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Olympic champion Finland manages historic ice hockey double
05/29/2022, 10:09 p.m
98 days after triumphing at the Olympics in Beijing, Finland is making ice hockey history. As only the second team, they then also win the World Championship title. The Finns have to go into extra time against Canada. But then they end it prematurely.
Ice hockey Olympic champions Finland won their fourth title at the World Championships in their own country and were the second team to win the double. Coach Jukka Jalonen’s team also secured World Cup gold with a 4:3 (0:0, 0:1, 3:2, 1:0) after extra time in the final against defending champion Canada after the Olympic triumph. Neighbor Sweden last managed to do that 16 years ago.
Mikael Granlund (45’/46′), Joel Armia (55′) scored in regular time in front of 11,487 enthusiastic fans in Tampere. Sakari Manninen then clinched the fourth title after 1995, 2011 and 2019 in the seventh minute of overtime. Under the eyes of Prime Minister Sanna Marin, the Finns also successfully took revenge for the 2-3 defeat in extra time in the final last year in Riga. It was also the fourth final between the two teams in the past six World Cup tournaments.
Dylan Cozens (25th), Zach Whitecloud (58th) and Max Comtois (59th) scored for the Canadians, who are still the record world champions with Russia with 27 world titles. With two late goals, the team saved themselves in overtime. The Sbornaja had been excluded from the World Cup because of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. Canada also missed out on becoming the sole record world champion.
The Canadians were initially superior with their no-frills and aggressive game. However, this was only rewarded in the middle section in the majority. Cozens scored his seventh goal of the tournament to become World Cup top scorer along with compatriot Pierre-Luc Dubois and Czech David Pastrnak. Things got dramatic in the final third. When Granlund equalized to make it 1-1, the previously strong Canadian keeper Chris Driedger, who is number two in Seattle Kraken behind Germany’s Philipp Grubauer, was also injured. The Finns pulled away to 3:1, but Canada came back with willpower. In the extension, a majority situation finally decided the final.
Germany’s conqueror, the Czech Republic, had previously won the bronze medal match 8-4 against the USA. Germany finished seventh after losing to the Czechs in the quarter-finals.
According to a decision by the World Federation IIHF, the World Cup ban for Russia and Belarus also applies to the 2023 World Cup tournament, which was originally supposed to take place in St. Petersburg. Instead, the game will be played again in Tampere and in Riga, Latvia.