Finnish Lions start World Championships campaign with routine win over Germany

Coach Doug Shedden giving Saku Koivu time to think about participation in tournament

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Team Finland got their IIHF World Championships off to a solid start in Halifax on Saturday, after a slight blip in the first period, and skated to a comfortable 5-1 win (0-0, 2-1, 3-0) over Germany in Preliminary Round Group C.
      Center Mikko Koivu collected 2+1, and Olli Jokinen, Hannes Hyvönen, and Teemu Selänne all got their names on the scoresheet.
      Two of the Finnish goals came on the powerplay, and Koivu's second at the beginning of the final period came when the Finns were short-handed.
     
Coach Doug Shedden was well pleased with what he saw - first matches in tournaments can be a banana skin, as the team takes time to gel.
      Tonight the Finns take on Norway, who were crushed 5-1 by Slovakia in their opening encounter.
      Shedden will not be getting any reinforcements for tonight's game, though goalie Petri Vehanen will be making his Finnish début at this level.
      However, there is a chance that the Finnish roster could be swelled by the talismanic presence of Montreal's Saku Koivu later in the tournament.
      Montreal were eliminated from the Stanley Cup play-offs at the weekend, and so Koivu might be available to join the Finnish team.
      Shedden is not in any hurry: he will give Koivu a few days to wind down before asking if he wants to join his brother Mikko in the squad.
     
The first Preliminary Group matches in Halifax and Quebec City did not produce any real upsets, with the possible exception of Sweden's narrow 6-5 win over Belarus in Group A.
      In Group B, where two rounds of matches have been played, Canada and the USA beat up their opposition, recording large wins over both Slovenia and Latvia to set up a Canada-USA match that will settle bragging rights, if not much more.
      Russia defeated the Czech Republic 5-4 in overtime (63.10), but the price was high, as they lost goalie Aleksandr Jeremenko to injury, adding to their problems between the posts: first-string goaltender Semjon Varlamov was earlier injured in training.


Links:
  2008 IIHF World Championships (Wikipedia)

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