PREVIEW:Team Finland (lots of Olympic stats,info...)

[Marcus Lindroos INF]

FINLAND
=======

The "Lions" are now coming full circle ten years after
capturing Finland's first ever medal (an Olympic silver).
Successes in between include a 3rd place finish in the 1991
Canada Cup, two silver medals in the hockey world championships
(1992 and 1994), a bronze medal at the 1994 Olympics plus
(last but not least) the world championship win in 1995.
However, the Finns have not be as impressive in recent
years, with just one sixth-place and two fifth-place finishes
to show from international tournaments during the second half
of the decade. The highly successful Swedish coach, Curt
Lindstrom, has given way to Hannu Aravirta who formerly served
as Lindstrom's deputy. Aravirta's Finnish Olympic team is
somewhat transitional, a mixture of old stalwarts and new
faces.

FORWARDS: Like Sweden, this group basically consists of 1-2
superstars (Teemu Selanne and, perhaps, Saku Koivu), two
up-and-coming co-stars (Jere Lehtinen, Sami Kapanen) plus
a few ageing "big names" who still can be excellent
defenders and special team players (Jari Kurri, Esa Tikkanen).
Add Ville Peltonen (formerly of the San Jose Sharks but now
a star in Sweden) to the highly successful Koivu/Lehtinen-
line, and Finland has two formations that would appear to be
on par with the best the other teams have to offer. The quality
drops off from here, however. Juha Ylonen and Juha Lind are
fringe NHLers who won't strike much fear in their opponents.
Four "amateurs" will fill in for spot duty -- veterans
Raimo Helminen and Mika Nieminen (who has played on every
Finnish Olympic or World team since 1992!) plus Antti
Tormanen & Kimmo Rintanen. The latter replace veterans
Janne Ojanen and Christian Ruuttu, who played in the 1996
World Cup but weren't invited this time around.

DEFENSE: Again, the first two pairs appear fairly good with
veteran stars Teppo Numminen, Jyrki Lumme plus up-and-coming
Janne Niinimaa & Janne Laukkanen. Aki-Petteri Berg and Tuomas
Gronman are two young NHL players who now make their
international debut at the top level. Defense was a major
problem for the Finnish World Cup team and four key players
from the Lindstrom era (Marko Kiprusoff, Hannu Virta, Petteri
Nummelin, Mika Stromberg) were not recalled this time around.

GOAL: Without doubt, the team's achilles heel. Finland actually
had some of the best netminders in Europe only a few years
ago, when Jarmo Myllys masterminded the stunning Finnish triumphs
in the 1994, 1995 Olympic & world championships. The 1991 Canada
Cup hero was Markus Ketterer, who also carried Finland all the
way to the world championship final game in '92. Myllys, 33,
has been the starting goalie since the 1994 Olympics, but he has
been decidedly human since the 1995 world championship victory.
Yet either he or his likely back up Jukka Tammi will have to in
top form since Finland probably will give up a ton of shots
against the likes of Canada or the US.

OUTLOOK: A virtual repeat of the 1996 World Cup seems likely,
i.e. solid wins vs. a weakened Czech Republic and Kazachstan
but defeats against Russia and Sweden (in the quarterfinals).
On the plus side, Finland (which has comparatively few NHL
players and thus fields most of its best players every year)
is by far the most experienced team of the bunch. Most of the
players have been playing together in the Olympics, world
championships or Canada Cup for years, and the wide international
rinks would seem to favor the small but speedy Finnish team. If
the goalkeepers are hot, a place in the semifinals is not out
of the question.

LINE-UPS
========
The World Cup team mostly used the following formations:

MYLLYS / Takko
Goals +/-
Kiprusoff - Virta 1 (-2)
LUMME - NUMMINEN 2 (-2)
LAUKKANEN - NIINIMAA/Stromberg 1 (+1)

PELTONEN - KOIVU - LEHTINEN 4 (-2)
SELANNE - Riihijarvi- YLONEN 4 (+5)
KAPANEN (Nurminen) - NIEMINEN - Ojanen 3 (-2)
HELMINEN (Nurminen) - KURRI - Ruuttu 1 (-1)

(BLOCK LETTERS=will also play in the Olympics)
ADDITIONS: Gronman, Berg, Kimmo Timonen on defense. Tammi in goal,
Tikkanen, Lind, Tormanen, Rintanen as forwards.
---
As noted earlier, there has been a fair amount of reshuffling
since the World Cup. Consequently the only line that probably
will remain intact is the famous "Huey-Dewey-Louie" line
consisting of Koivi, Lehtinen, Peltonen.

LEADING FINNISH NHL PLAYERS (ratings from THN,December'96)
===========================

("*" denotes World Cup player retained for the 1998 Olympic team,
"+" denotes additions to the Olympic team.
"-" World Cup players who did not make the Olympic team.
"NHL ASG apps."=number of All-Star game appearances.
"AST I,II" = no. of All-NHL 1st & 2nd All-Star team selections,
"CC"(=Canada Cup),"WC" (World Championships) denotes international
experience)

Size Skating Sense
POS NAME Skill Spirit TOTAL Salary (US$)
*D-NUMMINEN,TEPPO (Phoenix) 3 3.5 4 3.5 4.5 =18.5 1200000
(WORLD CUP;CC'87;WC'96)
*D-LAUKKANEN,JANNE (Ottawa) 3.5 3 3 4 3 =16.5 400000
(WORLD CUP;CC'91;O92&94;WC'92,93,94)
*D-NIINIMAA,JANNE (Phi.) 3.5 2.5 4 3 3 =16 850000
(WORLD CUP;WC'95,96)
*D-LUMME,JYRKI (Vancouver) 3 3 3 4 2.5 =15.5 1600000
(WORLD CUP;CC'91;WC'96)
+D-GRONMAN,TUOMAS (Chicago) 3 2.5 2.5 3 2 =13 550000
(-)

*FC-KOIVU,SAKU (Montreal) 3.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 =21.5 1650000
(WORLD CUP;WC'95,94 AST)
*LW-KAPANEN,SAMI (Hartford) 2 3 4 3.5 3.5 =16 420000
(WORLD CUP)
+LW-TIKKANEN,ESA (NY Rangers) 2.5 3 2 4 4 =15.5 1100000
(CC'87,91;WC'93&96)
*LW-PELTONEN,VILLE (San Jose) 2.5 2.5 3 2.5 3 =13.5 385000
(WORLD CUP;WC'95 AST;WC'94,96;O'94)
*RW-SELANNE,TEEMU (Anaheim) 3.5 4 4.5 4.5 4.5 =21 2850000
(WORLD CUP;O'92;WC'96;NHL AST I=2;ASG apps.=4
*RW-LEHTINEN,JERE (Dallas) 3 2.5 4.5 3.5 3 =16.5 450000
(WORLD CUP;WC'95 AST;WC'92,95;O'94)
*RW-KURRI,JARI (Anaheim) 2.5 3 3 3 4 =15.5 1500000
(WORLD CUP;CC'87&91;WC'94,91 AST; NHL AST I=2;AST II=3;ASG apps.=7)
-RW-NURMINEN,KAI (Los Angeles) 2.5 3 3.5 2.5 2.5 =14 400000
(WORLD CUP;WC'96)

--
MARCU$

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Marcus Lindroos
Skyttegatan 20A
98137 Kiruna,Sweden
Email:mlin...@aton.abo.fi
Fax:358-15-616667
WWW:http://www.abo.fi/~mlindroo
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