Unsung heroes

While we all enjoy reading about the brightest stars in the league, it's every now and then good to take a look at some of the heroes that don't get their names on the media coverage as much as they maybe deserve. I'll throw in some names that might appear on the name plates on silverware in the end of the season to surprise us all.

Let's start defence first to honor many coaches favorite clichés. Has anyone noticed that Minnesota Wild has been hovering on top of the NHL for some time now and doesn't look like going anywhere? The team is in bottom 5 of goals scored in the whole league but still manages somehow to stay on the winning end. This team really knows how to defend. They trap, block shots and have apparently three amazing goaltenders in the lineup. But who's leading the team to this workmanlike success? Wild captain Mikko Koivu leads the team in points and plus-minus. He plays almost the same minutes as the leading defensive pair in the team. He's in the rink on powerplay or while shorthanded. If Minnesota keeps up the rest of the season, this guy deserves the Selke trophy.

To the points race and Art Ross trophy. Now with Crosby out of the competition, there is actually a race for this. The Sedin twins are in the mix as always, newcomers like blossoming Claude Giroux and comeback-kid Phil Kessel are there to be followed. But there's also a Slovak threat in form of Marian Hossa, who seems to have found both his health and level of play after couple of sluggish years. The whole Chicago team is rocking and even on route for grabbing the Stanley Cup in the end. Hossa has taken over equally impressive Jonathan Toews and Patrik Sharp in the points race and is the hottest player on this massively talented squad at the moment. He's also leading his team in the plus-minus with +18 and has the perfect combination of offensive skills and experience to keep going steadily until the end of the season. Who knows if Hossa would end up on top of the points pile in springtime.

The new faces on NHL this season have been again really fun to watch. There seems to be no reason why 18 year old kids couldn't play with the older pro athletes. Take look at Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. He's actually so good that there's no one to challenge him in the offencive end this season for the Calder trophy. There's other kids like New Jersey's Adam Henrique and Philly's Matt Reed, but they cannot keep up with the number one pick's pace this season. So, the challenger for the trophy has to come from the defence lineup. The number one candidate may be New Jersey's other rookie called Adam. Yound Swedish defender Adam Larsson has played entertaining hockey on a mediocre Devils lineup. He's connecting really well with the offensive artists in the team like Ilya Kovalchuck. Unfortunately that playful style, while sometimes productive, also leads to quite bad numbers in the plus-minus. If he can turn up the defence skills a notch while not steering away from courageous, imaginative plays, there might be a chance to challenge the RNH for the Calder title. If not, well the wunderkind from Edmonton will raise that cup in the end.

Then the masked men. In the Vezina talks there's one guy who seems to fly constantly under the radar while really establishing himself as the backbone of a famed franchise. Detroit's Jimmy Howard leads the pack on wins and has very impressive stats on GAA (1.91) and save percentage (0.929). Still, the Vezina race he seems to always go unnoticed. Maybe it's the legacy of unforgettable Red Wings goalies like Dominik Hasek that keep on casting a shade on Howard's heroics. Detroit has been doing incredibly well this season with the lineup combining Hall of fame bound veterans like Datsuyk and Lidström with some rather unknown grinders. Comparing Howard's position behind this team to the setup for e.g. Tim Thomas and Marc-Andre Fleury should shine some light on how well he's played this season. Hopefully he gets the recognition he deserves in the ceremonies too.

Finally the ever so thrilling goals race. Rocket Richard trophy is likely seen as a race between rebounding Phil Kessel and last years' top cannon Steven Stamkos. However, right behind these guys is currently injured Ottawa Senator, Milan Michalek with 19 goals already under his belt. Michalek has the best accuracy by far on the top scorers and so far this season he's been phenomenal in finding the spots where the goals can be shoveled in. Okay, his wrister is definitely a dangerous weapon, but there has been numerous game highlights displaying Michalek backhanding or tapping in goals from goal mouth scambles or just on the perimeter of the scrum in front. If he returns to the lineup soon and keeps this pace, who knows where he'll land on the goals race in the end. The fun statistic for Michalek is that he only has 6 assists to goal with his bucketfull of goals. I wonder if it tells more about his skills to finish the play or trust for his linemates abilities in the same task.

It'll be fun to watch these sleeper picks for the rest of the season and see if they really can challenge the obvious candidates for the personal spotlight.

The new Champions

Hey hey! Finland is the new World Champion in hockey. A proud moment indeed. Good for the nation's self esteem and all. Second time is for real, no more talks about fluke win in 1995. Finnish team really rocked this time.

The games were in general pretty high profile. Several teams had really strong names on paper and were really in there for the win. In the end it was Finnish team that found the groove within and took the gold as the most tightly woven team in the group.

The Slovaks failed miserably in their own games. Indeed an end to an era of great players. Demitra, Satan & co just couldn't keep up the pace with the younger generation. Unfortunate, but big thanks to the hosts!

The USA sent the least experienced team of the big countries and hit the wall in the first elimination game. Hopefully they'll gather a bit higher profile team from NHL bubble next year.

Norway and Germany exceeded all the expectations in the group phases and played great hockey. However, neither of them could pull off a surprise and were out in the quarters.

Canada bumped to Russian team already in the quarters and ended up on the losing side of that very entertaining, but somewhat undisciplined match.

Checks and Russians went to their semifinals both as a favorite. Each of the start-filled teams were beaten in the game by solid, basic, good-old teamplay. Finns and Swedes actually controlled the games quite effortlessly. Team over individual.

The final was a long awaited Nordic classic between Finland and Sweden. Swedes used to outplay Finland every time and became a horrifying opponent. During the last years, however, the next generation of Finnish hockey players have gotten over the history and really started to play their own game. And now, at least after the final, Swedes are more afraid of Finns than vice versa.

The final was a great game to watch; pretty tentative first period, Sweden taking over in the second, Finland scoring the most important goal of the tournament in the last seconds of second period and storming away to a massive victory.

Biggest reasons behind Finland's solid teamplay are still in the individuals. There's no team without those. Mikko Koivu and Tuomo Ruutu, as appreciated and battle tested NHL players in their prime, took the lead and everyone else followed. Koivu's personal battles for each puck, pacifying puck control and endless cool gave everyone the belief. Ruutu finished his checks, run through the enemy lines without fear and provided the golden touch of luck here and there to prove that anything can be done with a healty dose of effort. These guys will keep Finland as a contender as long as their fire burns.

And well, cannot post anything these days about the Worlds without a mention of a certain young gentleman's acts. Mikael Granlund is bound to have a fantastic career in hockey, wherever he ends up playing. All the best to the boy with the biggest bag of tricks. It'll take a while to top this highlight in the field of international hockey.