Finns get big win over Germany, advance to semis

The game between Finland and Germany was expected to be a one-sided contest, but it turned into an exhibition. Although the Germans managed to keep the pace with Finland for half of the game, they suffered a big, eight-goal defeat. Teuvo Teräväinen, Henrik Haapala and Artturi Lehkonen collected three points each to lead their nation to victory.

In the group stage, Team Germany proved to be able to play quality hockey against big teams like Russia, so Finland got as ready as possible. After unsuccessfully trying to penetrate through the defence with long passes, Aleksi Mustonen showed his team how to get through – with some slick moves – to make it 1-0. The Germans had their chances, too. Patrick Klopper hit a post and the refs had to make sure by reviewing the play after which they said no goal.

Halfway through the first, another technical effort shocked the German defence as high-ranked prospect Teuvo Teräväinen found a way through and past goalie Patrick Klein. "I received the puck and I managed to dangle through the defence," Teräväinen says. And it could be a three-goal game in no time. A minute later, Janne Juutinen jumped on a loose puck and fired it off the iron.

In the second, Germans could strike first with Klopper sent on a shorthanded breakaway, but missed the target. On the following counter-attack, a blast by Henri Ikonen trickled through the five-hole of Klein and in for the fourth Finnish goal.

Later in the frame, Benjamin Zientek stole a pass by Teräväinen and was off to the races, but was denied by the pad of outstretched Joonas Korpisalo. The Finns kept on attacking hard and attacking successfully. After a nice tic-tac-toe, Henrik Haapala made it 4-0.

However, the Finnish assault wasn´t over yet. Joose Antonen got rewarded for his hard work arend the German net with the goal number five, and Artturi Lehkonen converted momentum from a man-advantage into a goal with less than a minute left in the period.

That was it for Klein as Marvin Cupper took over for the last twenty minutes of action. Nevertheless, he had to fish he puck out of his own net pretty soon as Teuvo Teräväinen found the back of it on a rebound to score his second of the night to make it 7-0.

In the last minutes of the game, Germany got a chance, Tim Bender with a long shot that was blockered away easily by Korpisalo. A little later, Jusso Ikonen received a nice pass and fired it off the post, but the puck went right out to Henrik Haapala who also gets his second and his team´s eighth. That was it, as Finland rolled over Germany and advanced to semifinals.

"We didn´t expect the game to be so one-sided but we managed to score a lot of goals," Teräväinen summarized after the game. "Our speed played a big role in the game, but it will be much harder against Sweden and we will have to skate even more."