In any case, lions make history today.
Finland and Canada are now meeting for the third time in a row in the final of the World Cup. Jussi Saarinen
The most interesting game of the day
Finland has never won a medal at its World Hockey Championships before this year. Whatever happened in Sunday’s final against Canada, this year’s World Cup team has already made history. More history is quite likely to come, as the Lions will go to the finals against Canada as a meager 51 percent favorite.
Winning the championship in home competitions has been quite a curse in hockey, as in the last 35 years only Sweden has managed to grab the trophy at home in 2013.
From a mental / psychological point of view, the finale on the home field, in front of a demanding and only profit-seeking fan base, is always an awkward case. On the other hand, I count the pressure factors to drop from each playoff when the goal is sent. In principle, it is easiest for a team to go to the final game, because that is where the races end.
At this point, the desire to win overwhelms the pressure factors at best. In addition, Finland can now count on the fact that the team has several players who have already won gold at the Olympic Games in the winter. Of course, at this point, it is no longer stuck with hunger or motivation.
In the final pair, it is worth noting that Finland and Canada are now meeting for the third time in a row in the final of the World Cup. Last year, Canada won in Riga in the extra time 3–2 – even a small revenge advantage for Finland. In 2019, Finland was better in numbers 3–1 in the final. The 2020 Games were missed due to a pandemic.
The Finnish team is worth noting for this game Miro Heiskasen played a bigger role as a decision-maker on Saturday. Heiskanen is probably the best offensive defender in the Games, but before Saturday’s semi-finals against the USA, Heiskanen has lacked a certain sense of purpose for one reason or another.
Now in a tight spot, Heiskanen rose to a decisive role yesterday by collecting 1 + 2 powers. The same trend can be expected to continue in the final – Heiskanen is waiting for tough solutions in hard places. Finland’s reel-opening game is also made easier Sami Vatasen return to the playing crew. Mikael Seppälä playing in the finals is still open.
The importance of the goalkeeper game can never be overestimated in decisive matches. Although Jussi Olkinuora have not really excelled in the previous two matches anymore, at least I don’t count or wait for Olkinuora’s mood towards the end of the tournament, which has decisively weakened. The straw cord is completely on par with Canada Chris Driedgerille.
At the team level, Finland’s resting advantage should be given at least some significance in the finals, as the Lions got to rest on Saturday on a practically normal schedule thanks to the afternoon game. Even though the Canadian semi-final ended before nine o’clock in the evening, the access of maple leaves to sleep was certainly delayed.
In terms of power relations, it is not worth overreacting to Canada’s 6-1 victory over the Czech Republic – the Czech Republic was poor in the semi-finals. Canada was also in the grip of Sweden for a long time in the quarterfinals. Perhaps the most noteworthy of Finland is that in the semi-final against the USA, the team made a rare number of non-compelling mistakes in the defense. I believe the coaching staff has responded.
In terms of special situations, Finland and Canada are more or less equal with the effectiveness of the game of superiority. In this stand, however, it is up to Leijon to calculate Plussa for the best underpower of the Games – not a single superiority goal has been scored for Finland even after sixteen attempts.
Canada is considered to be a stronger team than Finland, but the usual and tactical nuances are on the Finnish side. In terms of bets, I’m a little more pro-Canada than Veikkaus, but even that championship odds of 2.00 are not enough for bets. Finland – Canada starts at 8:20 p.m.
The best bet of the day
Bet on betting, the most interesting game idea of the final is still to be found in the understatement, even though the semi-finals of both teams were rich. In such an important match, both teams have to assume they will leave their own goal through the defense.
As far as Finland is concerned, this is somewhat clear, and I also believe that Canada is an experienced coach Claude Julienin in this sense, they now respect Finland enough to get into the game tactically vigilantly.
The level of goalkeepers on both teams is enough to support the scarcity. Also in the finals, quite often the leading team starts at a very early stage only to secure their leading position at the expense of applying for additional goals. As a sum of all these factors, I calculate a probability of about 56 percent for a goal below 4.5. The factor of 1.77 offered is almost a borderline case.
Games of the day: –
Total balance for the year’s games: 34/54/118%
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