BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA – Where the IIHF World Championships might not get that much coverage in North America, due to the Stanley Cup play-offs, but the hockey world took notice tonight in the semi final between Finland and Russia.
At 25:13, or 5:13 in the second period, Finland’s 19-year old phenom, Mikael Granlund literally dropped everybody’s jaws to the ice. Faceoff is in the Russian zone and Jarkko Immonen loses the face off. Russia’s Dimitri Kalinin tries to pass the puck to his defence partner Dimitri Kulikov, but the weak pass never reaches him as Granlund is aggressive on his forecheck and intercepts the pass. Granlund carries the puck and flips it on to his blade and does a lacrosse style swing and puts the puck behind Konstantin Barulin.
Many hockey pundits and player have said that it is the best goal ever seen in the World Championship stage. You can see the goal from here .
Granlund has been phenomenal in the tournament. For a guy who is 19, he has played with such maturity and coolness that is rare to see in a player of his age. This isn’t to hype Granlund, but during the tournament, he has provided some ‘WOW’ moments in every game. He has such a passion for the game that is hard to ignore. Granlund doesn’t have the biggest of frames, but he is fearless and has a nose for the goal.
Despite the Russian’s having mega stars like Alexander Ovechkin and Ilya Kovalchuck in their roster, these mega stars were invisible in the game. Ovechkin played a critical role by taking a foolish penalty in the third period, which saw Finland capitalise on the opportunity.
This was followed by Ilya Kovalchuk taking the exact same penalty just minutes later (slashing the Finnish keeper Petri Vehanen) and again the Finns made the most of their chance, with Jarkko Immonen scoring from a pass from Granlund.
What the Russia game showed is that, when needed Finland can dig deep. During the game Finland was forced to kill off a four minute Russian power play and did it in convincing style.
One has to admit that the Finns have played good hockey when it has mattered most.
The lacklustre win over Latvia was bearable, the loss to the Czechs was disappointing, but winning every game since then has been comforting.
Yes Germany took the Finns all the way to penalty shots, but the truth is that Germany is not a minor hockey country. Neither are the likes of Norway or Denmark, who in the past were punching bags for everyone and you could expect scores in the double figures.
With Finnish goalie, Vehanen, playing a solid game and keeping things calm in Finland’s defensive zone while the game was 1-0, Russians were clearly frustrated by not being able to get their offensive dominance established in the offensive zone.
As the Swedes knocked the favourites Czech to the bronze medal game, it has set up a classic between two bitter rivals in the final. Sweden and Finland will play in the finals on Sunday and Finland is sure hungry for revenge for Turin 2006, or any other tournament where the two countries have faced each other.
Maybe the IIHF World Championships are more than just a send off to the hockey season in Europe after all. There is talent here and one moment can capture the imagination of the world .
Contact Janne.Virtanen@prohockeynews.com
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