Sport|Ice Hockey World Championships
Canada’s head coach praised his defender, who overshadowed Mikko Rantanen.
Tampere
Canada dropped Leijonat to the yard at the end of a convincing performance from the medal games of the World Cup home games. Canada defeated last years arch-enemy in the quarterfinals 4-1.
Canada played according to their plan from the beginning and Finland didn’t get there at any point.
“The plan was to play hard and defend and tackle hard. The goalkeeper made some big saves that kept us in the game. Then we took advantage of the counterattacks,” summed up Canada’s top defender MacKenzie Weegar.
Keeper Samuel Montembeault was one of the key players with 27 saves. In front of him, Canada played simply enough. The team clearly respected the strengths of the Lions.
“They have great players. They like to hold the puck. But when we defended and blocked well, their shots came from the outside. Montembeault saw the bets well,” Weegar said.
Captain Tyler Toffoli said Canada assumed the role of the underdog.
“Everyone was excited about this opportunity. Everyone fulfilled their role and brought a lot of energy”, Toffoli stated.
Canada didn’t shine with their forward spins. Its attacks were short, direct and effective.
“We took advantage of our position. We also have talented players in attack. We defended hard and counterattacked,” MacKenzie Weegar said.
Canada’s head coach André Tourigny was faced with a familiar challenge. He was Canada’s assistant coach in the two previous Games. In those games and their finals, Finland became very familiar. In addition to Tourigny, also an assistant coach DJ Smith was involved a year ago.
“Experience helped us, but the players were new. In the World Cup, different hockey is played than in the NHL. Not better or worse, just different. In the first meeting, we were able to tell about the differences in playing,” said Tourigny.
Tourigny had learned that playing against Leijon requires patience.
“We tried to be aggressive in the midfield to mess up their timing a little bit. They’re so strong with the puck and they protect it well, but even though they had the puck a lot, they pressured us most of the game.”
Tourigny was pleased with what he saw. “We played hard, the team was committed, skated well and blocked shots. In addition, the goalkeeping was excellent. Montembeault made crucial saves and was our best player.”
Tourigny added that if Finland wants to win it at home, everyone must do their part. This was visible, for example, in the opening set, where Canada killed the underdogs well.
Even-tempered Canada calmed down and didn’t play themselves out of situations.
“We know how Finland creates its attack. They watch the videos and so do we,” Tourigny said with a laugh. “We knew we couldn’t open up the game too much.”
Although Tourigny praised Leijon as a team, he singled out one player when asked.
“96 is one of the best players in the world, unbelievable,” Canada’s head coach said and meant it Mikko from Ranta. The Finnish superstar remained in Canada’s grip.
“Middleton did a great job against him. Whenever he wasn’t against Mikko,” Tourigny said, praising the defender Jacob Middleton, but left the sentence a little unfinished. “He stayed with Rantanen and played physically. Montembeault was then the last lock.”
Middleton plays puck for the Minnesota Wild NHL team.
Tourigny was able to throw the men he wanted against Ranta, as Canada had a substitution advantage as the home team.
“We made sure that the right players are on the ice against him. You can’t play against Finland without taking Rantas into account.”
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