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Five reasons to fear the Finns
- Updated: May 18, 2016
12:08 PM ET
ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA — Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff is quite familiar with Team Finland these days.
In preparation for the 2016 NHL draft, where the Jets will be selecting No. 2 overall, Cheveldayoff has been closely watching Finland and its young star Patrik Laine the past week as they compete at the World Championship in Russia. Before that, he spent time scouting Finland’s young talent, including Jesse Puljujarvi, at the under-18 championship in Grand Forks, North Dakota. He also paid paid attention to the Finns at the World Junior Championship earlier in the year.
Cheveldayoff has noticed a common thread among each team.
“[Finland] plays really well as a team,” Cheveldayoff said. “They won the World Junior Championship. They won the under-18 championship in Grand Forks. And they’re playing really well here. The Finns are obviously doing something right.
“To see what a country that size has been doing and [how it’s] producing players, it’s a feather in their cap. But they play so well as a team. They compete very hard. They look like they have great chemistry out there.”
Finland has been building a special calendar hockey year, and it could be capped off with even greater success at the World Cup of Hockey in Toronto in September. Here are five reasons why the Finns will be serious gold medal contenders at the World Cup of Hockey in Toronto in September:
1) All Team Finland does is win. The Finns won the World Junior Championship in January and the Under-18 Championship in April. After going unbeaten in pool play, they’re now the favorites to win the World Championship.
Other teams are certainly taking Finland seriously.
“I’m obviously not surprised by Finland,” Sweden World Cup coach Rikard Gronborg said this week. “Look at the last few years, look at the players. The last three years they’ve won the World Juniors and Under-18 championships. They’re productive players. They’re all well coached. I’m not surprised they’re playing well in [the World Championship]. I think they’ll be a potential gold medal candidate at the World Cup.”
Patrik …
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