturday. A 3-2 overtime loss against neighbouring Sweden was enough to claim first place again and to extend the lead in the Euro Hockey Tour. The Finns now have 16 points out of six games, seven more than second-placed Russia.

Strong team play was the key for the Finnish Lions. Petri Kontiola was named Best Forward with two points and led the offence in scoring together with Jori Lehterä and Sakari Salminen. Only one Finnish player had more points, defenceman Jere Karalahti.

However, in team statistics the Finns shone. They created most shots on goal, 94, and allowed the fewest, 74. With these figures it even didn’t matter that the Finns were not that efficient either in scoring nor in the goalies’ save percentages.

Individually it was players from other teams who had a great weekend. Swede Henrik Karlsson was named Best Goalkeeper with a save percentage of 97.01 per cent. Not bad for a player who has yet to play in a big event. The 29-year-old returned from three years with limited ice time in the NHL and AHL to play only his second full season in the top Swedish league where he signed with Skellefteå, the current leader of the Swedish Elitserien.

Russian goalkeeper Alexander Yeryomenko also had a strong showing with a 96.23% save percentage while his teammate Andrei Zubarev was named Best Defenceman.

The scoring stats were dominated by Swedes and Russians. Pär Arlbrandt was the scoring leader with two goals and two assists for four points followed by his teammates David Ullström (1+3), Linus Klasen (3+0) and Russia’s Enver Lisin (2+1).

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Russia recovered from the opening night loss to Finland and earned second place with a 5-2 victory over Sweden and a 2-0 blanking of the Czech Republic. Sweden still had a chance to take the tournament on the last day, but the overtime win against the Finns wasn’t enough to improve from third place. The Czechs finished in last place for the second straight tournament.

The next best event among men’s national teams in the November break is traditionally the Deutschland Cup in Munich. This year it was won by a Team USA composed of players from various European leagues led by Tim Stapleton, Peter Mueller, Clay Wilson and Jeremy Dehner.

The Americans didn’t start the tournament like a favourite, losing to eventually fourth-ranked Slovakia 4-3 in a shootout and narrowly avoiding a defeat in the second game against Switzerland. Team USA managed to turn a 4-2 deficit against the Swiss with three goals in the last 13 minutes of play to get the first win. And also in the last game against Germany they claimed a 7-4 victory despite having been behind 3-1.

The seven points were exactly enough to finish the tournament one point ahead of Switzerland. The Swiss seemed to be a pre-tournament favourite as the recent silver medalists of the 2013 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, but two weeks before the event head coach Sean Simpson announced that he will form two teams for the November and December breaks with the B-team in Munich and a roster of almost all World Championship silver medalists next month on home ice in Arosa.

Simpson wasn’t happy about the last-minute loss to the U.S. that cost his team the tournament win. However, he was proud that the young players of his second squad managed to beat a hard-working German team 3-2 in a shootout and to blank a Slovak team with almost all top players from the KHL and other European leagues 3-0.

It was a bitter ending on Sunday for Germany whose captain Michael Wolf scored four goals. In front of a sell-out crowd of 6,000 fans at the ice rink in the Olympic Park of 1972 the Germans were close to defending last year’s tournament winners but ended up in third place after the United States’ coming-from-behind win.

Even worse were the results after the game. Voters in Munich, Garmisch-Partenkirchen and two more Bavarian communities said “Nein” to the 2022 Olympic Winter Games bid, which will not be entered before the IOC’s deadline on Thursday. The bid was one of the reasons the tournament has been staged in Munich for the last few in hopes of garnering more local support for the Games.

In Stavanger, Denmark won both exhibition games against host Norway, 4-3 and 3-2. Morten Madsen scored three goals for the Danish team. Latvia hosted two exhibition games in Riga defeating Russia’s B-team 4-1 in the first game while losing the second 4-3 in a shootout.

A Euro Ice Hockey Challenge took place in another Olympic city, Innsbruck. And there France confirmed its upward trend from recent years. Les Bleus defeated Austria 3-1, edged this season’s World Championship host Belarus in a 2-1 shootout victory and sealed the tournament win by beating Slovenia 5-3.

It wasn’t always easy though. The French had to rely on scoring efficiency as they were outshot in each game. In the last match Slovenia even got the lead early in the third period before France replied with three unanswered markers. Nicolas Ritz (2+2) and Damien Fleury (3+0) had three great days of offensive action and efficiency while both goalkeepers – Florian Hardy and Ronan Quemener – were above the 95 per cent mark.

Belarus finished in second place thanks to a 3-0 blanking of Austria on the last day and despite being beaten by the same result against Slovenia in the first game.

Among the best players of coach Glen Hanlon’s team were Vitali Koval and Vitali Belinski. The two goalkeepers had a save percentage of just over 95 per cent while Canada-born Kevin Lalande didn’t play in the net. But the other naturalized Canadian, Geoff Platt, had his first games in the Belarusian jersey. Offensively, Yevgeni Kovyrshin was the most productive Belarusian with three points (2+1).

Austria and Slovenia, the two teams relegated to Division I this year but who won their qualification tournaments for Sochi 2014, finished the tournament with one win each. Austria claimed third place in a 2-0 victory against the Slovenes.

 

Euro Hockey Tour - Karjala-turnaus in Finland

7 Nov.

Helsinki

Russia

-

Finland

3-4

7 Nov.

Gävle (SWE)

Sweden

-

Czech Rep.

6-0

9 Nov.

Helsinki

Sweden

-

Russia

2-5

9 Nov.

Helsinki

Finland

-

Czech Rep.

3-2

10 Nov.

Helsinki

Czech Rep.

-

Russia

0-2

10 Nov.

Helsinki

Finland

-

Sweden

2-3 OT

 

Standings: 1. Finland 7, 2. Russia 6, 3. Sweden 5, 4. Czech Rep. 0.

Standings EHT: 1. Finland 16, 2. Russia 9, 3. Sweden 8, 4. Czech Rep. 3.

 

Deutschland Cup in Germany

8 Nov.

Munich

USA

-

Slovakia

3-4 SO

8 Nov.

Munich

Germany

-

Switzerland

2-3 SO

9 Nov.

Munich

Germany

-

Slovakia

2-0

9 Nov.

Munich

Switzerland

-

USA

4-5

10 Nov.

Munich

Slovakia

-

Switzerland

0-3

10 Nov.

Munich

USA

-

Germany

7-4

 

Standings: 1. USA 7, 2. Switzerland 5, 3. Germany 4, 4. Slovakia 2.

 

Euro Ice Hockey Challenge in Austria

7 Nov.

Innsbruck

Belarus

-

Slovenia

0-3

7 Nov.

Innsbruck

France

-

Austria

3-1

8 Nov.

Innsbruck

France

-

Belarus

2-1 SO

8 Nov.

Innsbruck

Austria

-

Slovenia

2-0

9 Nov.

Innsbruck

Slovenia

-

France

2-5

9 Nov.

Innsbruck

Austria

-

Belarus

0-3

 

Standings: 1. France, 2. Belarus 4, 3. Austria 3, 4. Slovenia 3.

 

Euro Ice Hockey Challenge in Hungary

8 Nov.

Budapest

Romania

-

Ukraine

1-6

8 Nov.

Budapest

Hungary

-

Poland

2-1 SO

9 Nov.

Budapest

Ukraine

-

Poland

2-5

9 Nov.

Budapest

Hungary

-

Romania

5-0

10 Nov.

Budapest

Poland

-

Romania

6-0

10 Nov.

Budapest

Ukraine

-

Hungary

1-0

 

Standings: 1. Poland 7, 2. Ukraine 6, 3. Hungary 5, 4. Romania 0.

 

Other games

8 Nov.

Riga

Latvia

-

Russia B

4-1

8 Nov.

Stavanger

Norway

-

Denmark

3-4

9 Nov.

Riga

Latvia

-

Russia B

3-4 SO

9 Nov.

Stavanger

Norway

-

Denmark

2-3

 

 

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