From the opening minutes, very fast hockey was played on both sides, in which there was no shortage of interesting moments. The Americans played power play after 24 seconds, but the situation did not change. On the other hand, Filppula had two chances when he got alone in front of the goalkeeper Mann, but he carefully watched the gap between the concrete. The Finns did not take advantage of the numerical advantage either.
Shortly after its completion, Björninen tried his luck with a backhand, but his attempt was stopped by the top bar. In a game of four on both sides, Manninen found Lehtonen, who finished hard up close, but Mann struck well again. At the end from the first to the exposed goal, he missed the Lammikko disc. The home team then played another power play, Granlund took the renumbering two to one and lined Manna.
Already after 63 seconds, Watson was guilty of the rules, whose intervention with a protruding elbow on Hartikainen’s head was immediately checked by the judges on video, and from the penalty bench they sent the sinner straight to the locker room. Since then, there have been a lot of skirmishes and sharper interventions on the ice, but it was important for the Northerners that they also added goals.
Hartikainen did not succeed in the long numerical advantage at first, but then, after Innal’s perfect record, Filppula prevailed and 54 seconds after him, Manninen increased to 3-0. Overseas selection did not find a counter-weapon even after the end of the five-minute weakening. In the middle of the match, on the other hand, in a game of four on both sides, Lehtonen took advantage of Mann’s obscured view and made a virtually definitive decision.
“It was great how we did in the power play, we understand each other well. We trust each other and we confirmed it in the last matches, when we managed to score a few goals,” said the winner’s striker Teemu Hartikainen.
In the third act, the home team’s Manninen could have scored another goal, but Mann was against. On the other hand, Galchenyuk had the opportunity to arrange at least an honorable success for the Americans, but Olkinuora continued to keep a clean sheet. In the end, however, he did not defend him. It was Galchenyuk who showed his dexterity in the end and with the hockey stick between his legs he closed the score in 58:22.
“We’ve spent too much time in boxing, we definitely can’t go on like this. It was a match full of emotions, but we definitely have to be better in the rest of the tournament. We need to be better prepared and stay calm. We’re here as one team. Last third we played better and at least we have something to build on for the next match, “said American defender Nate Schmidt.
–
