The Finns went into the tournament severely handicapped as Philadelpia Flyers' Rasmus Ristolainen (upper body) as well as Miro Heiskanen from Dallas Stars (knee) and Jani Hakanpaa from Toronto Maple Leafs (lower body) were forced to withdraw from the Finnish squad before the start of the tournament.
The absence of their key defenseman proved fatal as the Americans with Brady and Matthew Tkachuk in splendid form put the Finns to the sword despite an early deficit in an impressive 6-1 win which has prompted strong reactions from the Finnish media this morning.
The newspaper Ilta-Sanomat describes the defeat in the following words: "The USA humiliated the Lions badly. Now we face a must-win match."
Ilta-Sanomats columnist Ville Touru continues: "The successes at the World Cup and Olympics at C level may have blinded some into thinking that Finland is a leading hockey nation. When the best players are together, which logically should always be the case when national teams play, Finland is a small challenger to the USA and Canada."
Ilta-Sanomat described the match in the following way: "The Lions' opening game can be divided into two completely different parts: the promising performance of the opening part against the early favorites - and the total meltdown of the third period."
Finnish coach Antti Pennanen had theses words after the humiliation
"We had a good start to the match. The first period was really even and actually the second period was the best part from us. We had a couple of good chances, we didn't score. I don't actually know what happened after that and at the beginning of the third, I don't know how to say it, but we weren't ready for it. And sure enough, they were really effective. We made a couple of bad decisions and they scored."
In addition Pennanen said that the defeat will have severe consequences: "If you lose by 1-6, there will be changes in the squad."
Finland will have a chance to restore morale when they face bitter rivals Sweden on Saturday night CET.