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WJC Semi Final Preview: Canada vs Finland
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Photo credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Frank Gunn
Tyler Yaremchuk
Jan 4, 2020, 00:00 ESTUpdated: Jan 3, 2020, 21:39 EST
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In the last ten years, Canada has six medals at the World Junior Hockey Championships. Three golds, two silvers, and a bronze. Today, they’ll look to guarantee themselves another medal with a win in the semi-finals over Team Finland. Canada also has the potential to end a drought when it comes to tournaments being held overseas. They have failed to medal in three straight tournaments held outside of North America.
Canada was expected to roll through Slovakia and while the score was close after the first period, Canada was able to pull away in the middle frame with four unanswered goals. After looking back, I think that was a near-perfect performance. They got some key goals from the top of their lineup, with Barrett Hayton and Alexis Lafreniere combining for five points in the 6-1 win. They also got help from some depth players with Connor McMichael, Liam Foudy (who has really surprised me with his play during the tournament), and Jacob Bernard-Docker all grabbing goals. They also received another stellar performance from Joel Hofer, who stopped 17 shots in the win.
Lafreniere, in particular, was impressive to watch. After missing two games with a knee injury, he returned for the quarterfinals and was equally as dominant as he was in Canada’s opening game against the USA.
Team Canada has now racked up three straight wins, taking down Germany, Czech Republic, and Slovakia, but today’s opposition is without a doubt the toughest they’ve had to face since their second game of the round-robin when they lost 6-0 to Team Russia.
This has the potential to be a nice redemption tour for Hockey Canada. If they win today, they could have a chance to go up against the same Russian team that embarrassed them earlier in the tournament and fight for gold. It would be quite the matchup but first, Canada needs to take down the same Finnish program that eliminated them in the quarterfinals last year in Vancouver.

THE OPPOSITION

Finland is coming into this game fresh off a tight win over the United States. The Americans had some legit, high-end skill in their lineup and Finland straight up shut them down. Not only did Finland prevent USA from getting a goal, but they also got under their skin. I’m sure Finland will want to carry over their frustrating style of defence to this morning’s game against Canada.
I don’t believe Finland is as dangerous as they were last season when they won gold in Vancouver. Yes, they scored 19 goals during round-robin play, which is more than any team in Group B, but you have to consider the quality of competition. 15 of their goals came against either Slovakia or Kazakhstan. Canada didn’t have the luxury of going up against that weak of competition early in the tournament. Against Switzerland, Sweden, and the USA, Finland only scored five goals in those three games.
Patrik Puistola and Kristian Tanus are Finland’s top two point-getters. The duo has combined for 15 points through five games. You’ll also want to keep an eye on Joonas Oden has been a key offensive contributor for them at this year’s event. He’s racked up six points through five games, including the lone goal in their win over the USA. 
Their ability to score goals is not what should worry Canada, but their ability to keep pucks out of their net should.
Justus Annunen delivered a 30 save shutout in the quarterfinals and so far in the tournament, he has a 0.936 SV% and a 1.97 GAA. He is very good and has already proven that he is capable of stealing big games. 
On top of having a really good goaltender, Finland plays a style of game that makes it very hard for opponents to get chances in the middle of the ice. It both frustrates their opponents and makes life easier on their goaltenders.

KEYS TO VICTORY

  • GET ONE EARLY: This seems obvious and should be a key every single night for every single team but today it is extra important. The last thing you want to do is fall behind early and allow Finland to dictate the pace and style of play. If Canada can turn this game into a ‘track meet’ with chances going back-and-forth, I’ll like their chances a lot more than if this is a tight-checking game like the FIN/USA match.
  • STAY OUT OF THE BOX: Finland has the third-best powerplay in the tournament. I mentioned how they haven’t exactly been filling the net when they’ve gone against top-tier competition, they didn’t get a single 5v5 goal against the USA, but they can score with the man advantage and Canada hasn’t been great at staying out of the box at key times.
  • GET THE BIG GUNS GOING: I know I’ve been sounding like a broken record over the last couple of games with these ‘keys to victory’ but I’m going to hammer home this point again. Finland does not have the high-end skill to keep up with the likes of Alexis Lafreniere, Barrett Hayton, Joe Veleno, and Dylan Cozens. If Canada can get those four going early on in the game, then they’ll give themselves a great chance to fight for gold on Sunday.
With a win today, Canada will advance to the finals where they will face the winner of Sweden vs Russia. Puck drop for the finals is set for just after 11 am mountain time on Sunday morning. If they lose, then they will play for bronze at 7 am.

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