Athletistic/Hockey. On May 25, as part of the quarter-finals of the World Hockey Championship, the Canadian team will meet Finland.
Down-the-line.ru will broadcast a live-text online show: Hockey. World Cup 2023. Quarter-final. Canada – Finland. Direct
3 tournaments in a row and 4 times in the last 6 tournaments, Canada and Finland have played in the final. But this year the series will be interrupted and the teams will play the quarter-finals.
In 2019, the Finns won 3:1, then in 2021, the Canadians took revenge and beat the Finns in extra time 3:2, and in the last World Championship, Finland also won on home ice in extra time – 4:3.
This tournament is weak in the first place for Canada, which is second in the group, but lost to Switzerland and Norway. The group was frankly weak, three best teams faced each other, and the Canadians had the Czech Republic, the unstable Switzerland and other teams that had not been the strongest for a long time. As a result, Switzerland won the group, but had already managed to soar in the quarter-finals. Canada with two losses became the second and fell to Finland, which in the group let Sweden and the United States go ahead.
Canada have brought one of their weakest teams to the tournament in recent years, the players are mostly drawn from weak teams, so this team is not a favorite. And the defeats of Switzerland with Norway in the group prove it.
More than five points in the tournament in Canada scored only defender Mackenzie Wigar, who spent the mid-season for the “Calgary” and had never played in the national team in 29 years. Top scorer – Lawson Crouse from the weak “Arizona”, he scored 5 goals in the World Cup. Wigar has 3 goals, no one else has scored more than two. And if they’re Canada’s best players at the World Cup, the team will be in big trouble.
The Finns are playing at home again, they hosted the group stage with Latvia, then from the semi-finals all matches will be held in Tampere. The team seems stronger, even if it doesn’t have many NHL players. However, players like Kaapo Kakko, Kasperi Kapanen and Mikko Rantanen are a serious improvement. The best player according to statistics is Sakkari Manninen, who once played Salavat Yulaev, he has 7 points. 5 for Kapanen, 4 for Teemu Hartikkainen and Mikko Lehkonen, who also played in the KHL for Salavat Yulaev and SKA. The first three are the top scorers, all have scored 3 goals. A stronger squad and home stands make Finland the match favourites.
Hockey. World Cup 2023. Quarter-final. Canada – Finland. Direct
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I’m Emma Smith, a dedicated journalist and avid storyteller. I have been writing for news websites for the past 5 years, reporting on hockey news and delivering in-depth analysis of the sport. In my current role as Author at Athletistic, I write about hockey events from around the world to keep followers up-to-date with what’s happening in the sport.
