Little lions won in the final set.
Kasper Halttunen (right) and Tom Leppä hit in Pikkuleijonien’s WC opening. Stock photo. Elmeri Elo / AOP
Finland’s under-18 boys’ national team started their World Cup campaign with a 4–2 victory over the competition host, Switzerland.
The Little Lions had the game well under control for a large part of the second period. However, the lead melted.
The expressions were completely opposite to each other after 40 minutes had been played. The Swiss beat their fists together and left the locker room after a successful ascent. In the Finnish exchange, the atmosphere was thoughtful.
– We started messing around ourselves. Now you have to take some oxygen and calm down, super promise Aron Kiviharju pondered in an interview with Discovery.
Excitement
In the opening set of the match, the racket was pressed. Finland’s opening play looked difficult, when Switzerland hit the tight middle zone as an obstacle for the trap.
Nor did it work with superior force. The goal-scoring support measures were half way, and the Swiss gunner Ewan Huet – a goalkeeping legend by Cristobal Huet son – did the rest.
Switzerland continued to freeze in the second set. The first one didn’t bring any results, but the second time the ketchup bottle exploded open. Second-generation puck player Emil Järventie received a pass to the arc of the B-point and fired a fierce wrist shot into the roof of the goal.
In the very next change, the Little Lions broke the gap further. Tom Alder was awake in front of the goal and pressed in the loose puck.
Switzerland rose
Even though the score was 2–0, the Little Lions didn’t make the evening easy for themselves. It was its turn to sit in the ice hall, and the World Cup hosts punished it.
17 year old by Leo Braillard from the movements saw that the NHL superstar by Auston Matthews the bravura shot has been rewound several times from paint compositions.
Braillard kept the puck close to him and slammed a sharp crossbar off the feet of the Finnish player into the very top corner.
At the end of the second period, Switzerland broke even when they took advantage Veeti Väisänen misfeed. Playing at KalPa in Kuopio Matteo Wagner thanks for the gift.
What a solo!
In the third period, Finland was already disallowed one goal, which was caused by a goal rush congestion with a kick.
There were a good eight minutes left in the final set, when the Little Lions got out of trouble. Kasper Halttunen took the role and first took one of the Swiss to coffee near the edge with a leg pencil.
A wonderful solo move ended from a corner in front of the goal, from where Halttunen finished from under the covers of Huet to make it 3–2.
Switzerland looked for an equalizer without a goalkeeper, but their dreams were dashed at the latest Jessen Nurmen after a hit that moved it to the void.
The recovery time is short, as Finland will face Latvia right away on Friday at 5 p.m.