Minnesota Wild: Wild Players Lead the Way for Team Finland
Team Finland split their first two pre-tournament contests with their Scandinavian rivals Sweden. In those two tilts a group for Finland seems to have emerged as the leaders of the team, as the three Minnesota Wild players for the Suomi have turned in excellent performances.
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The latest round of the Scandinavian rivalry between Team Finland and Team Sweden has officially been exciting. In the two teams’ first two tune up games for the World Cup of Hockey, we’ve seen one game go to the Finns and one to the Swedes. Both teams showed a lot of skill and it seems that they’ll both be playing at a high level when they shift to tournament play in Toronto next weekend.
In the first two games for Finland it’s been obvious that the three players on their roster from the Minnesota Wild are absolutely invaluable to their team’s chances to win the tournament. Mikko Koivu, Mikael Granlund, and Erik Haula have all made impacts on the scoresheet for Finland in their first two pre-tournment tilts.
Erik Haula was relatively quiet in the first game in Finland on Thursday. Still he was able to keep himself even in plus minus, generate two shots, and grab a shot block. In yesterday’s game in Sweden he notched a great goal in the losing effort for the Finns. He made a very heads up play to get the long distance pass at the Sweden blue line and then buried it past Henrik Lundqvist on the ensuing break away. A sweet goal against one of the best netminders in the world.
As expected just like in the World Championships, Granlund on a line with Koivu has yielded some good results. In the first game Granlund was flying. He generated a team high five shots, and buried one of those shots for the key game tying goal with five minutes left to go in the third period. In yesterdays’ game Granlund again shot the lights out with a team high four shots on goal, but this time was unable to find the back of the net.
Hands down though for Team Finland the highest performer in both games has been their captain Minnesota Wild center Mikko Koivu. As expected Captain Koivu has stepped up as he has many different times for Finland to lead the team in the locker room and in the scoresheet.
Feb 14, 2014; Sochi, RUSSIA; Finland forward Mikael Granlund (64) controls the puck against Norway in a men’s preliminary round ice hockey game during the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games at Shayba Arena. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports
In the first game in Helsinki Koivu had key assist to setup his Wild teammate Granlund to score the game tying goal leading to a 3-2 victory in OT by the Suomi. Yesterday in Gothenburg Team Finland may have struggled falling to Sweden 6-3, but the captain still managed a great performance notching a goal and an assist. The goal he scored was an absolute missile that he dropped to one knee to put past Lundqvist. Not to mention Koivu has been the most important player on the power play and in the faceoff circle winning 57% of his draws thus far.
The State of Hockey has got to be excited by these performances for different reasons for each player. Granlund has all but proven that he needs to be on the wing because he generates a ton of offense. After playing brilliantly there in last season’s playoffs, World Championship, and now the World Cup it’s proof enough that the Wild have no choice but to play him on the wing this season.
For Haula a good tournament thus far goes a long way to show he’s not going to regress. Sure there’s a lot of hockey left in the tournament, but watching Haula excel on a competitive stage like this makes to realize that he’s ready to come back this season just as strong as he was at the end of last season.
I’m excited most for what Koivu has done. Many have doubted his ability to wear the “C”, but his performance for Team Finland is why he is and will be the Wild captain. He’s doing everything faceoffs, shot blocks, hits, and scoring and he’s doing it with that quiet passion that Koivu brings from the Scandinavian game. Furthermore, it looks like he does have a lot left in the tank and is starting the season running at a high level.
So looking to the rest of Team Finland’s games it obvious that the Wild players on the lineup will need to do what they’ve done thus far and possibly even more. Tuesday they will match up against Team USA and Wild teammates Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, so be ready for a great Wild night of hockey. Both teams will be looking to rebound after bad losses to rival squads, so get a can of your favorite pop and bag of Puffcorn and settle in for a barn burner!
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