Strangelove wrote: ↑Wed May 18, 2022 1:53 pm
Per wrote: ↑Wed May 18, 2022 12:50 pm
Sweden beat Finland in the shootout to gain control of the group.
Sweden was a big underdog in that one according to the bookies.
What the hell's going on over there?
I almost asked you yesterday if I should bet on Team Sweden with my funny money...
Big underdog? I don't know... Sweden vs Finland is always a toss-up, and looking at all time records we have them beat.
That being said, Finland were world champions in 2019 and runners up in 2021 (2020 was cancelled) and they are the ruling Olympic champs. In that same stretch Sweden has a quarter final elimination, a missed playoffs and a fourth place, so sure. The easy money was on the Finns.
That being said, we won the 2017 and 2018 world championships... We've just been through a rough patch these pandemic years.
As for what's going on...
We don't have a lot of impressive fire power up front. A lof of NHLers have turned this tournament down, but we have a pretty excellent blue line; Rasmus Dahlin, Adam Larsson, OEL, Erik Gustafsson... Also, the non-NHL d-men are not bad either.
Tömmernes played two seasons in Utica but never made it to the NHL. He then played two seasons in the SHL before heading to Switzerland, where he has spent five years playing for Genève-Servette. This season, as the team's captain, he had 58 points in 51 games. As a d-man...
Now, the Swiss league is not quite as good as the SHL, but it pays better, and you have to be really good to make the cut there as a foreign player, as they are only allowed four foreigners per team. This means they can't afford to sign a foreign player who does not deliver. Also, typically the Swiss teams match their foreign lines against eachother, which means the level of hockey improves when they take the ice.I think this is how Switzerland has managed to produce a number of NHL calibre goalies. Playing goal in Switzerland you face some world class players for roughly one third of the game, and then you have crap blue liners for the other two thirds...
Looking at Tömmernes stats, he averaged 0.38 ppg in the AHL, 0.43 in the SHL (albeit his early years drag his numbers down, his last year in the SHL he had 39 points in 49 games, which equals a 0.80 ppg clip) and now 0.82 in Switzerland. Playing for the national team he has 0.54 ppg. I think you can conclude he is an offensively skilled d-man.
Against Finland OEL and Gustafsson logged just over 24 minutes, Larsson and Dahlin just over 21, Tömmernas 16.49 and Anton Lindholm 15.36.
As for goaltending... We've started out with two borderline NHL goalies. Hogberg has played 42 games in the NHL but is now in the SHL. Hellberg, who tended goal against Finland, has played a total of only 5 NHL games, spread over 4 seasons, but is currently listed for Detroit, whom he joined after leaving the KHL because of the war. He has some pretty good KHL stats though, 81-64-10 with a 2.00 GAA and .927 in saves, and did well against Finland, saving all five penalties in the shootout.
Being interviewed after the win, captain OEL was asked "We saw you talking to Hellberg before the shootout, what were you saying to him?" to which OEL replied "Oh, I just told him that if he'd make sure to save all five shots we'd win."
Apparently Hellberg took his advice to heart.
Anyway, now Ullmark, with 158 NHL games, 41 this season for the Bruins where he went 26-10-2, will join the team.
I think this could go either way. We have really good defence, but will we be able to score enough goals to win? Looking good so far though. We've beaten both the Czechs and the Finns. Will be playing the Yanks on Saturday. If we beat them as well we should win the group and get an easy quarter final.
