BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA – The long wait is over! After 16 years in the making and several losses in the finals, Finland have been crowned IIHF World Champions. In an exciting and classic final between Sweden and Finland, the Swedes had the advantage in light of the statistics and wins in the finals against the Finns, most recent of which is the Olympic final in Turin 2006. The game itself, played at the packed Orange Arena in Bratislava, offered surprise and tense moments for both teams. After the first period and several scoring chances later, the score stood at 0-0. The score was kept even by the two goalies, Finland’s Petri Vehanen and Sweden’s Victor Fasth, who incidentally were the best two keepers in the tournament in light of the goals against average and save percentage. What made the final even more spectacular was that neither team was expected to make the final. Canadian’s, Russian’s and the Czech’s had stronger teams on paper, but it was the two underdogs that won the crucial games in the quarter and semi final stages. The Bronze medal game was settled between the Czech Republic and Russia, who on the ice appeared to be the two most disappointed teams on the planet. However, it was the Czechs who captured the bronze, by winning 7-4 over the Russian’s star studded line up. Before the start of the tournament Finnish head coach Jukka Jalonen had said in an interview that “a gold is a dream, but maybe not reality” in the World Championships this year. In the gold medal game, the first goal went to Sweden, when Edmonton Oilers’ forward Magnus Paajarvi sniped a shot over Vehanen’s glove. Sweden had several good chances, including a power play opportunity that deflected out of the post. Had that deflection gone in, the game might have changed completely. From here it took the Finns to the end of the second period to equalise the game, when Jarkko Immonen fired a slap shot from the point past Fasth with only 7 seconds remaining in the period. The third period was where the championship was sealed. Finland got a good start to the period with Petteri Nokelainen scoring a goal after 2:35 minutes of play in the third period. Few moments later, Minnesota Wild centre man Mikko Koivu was in on a break away, but couldn’t capitalise on the opportunity. However, the Finns struck again just 45 seconds after Nokelainen’s goal. As at 43:21, Niko Kapanen scored from in close after an aggressive forecheck from Juhamatti Aaltonen and a pass from Leo Komarov. Sweden did try and gather its roster by calling a time out with ten minutes left in the game. The Swedes were frantically trying to score a goal to start a comeback. After a frantic few minutes in the Finnish zone, Mikael Granlund dumped the puck in the end boards just after the centre line. The Swedish defence did not see Janne Pesonen, who was in full stride to race to the puck that had bounced off the end boards. Pesonen scored with a backhander at 56:41. From there only 34 seconds later Mika Pyorala made it 5-1 and 56 seconds before the end of the game Antti Philstrom scored to make it 6-1 for the Finns and seal the historic second world championship for the Finns. The win sent Finland into state of hysteria, with crowds pouring to the streets in Helsinki and impromptu parties taking place all across the country. The Finnish hockey team that had just moments ago touched down in Helsinki will be celebrating the World Championship title at a public party in Helsinki later on tonight. Contact Janne.Virtanen@prohockeynews.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.