From Canada’s perspective, forward Connor McDavid said they’re treating it like a Game 7.
“The difference probably between Canada and Finland is we have massive expectations in front of us, but expectations don’t win hockey games,” Canada coach Jon Cooper said. “You have to go out there and perform and I think our team has performed extremely well.”
The Canadians, though, lost to the Americans 3-1 in an emotionally charged, memorable round-robin game at Bell Centre on Saturday. They would like nothing more to get another shot at the U.S., but first they get the Finns, and no, they’re not worried about looking past them.
“You have to marvel at the Finns because you can go to any tournament and they always seem to be the team that probably never gets the respect they deserve until they’re in the final, and then you’re like, ‘Whoa, how did Finland get here?'” Cooper said. “But it’s every tournament. It’s World Juniors. They could be World Championships. They’re always, always, always hanging around and it’s because they just play a disciplined style. I think everybody in the country knows exactly how they play. They have an identity to them. Now you look and all of a sudden you’re like ‘Wow, that’s (Mikko) Rantanen and that’s (Aleksander) Barkov and that’s (Sebastian) Aho and that’s (Artturi) Lehkonen.’ You just go down the list of guys that have either won Cups or been the guys that have propelled their teams to win at playoff time. And then they’ve always had sneaky good goaltending, always.”
For Finland, it’s been an emotional rollercoaster, losing 6-1 to the U.S. in a game that was 2-1 going into the third period before coming back to defeat rival Sweden 4-3 in overtime on Saturday, setting up the chance to advance to the final with a regulation win against Canada.
“I think we were just [ticked],” forward Erik Haula said of the Finns’ emotions after losing to the U.S.
Finland defenseman Henri Jokiharju said to defeat the Canadians, the key is to play them much the way the U.S. did; strong defensively, always in structure, smart with the puck, with little risk.
“We’ve got to stick together and take their best guys, try to take them out of the game,” Jokiharju said. “Stick together, skate hard, make good plays with the puck. It can’t be just throwing it around. You’ve got to be smart for sure against these guys.”
The Swedes could be going through some emotional highs and lows as the Canada-Finland game plays out. They know if it ends in regulation they will be eliminated, but the mindset, as Hallam mentioned, is to prepare as if the game means everything to them.
In fact, Sweden defenseman Mattias Ekholm said an attack mindset is what the Swedes need now after consecutive 4-3 overtime losses to Canada and Finland in Montreal.
Ekholm certainly didn’t couch his comments with the what-if scenario.
“Just got to make sure that you come ready for the game and you just play your heart out,” Ekholm said. “Whether you lose 6-0 or you win 6-0 doesn’t really matter that much. But don’t leave anything out there. I think we have the players to do it. I think it’s more a mindset than X’s and O’s and whatnot on a drawing board at this point.”
And for the Americans, they want to improve in every area, as they feel they did from their game against Finland to their game against Canada. They want to prepare the right way for the final regardless of who they play.
They’re certainly not treating it as some throwaway game in Boston even though they’ve already punched their ticket to the final.
“There’s still a ton to play for,” U.S. forward Kyle Connor said. “We’ve got the Olympics coming up to and we have to make sure we let Sweden know what we’re about. Just not let off the gas. That’s going to be the big focal point for us. And I don’t think we will.”
