Leijonat in sorrow: "Let's hope that the sun rises tomorrow"

MILANO.

The players of the Lions were understandably very disappointed after losing the Olympic semi-final match.

Finland led the game against Canada 2-0 but ultimately lost 2-3. The winning goal was scored just over 30 seconds before the end of regular time.

After the match, the players of the Lions were almost universally very reticent. Rasmus Ristolainen said directly that not much was going through his mind. Artturi Lehkonen aptly summed up the feelings.

– Just crap.

Mikko Rantanen was pretty much on the same line:

– It’s frustrating and annoying.

The Finnish players were very unanimous that after a good first period, they should have been able to keep the puck a bit more and create attacks in Canada’s zone.

– But if you have to defend in your own zone for 30 seconds, it’s hard to start attacking against good players. We had to defend, but maybe that’s the opponent’s strength, Rantanen said.

– It’s frustrating. Disappointed feeling. We were close. They have a really strong team, of course, but we defended really well, captain Mikael Granlund said.

– I am really proud of all of us, but at the same time we had a chance. We played good hockey against such a good team. It just fell a little short. There were also 50-50 calls that didn’t go our way, Granlund said, apparently referring to the officiating.

– Yes, we gave it our all, played a really good game. Of course, there was a lot of defending, as expected. We did a really good job, but it wasn’t enough.

The Lions still have a bronze medal match ahead, which will be played on Saturday at 21:40 Finnish time.

– We’ll sleep and hope that the sun rises, Ristolainen said.

– Let’s get this over with. There is still a chance to play for a medal, Juuse Saros remarked.

– It’s not easy to swallow this. You just have to wake up in the morning and think positively. We were here to play for gold, but of course, a bronze would also be a great opportunity, Sebastian Aho said.

Rantanen was asked how he and other experienced players can get the team to give their all one more time.

– We need to talk tomorrow about how a medal is a really big deal in the Olympics, because there are good teams here. Yes, that’s our number one goal tomorrow.

Jaakko Perttilä
X: @JaakkoPerttila