Underdog Finland aims to spoil Canada-USA II
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Greg Wyshynski
BOSTON — The hockey world is still buzzing about Saturday night’s fight-filled Team USA vs. Canada game and the possibility of a rematch in the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game.
Finland would like nothing more than to prevent that from happening by eliminating Canada on Monday afternoon in Boston.
“We respect Team Canada a lot and their hockey history. So it’s going to be a big thing for us if we can win against that team,” said Finland coach Antti Pennanen.
While the U.S. has clinched a berth in Thursday’s championship game, the tournament’s other three teams still have a path to join them. If either Canada or Finland earn a regulation win in Monday’s 1 p.m. ET game at TD Garden, it will advance to the final. If either Canada or Finland win in overtime or a shootout, Sweden could make the final with a regulation win over the U.S. on Monday night (8 ET).
If Finland beats Canada in any manner, the tournament favorite is eliminated from the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Pennanen said he anticipates having the Boston fans’ support as Finland plays Team USA’s archrival. “It’s turned around for us now here in Boston. I hope we have the home crowd behind us,” he said.
The Finnish players are well aware of the anticipation for a rematch after Team USA’s thrilling 3-1 victory over Canada on Saturday night in Montreal, which featured three fights in the first nine seconds of the game. Forward Erik Haula was on a team bus with his family when that game started.
“I had my 1-year-old on my lap and gave the phone to my 4-year-old, asking if he wanted to watch the game. And then there were three fights in nine seconds and I’m like, ‘Hey buddy, what’s going on over here?'” he recalled with a laugh.
Playing the spoiler is a familiar position for Finland, perennially an underdog in international tournaments.
“They always seem to be the team that probably never gets the respect they deserve until they’re in the final and then you’re like, ‘Whoa, how did Finland get here?'” said Canada coach Jon Cooper, who noted that his team’s rematch with the Americans is anything but guaranteed. “Finland has NHL stars just like everybody in this tournament does. The difference between Canada and Finland is that we have massive expectations in front of us. But expectations don’t win hockey games. You have to go out there and perform, and I think our team has performed extremely well.”
Spoiling USA vs. Canada II would fit that Finnish tradition. But Haula said that’s not on his teammate’s minds heading into Monday.
“We don’t think about it like that. It’s just a great opportunity for us to play against them. It’s a great challenge for us and we’re going to try to meet it head on and play our best game of tournament,” he said. “It’s where all our focus is.”
Finland was thumped by the Americans 6-1 in their tournament opener but defeated archrival Sweden 4-3 in overtime on Saturday to avoid elimination. The Finns will run it back with Vancouver Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen against Canada, after he stopped 21 of 24 shots against Sweden. Cooper wouldn’t say whether Canada would start St. Louis Blues goalie Jordan Binnington for a third straight game or switch to backup goalie Adin Hill of the Vegas Golden Knights.
Pennanen said Finland proved in the first two periods of its game against the U.S. that it can compete with deep, talented teams like Canada.
“I think it’s going to be pretty much the same kind of game that we played against USA. We need to follow our system and stick to it. We need to slow them down a little bit,” he said.
Canada is waiting to see whether star defenseman Cale Makar is back in its lineup. He missed the loss to the U.S. because of illness and said Monday that he’ll make the call on his status for the Finland game on Monday morning. The Colorado Avalanche star said it was an agonizing call not to play against the Americans.
“I’ve got to do what’s unfortunately best for myself and make sure that I’m ready to go for the rest of the season. It’s a really hard decision,” said Makar.
LAS COLINAS, Texas — Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork told leaders of the College Football Playoff on Tuesday that the sport’s calendar needs to change, and it’s a critical component as they consider the playoff’s future format.
Bjork, just months removed from watching his Buckeyes win the national title, attended a portion of the annual CFP spring meetings to provide feedback with the three other athletic directors who participated in semifinals and hosted first-round games: Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte, Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua, who is part of the CFP’s management committee along with the 10 FBS commissioners.
Bjork said CFP executive director Rich Clark asked if he had one major point he wanted to make before leaving.
“We’ve had so many disruptions over the last five-plus years that I think the time is now to not be reactive, be proactive,” Bjork told ESPN. “When we had this setting here with the commissioners, our job was to provide feedback on what was it like to go through the 12-team playoff … but it all gets impacted by the calendar. I felt it was important to lay that out with everyone in the room to say, separate from the CFP process, if we don’t fix our calendar as an industry, then we’re going to continue to have unintended consequences.”
Bjork shared with the commissioners the perspective of a school trying to win a national title while classes had begun Jan. 6. Ohio State’s academic advisers traveled with the team to the semifinal and national title game, he said, but some athletes missed class and the school had to apply for waivers around the countable athletically related activities, which limits schools to 20 hours of practice time while classes are in session.
“When you don’t have class, there is no limit to CARA hours,” he said, noting that Texas started classes later. “It created some disadvantages. It all goes back to what’s countable CARA hours, NCAA structure. The portal is the next big conversation after the House case and truly what kind of rules can we set? Will we have the authority around transfer rules to set some parameters?”
Bjork said the transfer portal needs to move to a 10-day period in May for fall sports because if the NCAA House settlement is approved, most of the players are going to be signing revenue share agreements with the schools from July 1 to June 30.
“May makes the most sense” to align player contracts with the portal, Bjork said.
Bjork, who said he’s on the implementation committee for the House settlement, said “if everyone follows the structure, it’s going to be a great structure.”
“And everyone has to follow the rules,” he said, “and agree that this is the structure, which we have to. If we don’t do that, then what good is the settlement?”
CLEVELAND — New York Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton took batting practice with teammates Tuesday as he continues to recover from elbow issues.
Stanton took swings before the game at Progressive Field as the Yankees prepared for the middle game of their series against the Cleveland Guardians.
While Stanton has been working behind the scenes, this was the first time he has taken outdoor batting practice. Manager Aaron Boone did not mention anything about Stanton’s progress during his pregame availability.
Stanton, 35, has been dealing with tendinitis in both elbows, with the ailment known as “tennis elbow” shutting him down since spring training. He has said his elbows also bothered him last season and that it’s a matter of pain tolerance.
The team does not have a timetable for Stanton’s return to their lineup. It’s likely he’ll have to go on a minor league rehab assignment before he’s ready to play in major league games.
Stanton is in his eighth season with New York. Last season, he hit 27 homers and drove in 72 runs in 114 games, and in the postseason, he was among the club’s top hitters. As the Yankees advanced to the World Series, he finished with 15 hits, including seven home runs, and 16 RBIs.
Stanton has 429 homers in 15 seasons with the Yankees and Marlins.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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