Hello Ladies and Gentleman and welcome to the Quarter Finals 2 matchup, between Ireland and Finland.

Ireland finished the group round with a 6-3-1 record, while Finland finished with a 6-2-2 record.

Tonight's players to watch are:

For team Finland,



Esa Anrikkanen, the Calgary Dragons center who had a breakout season in the SHL last season.


For team Ireland,



Bojo Biscuit, the defensive defenseman from West Kendall Platoon, who had a punishing season in the SHL last season, almost winning the Turd Ferguson Trophy for the second year in a row.


The starting line-ups for tonight's games are bellow:


Jonathan Kane - Griffin Simons - Pedro Sarantez

Bojo Biscuit - Jed Hackert

Jakob Tanner




Vidrik Onoprienko - Esa Anrikkanen - Miles Berger

Mikko Koskinen - Valterri Bottas

Jakub Aittokallio

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Puck Drop will be at 6:30PM - 7:00PM EST

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TNGO soon to don the Irish sweater is doing our game? Gotta love it!

(Thanks to Tweedle, Dion.OvOxO., & Kylrad)

Padraig Sarantez Player Page || Croí folláin agus gob fliuch!

Pedro Sarantez Player Page || Croí folláin agus gob fliuch!

Hall of Famer

Ireland OG

Anrikkanen lines up against Simmons for the faceoff.

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Simons wins the faceoff back to Bojo, whom dumps it in.

Onoprienko retrieves the dumped puck, but is immediately hit by Kane.

Code:

0:01 of 1st period - Griffin Simons wins face-off versus Esa Anrikkanen in neutral zone.
0:06 of 1st period - Vidrik Onoprienko is hit by Jonathan Kane and loses puck.

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Onoprienko loses the puck because of that hit. But Finland keeps the puck and Koskinen tries to make a long pass up the boards.

Simons reads the pass correctly and gets the puck, where he walks it into Finland's zone. Ireland is setting up here.

Simons passes to Bojo, whom immediately passes to Sarantez. He fires it!






Routine stop by Aittokallio, covers it for a faceoff.

Code:

0:15 of 1st period - Shot by Pedro Sarantez.
0:15 of 1st period - Stopped by Jakub Aittokallio without a rebound.

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The beginning of the game has both teams taking shots. I don't think any of the players are thinking about shot blocking with the pre-season starting soon.

Finland gets the puck into Ireland's zone. Ivo Williams takes a shot...







Saved by Tanner but gives up a juicy rebound to Onoprienko he takes the shot....






Misses the wide open net, but he skates to grab the puck again. He picks it up and goes for the wrap around....







The puck just ends up sliding along the blue ice and not going into the net.

Code:

2:33 of 1st period - Shot by Ivo Willems.
2:33 of 1st period - Stopped by Jakob Tanner with a rebound.
2:35 of 1st period - Shot by Vidrik Onoprienko.
2:35 of 1st period - Shot Misses the Net.
2:37 of 1st period - Shot by Vidrik Onoprienko.
2:37 of 1st period - Shot Misses the Net.

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The two teams are playing well defensively, with only a few shots taken in the next couple of minutes.

Jamie Hawkins has the puck in Ireland's zone takes a shot, but ends up going of the heel of his blade and wide.

He chases for the puck, but Cunningham beats him to the puck. Hawkins didn't like that and dragged Cunningham down with a hook.

Ireland on the powerplay, bad penalty to take in the offensive zone.

Code:

6:15 of 1st period - Shot by Jamie Hawkins.
6:15 of 1st period - Shot Misses the Net.
6:16 of 1st period - Minor Penalty to Jamie Hawkins for Hooking.

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Nothing happens on Ireland's powerplay.

Fast forward a few minutes, where both teams get chances but nothing goes in.

A faceoff in Finland's zone is won by Creller, whom gets it to Lemar.

He is hit instantly by Gauthier and loses the puck.

Code:

10:37 of 1st period - Tommy Creller wins face-off versus Adrian Thomaz in Finland zone.
10:37 of 1st period - Gil Lemar is hit by Xavier Gauthier and loses puck.

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Play continues on, both teams going back and fourth with the shots.

A faceoff takes place in Finland's zone between Salmon and Simons, with Simons winning it.

He wins it back to Sarantez, who does a little passing play with Simons.

Sarantez takes the shot, deflected by Kane...







Bottas blocks it though, what a timely block by him. Looks like the puck would have went in otherwise.

Code:

15:34 of 1st period - Griffin Simons wins face-off versus Chico Salmon in Finland zone.
15:47 of 1st period - Shot by Pedro Sarantez.
15:47 of 1st period - Deflect By Jonathan Kane.
15:47 of 1st period - Shot Blocked by Valterri Bottas.

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Nothing really happens for the next few minutes.

Simons gets hit by Bottas and loses the puck.

Sarantez is then hit by Koskinen and he loses the puck.

Ireland didn't like those two hits and a crowd is forming. Only one person goes off to the sin bin from this, and that is Bottas.

Code:

18:01 of 1st period - Griffin Simons is hit by Valterri Bottas and loses puck.
18:21 of 1st period - Pedro Sarantez is hit by Mikko Koskinen and loses puck.
18:27 of 1st period - Minor Penalty to Valterri Bottas for Roughing.

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Nothing happens for the rest of the period, and the two teams go to their locker rooms tied, with Ireland having a short powerplay to start the next period.

Code:

Goals for this period are 0 for Ireland vs 0 for Finland.
Shots for this period are 13 for Ireland vs 9 for Finland.

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Simons wins the faceoff to start the period.

Ireland gets the puck into Finland's zone to continue their power play.

Jacob Cunningham shoots the puck....




















and it beats Aittokallio.

Code:

1. Ireland , Jacob Cunningham 1 (Gil Lemar, Griffin Simons) at 0:13 (PP)

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Finland does not seem happy to let in the first goal.

They put pressure on Ireland in their zone.

Miles Berger takes a shot.....


















And it beats Tanner, games all tied up, less then 2 minutes later.

Code:

2. Finland , Miles Berger 1 (Esa Anrikkanen, Xavier Gauthier) at 1:31

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Ireland didn't like the game being tied up and now they go on the assault.

Shot by Sarantez....

He misses the net. Eustachian gets the puck and takes the shot.


Saved Aittokallio.

Code:

2:48 of 2nd period - Shot by Pedro Sarantez.
2:48 of 2nd period - Shot Misses the Net.
2:50 of 2nd period - Shot by Eustace Eustachian.
2:50 of 2nd period - Stopped by Jakub Aittokallio without a rebound.

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