Yearly Archive:: 2015

Finland Day 7 – USA scores

Coming off the last game when the US was shutout by Sweden, their third game of the 2016 WJC was quite a different story. A big first period gave them a 6-0 lead and they kept the pressure on for a 10-1 victory. We enjoyed the game, and Finns like Americans and Team USA, so

Finland Day 6 – Espoo & the Beaches

Ahhhhhh, another great day in Finland! We started out the day using the awesome public transit in the region to get from our apartment over to Espoo, part of the 3 city region with Helsinki and Vantaa. We met up with a local that we got to know on Christmas Eve and headed for some

Finland Day 5 – Hello to Hartwall

Today we took in the Group B games at Hartwall Areena. Hartwall is much newer than the Helsinki Ice Hall and has more concourse space and amenities, plus it seats about 5,000 more spectators. The first game between the Czechs and Slovaks was played in a more European defensive style, with the Czechs winning 2-0.

Finland Day 4 – Sightseeing Sunday

To soak up the culture and get to see Helsinki we chose not to buy tickets for the single game days in each arena, when the lesser countries in terms of competitiveness are playing. So today we joined a noon walking tour of the Finnish capital under the winter sun. It was a fun and

Finland Day 3 – WJC Begins

The World Junior Championships began on Saturday, December 26 here in Helsinki. We took in the Group A games at Helsinki Ice Hall, while Group B got started in Hartwall Arena. Game 1 Game 1 saw the Russians beat the Czechs in a shootout in Group B at Hartwall Arena. Game 2 Game 2 featured

Finland Day 2 – Merry Christmas

Day two in Helsinki has been a wonderful Christmas! We started by sleeping in to adjust to the time change, then enjoyed a relaxing day around the house. Not staying in a hotel was a brilliant decision, I have to say. The apartment had a few decorations left by the owner and we added a

Finland – Day 1

Time to say goodnight and wait for Santa Claus to come. It was a great first day in Helsinki! Flights went well, however upon getting into the Keflavik, Iceland airport we discovered our flight from there to Finalnd was mostly full of Canadian fans! We all kept our composure and the Christmas spirit and travelled

You must be dreaming

Here is an update to this post that I wanted to get in before 2015 is out. I wrote the below to The Hockey News also and received a reply from their Senior Editor. He agreed with the assessment below and stated that it was an oversight on their part. Somehow Mike Ramsey slipped through

Know your role

This was a great example of guys not doing (or not knowing) their jobs. The fourth line could have had a huge impact in this game. It is very frustrating to have Foligno and Deslauriers in the lineup and not playing physically. Spark our team, frustrate theirs, at least make your presence known. There is

No McShowdown

Tonight was supposed to be the night of the first NHL regular season meeting between Jack Eichel and Connor McDavid, but with McDavid being injured we will not get to see that matchup between the top two picks of the 2015 NHL Draft. Early returns show that Eichel is a solid all around rookie, understanding