CanucksArmy World Junior Recap: Czech Republic 4 – 3 Finland
6 years ago
The quarterfinals for the World Junior Championships kicked off with a match between the Czech Republic and the heavily favoured Finland squad.
In a game that was seemingly a pre-determined Finnish victory, it would take a young, Czech goalie having the game of his life to buck the narrative, and that’s exactly what San Jose prospect Josef Korenar did. Korenar made 51 saves in 70 minutes of hockey and added a few more clutch stops in the shootout. Korenar displayed why you never say never at the World Junior Hockey Championship unless you’re Swiss coach, Christian Wohlwend.
Another player had the game of their life today, and it was the Canucks own, 19-year-old, 2016 first round pick, Olli Juolevi. Juolevi was an absolute force in all three zones today and showcased why the Canucks drafted the complete defenceman fifth overall.
Today, he did more than just the little things; he did everything; he took over the game! He spent minimal time in his defensive zone because he and Henri Jokiharju didn’t allow the Czech Republic to enter the zone with control. When the Czech’s did dump the puck in, Juolevi and Jokiharju turned the puck the other way, exiting the zone efficiently with ease.
Usually, when we’re talking about Juolevi and his neutral zone play, it’s because of his defensive awareness, gap control and active stick which were all on point today, but what stood out was his offensive game. Juolevi had multiple gorgeous coast-to-coast rushes and zone entries, drawing defenders towards him only to distribute the puck to open teammates due to the space he created.
Once Juolevi gained the zone, his elite play continued. He finished the game with a goal and an assist. The counting stats are always nice, but what was much more impressive today was the number of shooting opportunities directly created by Juolevi for himself and his teammates. Overall, he finished with 17 primary shot contributions which is amazing, especially for a defenceman. Furthermore, it wasn’t just the quantity; it was the quality as he was taking shots from inside the house, and distributing pucks to scoring areas as well. In previous performances this tournament we’ve seen flashes of offensive potential from Juolevi, but today it was consistent. It’s unfortunate we won’t get to see more of the blossoming defenceman at the WJC18.
Now that we’ve examined how Juolevi played today, let’s take a look at what went down in the 4-3 Czech Republic victory.
The Rundown
The Czech Republic jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a goal from a top-five prospect in Filip Zadina. With a shot like this, it’s not hard to see why many scouts have him as high as two. Holy guacamole!
It was an incredibly slow start for the Finn’s at even strength as they only managed to enter the Czech zone with control, seven times. Pair that with 17 dump-ins and it ain’t pretty. That said, the newly appointed first unit powerplay quarterback Juolevi did his part to stimulate Finland’s special teams. As you can see below, under pressure, Juolevi quickly whips the puck through the seam spotting Eeli Tolvanen in a prime scoring area. Tolvanen would pass to Edmonton Oilers prospect Aapeli Rasanen who would tip the scoring chance wide.
Finland would get an early power play in the second, and this time Rasanen made no mistake. Rasanen put home a rebound off a shot from Jets first-rounder Kristian Vesalainen who was set up by Juolevi at the top of the circles. Juolevi, with his head up, identifies the stickless Czech penalty killer, draws him in and distributes for the one-timer in the high slot. A heads-up play by a confident player — nice play all around to tie the game at one.
Finland would regain the lead with a well-placed snapshot from Juolevi to make it 2-1. Great shot from Olli and the camera! This could be his area on the powerplay in-between Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson in the future.
The Czech Republic would tie the game at two on this goal from Kristian Reichel. That burst of speed is impressive and he finishes it off with some slick hands. Executing these types of high-end plays at top speed does not go unnoticed by scouts, take note of Reichel.
Just 6:30 into the third period, Vesalainen would score his first goal and third point of the day. The first save from Korenar on Tolvaen was one of many incredible stops. Tolvanen took another whack at the puck which eventually ended up back on the stick of Vesalainen who would tap the puck into the empty net. 3-2 Finland.
Up 3-2 and being dominated by the Finn’s, Czech Republic head coach Filip Pesan made an aggressive call, pulling the goalie with over three minutes remaining and it paid off. Zadina would score his second goal of the game, getting a piece of the shot from the point to knot this game up at three.
Overtime would settle nothing as this game ended in a shootout. Reichel would take full advantage of this opportunity to display his offensive skill. Like the shootout or not, this is an impressive goal.
Finland,Aapeli Rasanen, stopped
Czech Republic, Filip Zadina, stopped
Finland, Eeli Tolvanen, stopped
Finland, Janne Kuokkanen, stopped.
Czech Republic, Martin Kaut, stopped.
Czech Republic, Marek Zachar, stopped
With possibly his only questionable decision Juolevi made today, he thought he’d try this ‘move’ which ended up being stopped by the game MVP, Korenar. 4-3 Czech Republic victory as they head onto the semi-finals!
A premature exit for the Finn’s who many had labelled as the gold medal favourite. I’ve watched Finland closely this tournament and for me, this was their best game by a mile. It’s unfortunate for them that they ran into a white hot goaltender who made 51 saves this afternoon, but that’s the it goes in these short tournaments.
Quick Hits
- Many Finn’s played well today with Eeli Tolvanen leading the offensive charge. Tolvanen finished with 12 shot attempts at even strength while setting up an additional five shot attempts. Pair that with 11 zone entries, nine of them with control and you’ve got one heck of clutch performance in a big game for Finland. I wasn’t sure about Tolvanen coming into this tournament even with his massive production in the KHL this season. I had many Eeli viewings last year in a project for HockeyData Inc. and he always appeared to have oodles of offensive potential but always left me wanting more. His performance during the World Juniors won me over. I can easily see Tolvanen producing plenty of points on the Nashville powerplay. I saw similarities to Brock Boeser in his game, especially on the man advantage. Obviously, he can hammer the puck, but his ability to draw defenders towards him and distribute, creating room for his teammates was my favourite part of his game. Unfortunately he fell victim to a low shooting percentage due to hot goalies and bad luck. I have a feeling some will come down hard on Tolvanen due to his lack of production with only one goal, but for me, he had a wonderful tournament and plenty to be proud of. Great job, kid!
- A shout out too little known role player, Janne Innala. He finished with zero points in the tournament but was fun to watch on the Finnish forecheck which was a massive part of Finland’s gameplan. I don’t agree with the philosophy, although I understand it due to the stacked Finnish blue-line. That being said, he was the ultimate puck retriever, I wasn’t tracking but I’m sure he didn’t lose many one on one battles down low which led to plenty shot attempt assists kicking it back to the point. He’s a player I’ll be keeping an eye on.
- I was expecting big things from Aleksi Heponiemi and he had an inspired effort today putting up seven primary shot contributions. However, he was under utilized playing only 16:06 today, and the Finnish dump and chase style isn’t exactly tailor made for the 154 pounder. He finished the tournament with two goals while putting up only eight shots on goal. It just wasn’t a good fit for the undersized creativity of Finnish forward.
- Juolevi had an incredible showing in the tournament despite he teams early exit. Him and Jokiharju were easily the teams best pairing, outshining 2017 third overall pick, Miro Heiskanen, and 16th overall pick, Jusso Valimaki. The two created instant chemistry as their respective styles of play complimented eachother perfectly. I’ve said before but at the moment, there’s not a player like Jokiharju in the Canucks system as young, speedy right handed defencemen are incredibly difficult to acquire in any fashion. If the Canucks management team could somehow pluck one from another organization would be ideal addition when considering the development of Juolevi.
- I’ll have more on Juloevi soon as the WJC data compiles and I’ll have more comparables. Until then Canucks fans, be very happy with his performance overall in the tournament as Olli Juolevi finally began to show signs of evolving and displaying why he was picked fifth overall.
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