2005 WORLD JR. HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP - Dec. 25 - Jan. 4, 2005

[BOREALIS]

Finland 4, Germany 1 ~ played Dec. 25

Posted on Sun, Dec. 26, 2004

Power play fuels Finland
Finns top Germans 4-1

By Brad E. Schlossman
Herald Staff Writer


THIEF RIVER FALLS - Germany took penalty after penalty to start the game. And eventually those penalties took the Germans out of the game.

Finland used three power-play goals to top Team Germany 4-1 in Pool Bplay at the World Junior Championship in Thief River Falls' Ralph Engelstad Arena.

"We knew the first game the refs would be calling a lot," Finland coach Petri Matikainen said. "So we have been working on that in practice quite a bit."

The combination of Jussi Makkonen and Antti Nokelainen on the top power play unit clicked for Finland on Saturday. Both players had a goal and two assists.

"I think we are getting better and better all the time," Nokelainen said. "We are starting to come together. We have practiced the power play a few times and that was good. I'm happy for that."

"We have good speed on the power play," Makkonen added.

In the first four minutes of the game, the Germans took four penalties. Finland took a 1-0 lead when Makkonen drove to the net from the right side and flipped a backhand by German goaltender Youri Ziffzer. But Team Finland was kept out of the net the rest of the first period thanks to Ziffzer, who made 14 stops in the first.

But the Germans got into more penalty trouble in the second when back-to-back penalties gave Finland a 5-on-3 power play. Defenseman Otto Honkaheimo beat Ziffzer with a slap shot from the top of the left circle.

Finland took a 3-0 lead about seven minutes later when Nokelainen scored on yet another Finland power play.

"We came out emotional and we wanted to play physical," German coach Uwe Krupp said. "We asked them to play physical and they did. We weren't prepared for being in the box all the time. You can't win when you do that."

Germany did a better job of staying out of the box in the third period and it showed. Finland outshot Germany 31-11 in the first two periods. In the third, the Germans outshot Finland 13-5.

"We played much better in the third," Krupp said. "The Finnish team can be beaten and we were prepared to beat them."

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