Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Finns off to Malmö

Press Release

Finland stays in the Top Division for the 2014 U20 after hammering Germany this afternoon at the Sports Palace by an 8-0 score. 
The four-team mini-round robin also includes Slovakia and Latvia. The top three teams go to Malmö next year while the bottom team is relegated to Division I.

Ville Pokka and Aleksander Barkov had two goals each while Markus Granlund had a goal and three assists. Joel Armia (1+2) and Teuvo Teräväinen (0+3) also had three points for the victors. Janne Juvonen blocked only 15 shots for the shutout while the Finns fired 56 shots on the German goal.

Although the game wasn’t close, the Germans managed to keep their opponents off the scoreboard until late in the period. Artturi Lehkonen made it 1-0 at 16:12, but the Finns took control in the second.

Granlund and Barkov scored to make it 3-0 and the Finns outshot Germany 20-3 in the period. Granlund had three assists in the final period when the Finns scored five unanswered goals to make the game a rout.
Slovakia plays Latvia tomorrow in the only Relegation Round game, and on Friday the Finns play Slovakia while Germany plays Latvia. Finland’s previous 5-1 win against Latvia counts in the standings, so the Finns are now atop with six points. Germany, by virtue of its earlier 2-1 loss to Slovakia, has just one point in the standings so far and will need to defeat Latvia on Friday to stay in the Top Division.

 (Nathan can be reached at nathanfournier@mainehockeyjournal.com)

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