World Cup of Hockey '04

[Pekka]

YTEEEEes! Finalnd PP, less than 2 minutes to go.. NOW DON'T SCREW THIS UP AGAIN!

[Pekka]

EAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! TIE TIE TIE! We win the Euro Group and face Germany in quarter finals WOOT WOOT!



Tack så mycket!

I'm COOOOOOOOL with this.

[Chemical Ollie]

Good game Lejonat!!!!

You won the group, but at least we kept our dignity.

Next time we meet you (in this tournament) you will loose!

[Pekka]

Well, no one lost their face, Tre Kronor didn't lose a single game.. good for us that we had better GF/GA... crazy game though.. it's always a thriller, there's just no way around it, but usually we end up feeling empty and dark

Well, you'll face Czechs.. I think you will win it, so we should see in Canada!

[Fake Boris]

What the ****? a tie?

[Pekka]

Yeah.. 4-4 it ended even after OT.

[Chemical Ollie]

I bet the average Swede or Finn has much more joy of Hockey World Cup than the average Canadian. We really get our adrenalin rush.

I spent a whole dinner in Tallin on Thursday singing "Den glider in" with my Finnish boss (at least after he woke up for coffe).

[Pekka]

But this was a HUGE victory for us. Now in Euro quarterfinals, Finland meets Germany in Helsinki, that's Monday.. and Sweden will meet the Czechs in Tuesday at Globen, Stockholm.. so this was a better thing for us, PLUS in the possible semifinals, we just dodged Canada, if we win Germany (should be no problem, but you never know..).. so the winner of Sweden vs Czechs most likely gets Canada.. and that's the team you don't want to face until the finals. So this cleared out way to the semis and we get the easier opponent in that (not Canada, that equals easier opponent), so this was a victory for us.

And from historical point of view this was a victory for us. We have had MANY games, were we have lead until the very end and Sweden has tied us or even won. THere are two incidents where we have been leading 4-2 and 1 minute to go, and Sweden tied us 4-4 in the last minute. It has happened TWICE. So if taht wasn't bad enough for us, in WC in Finland 2003, we lead Sweden 5-1.. both had strong teams, Selänne scored a hat trick, Sundin came in to play as well and.. less than half way to the game, they started to catch us and won 6-5.. on regular time, in our home arena. So we have a lot of history, and we have sweet victories over Sweden too, but those last ending game scoring.. Sweden is very good at that and we end up getting the worse deal from those, so you know, a tie is a huge victory for us and we are very happy.

[Chemical Ollie]

Yeah, if a Swede want's to pick a fight in Turkku, you walk up to the random guy and scream MATS SUNDIIIIIIIIN into his face. There's a 90% chance that he will punch you.

[Pekka]

And we really don't like Mats Sundin! He is the Finn Killer for sures. Our commentators just spoke in relief that at least after few hours we don't have to worry about Sundin when he retires .. well, I bet he keeps playing just to ruin our games for the next 10 years.

few yours.. I mean few years!

[Pekka]

That's a coincidence, talking about Mats Sundin at the same time... or maybe it's not. He really has been a spike in our flesh for the longest time.

Well, now I can cheer for Swedes, so go get those Czechs! I have trust that you will win it though, so.. no problems.

[Kassiopeia]

Finland won 4-4. Raimo Summanen (Finnish head coach) said "This is a great victory for Finnish ice hockey... err, a great tie"

[Pekka]

But I almost died. When Sweden tied only 10 seconds game left? I was pretty quiet. It just sucks the air out of you. YOu just have 0 thoughts and the only word in your head is 'again?.. why?... why?'.

[Chemical Ollie]

Originally posted by Pekka
And we really don't like Mats Sundin! He is the Finn Killer for sures. Our commentators just spoke in relief that at least after few hours we don't have to worry about Sundin when he retires .. well, I bet he keeps playing just to ruin our games for the next 10 years.

My University buddies (one of them played for Jokerit at the time) walked into Masken Carlsson 4.00 AM outside Börssi at the 1992 WC in Turkku. They recognized him and he gave them snus (wet snuff). No hard feelings, despite his 3-4 and 4-4 in the Moscow WC a few years before.

The same week as my buddies met Masken, in the Turkku WC, Mats Sundin repeated the operation, 4-4. The camera man knew what was about to happen at the second goal, and flipped the camera away from the game and up in the ceiling. Sore looser, huh?

[Pekka]

yeah.. I saw the both games live too.. I was very yougn when it happened the first time. I didnt' understand it then, and maybe that's why I still don't understand it. I was just exposed to it too young. The Sweden catch you at the end games. We don't have this problem against other teams.

Our coach was just interviewed and he was saying he had to wake up the players at the end of the game, because they turned into zombies from the combination of history and pressure. He said some of them couldn't handle it at all. So it's serious! And these guys are professional, money making NHL players. They don't choke in there. Many have played int he finals for the stanley cup, no problem. The only place they start choking is against the blue yellow team.

Anyways, good game, I thank my lucky starts that Tellqvist was totally off in the beginning of the game. He was our man