Finland Bows out With a Whimper

After an Olympic opener that carried so much promise with a win over the Czechs the Finns did nothing but soil the sheets the rest of the way. The worst of all the games came in the ‘Battle for Seventh Place’ with Team World where Finland failed to show up dropping a decisive 5-2 decision. The Finns were down 4-0 after two periods before they even scored.

In a shocking turn of events, Finland had five power plays and they were completely terrible. A great possibility for their lack of execution is that in their previous 3 games they had one (1?!?!) power play combined. That could certainly explain them going 0-5 in this game.

Give Team World credit though they played tough and earned the lead after two periods. “We didn’t get enough production from our forward group. And I place the blame firmly on my shoulders. I let our country down in this tournament” said Jari Kurri. Kurri, a star forward for the Edmonton Oilers of the NFHL, was a shadow of the player that he displays on a nightly basis with the Oilers.

Another puzzling move was the Finnish coach never playing the fourth line at all during the tournament. Not one minute played.

“I know the results are disappointing but I would really like the opportunity to try this again in the 1992 Olympics” said GM Dan Tames. “I felt that we were a couple of bounces away in the Canada game and that we deserved a better fate against the Russians. Having been in a similar situation before playing out the string in the 7^th place game is always tough. I thought that the motivation was there playing for your country but I guess I was wrong.”

A lot can happen in four years and the stars of this team will probably have moved on by that time. I’m not sure that there are enough suitable youngsters to fill the gaps that will be left by their departures and that the possibility of a dark future for Finland Ice Hockey is a distinct possibility.