photo: Tim Austen/IIHF
The two teams that lost in shootouts yesterday faced off this afternoon at CUTX in Allen, Texas, the Finns defeating Norway with an impressive 7-1 performance.
A balanced attack was buoyed by a three-goal second period to pull away, and now the Finns are 1-1 in the Group A standings while Norway falls to 0-2. The Finns doubled Norway's shot count, 36-18. Rasmus Pakarinen had a goal and two assists while Jere Somervuori had three helpers for the victors.
"We lost yesterday, but we played a good game," said Pakarinen. "Today, I think we were better and were able to score a lot of goals, which we didn't do yesterday."
"Today, they were the better team," offerd Norway coach Kim Veisten. "We had some chances in the first and second, and in the third we got a little tired, I thunk, and that's when the score got too high. We are a team, and we will be better. We'll show it on Saturday; we have a chance to beat Slovakia and get ourselves in a better position. We have to keep battling, learn from our mistakes, and keep going. We have a good group of guys. We will be fine."
They had a great opportunity to tie early when Ola Hyldmo earned a breakaway, only to be stopped by Patrik Kerkola. Soon after, Jeremi Virtanen had a breakaway of his own after claiming the puck off a defensive-zone faceoff and dashing the length of the ice. But he, too, was stopped, by Olivers Freimanis.
Suomi doubled their lead at 5:52 when Pakarinen banged in a rebound after an aggressive rush to the net by Eetu Orpana. Three minutes later they made it 3-0 when Max Westergard stole the puck in the slot and fired a shot top shelf at 9:08.
Just 43 seconds, however, the Norwegians got back into the game. Captain Marius Maattanen skated the length of the ice, and although Kerkola stopped the original shot, Maattanen picked up his own rebound and made no mistake.
Moments later, Freimanis suffered a freak injury, Going behind his net to play the puck, he twisted his knee as he cleared it along the boards, falling in pain. Maximillian Aas, who played yesterday until being replaced by Freimanis only for the shootout, came on in relief. The team's third goalie, Felix Timraz-Westin, huslted down from the stands to the dressing room and got to the bench early in the third as the EBUG backup to Aas.
Not long after, the Finns welcomed Aas with a goal. Pakarinen made the pass and Orpana finished it off with a tap-in at 14:59. The pair clicked again early in the third to make it 5-1. This time, Orpana got to a loose puck behind the goal and got it front to Pakarinen, who lifted it in from close range.
"We played well together as a line," Pakarinen added. "Eetu got the puck to me for my goals. We moved well in the offensive end, I think."
Juho Piiparinen added a sixth goal as he cut around Simen Stove Braastein and roofed a shot over Aas at 11:28, and Lasse Boelius added a power-play goal three minutes later to finish the scoring.
A balanced attack was buoyed by a three-goal second period to pull away, and now the Finns are 1-1 in the Group A standings while Norway falls to 0-2. The Finns doubled Norway's shot count, 36-18. Rasmus Pakarinen had a goal and two assists while Jere Somervuori had three helpers for the victors.
"We lost yesterday, but we played a good game," said Pakarinen. "Today, I think we were better and were able to score a lot of goals, which we didn't do yesterday."
"Today, they were the better team," offerd Norway coach Kim Veisten. "We had some chances in the first and second, and in the third we got a little tired, I thunk, and that's when the score got too high. We are a team, and we will be better. We'll show it on Saturday; we have a chance to beat Slovakia and get ourselves in a better position. We have to keep battling, learn from our mistakes, and keep going. We have a good group of guys. We will be fine."
The Finns got the only goal of the opening period off the rush. Matias Vanhanen converted a nice pass from Aapo Vanninen to make it 1-0 at 8:15. Norway had only three shots in the period and weren’t much of a threat, but they came out with greater purpose in the second.
They had a great opportunity to tie early when Ola Hyldmo earned a breakaway, only to be stopped by Patrik Kerkola. Soon after, Jeremi Virtanen had a breakaway of his own after claiming the puck off a defensive-zone faceoff and dashing the length of the ice. But he, too, was stopped, by Olivers Freimanis.
Suomi doubled their lead at 5:52 when Pakarinen banged in a rebound after an aggressive rush to the net by Eetu Orpana. Three minutes later they made it 3-0 when Max Westergard stole the puck in the slot and fired a shot top shelf at 9:08.
Just 43 seconds, however, the Norwegians got back into the game. Captain Marius Maattanen skated the length of the ice, and although Kerkola stopped the original shot, Maattanen picked up his own rebound and made no mistake.
Moments later, Freimanis suffered a freak injury, Going behind his net to play the puck, he twisted his knee as he cleared it along the boards, falling in pain. Maximillian Aas, who played yesterday until being replaced by Freimanis only for the shootout, came on in relief. The team's third goalie, Felix Timraz-Westin, huslted down from the stands to the dressing room and got to the bench early in the third as the EBUG backup to Aas.
Not long after, the Finns welcomed Aas with a goal. Pakarinen made the pass and Orpana finished it off with a tap-in at 14:59. The pair clicked again early in the third to make it 5-1. This time, Orpana got to a loose puck behind the goal and got it front to Pakarinen, who lifted it in from close range.
"We played well together as a line," Pakarinen added. "Eetu got the puck to me for my goals. We moved well in the offensive end, I think."
Juho Piiparinen added a sixth goal as he cut around Simen Stove Braastein and roofed a shot over Aas at 11:28, and Lasse Boelius added a power-play goal three minutes later to finish the scoring.
Finland vs Norway - 2025 IIHF U18 Men's World Championship
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