Finland won the final against Canada 4-3 (0-0, 0:1, 3:2, 1-0) in front of 11,500 enthusiastic fans in Tampere’s Nokia Arena on Sunday after a thrilling final third and in overtime. Thanks to Sakara Manninen’s goal, Finland became the second nation after Sweden in 2006 to win the World Cup in the same year, following Olympic gold.
For the third time in a row, Canada and Finland faced each other in the World Cup final. The Suomi team won in 2019, and Canada got revenge in 2021. This time the Finns had the better end for themselves after the Canadians had initially won the game and took the lead through Dylan Cozens (25th).
In the final third, Mikael Granlund turned the game around with a double strike (45./PP, 46./PP) and Joel Armia (55.), but the Canadians managed to make a comeback. Each with a sixth field player on the ice, Zack Whitecloud (58th) and Max Comtois (59th) scored within 48 seconds and shot the match into overtime. With only three field players per team, Canada’s captain Thomas Chabot had to go to the penalty box, Manninen used the majority game to score the gold (67th).
After a scoreless first third, the defending champions struck on the game’s first power play, cracking the Suomi team’s hitherto flawless penalty kill. Cozens inflicted the Finns their first man-man goal of the tournament.
At the beginning of the final third, however, the Canadians conceded three penalties, and NHL forward Granlund made them pay for them. With two more men on the ice, the Nashville Predators wing equalized and took advantage of the ongoing overtime game to make it 2-1. Matt Tomkins was in the Canadians’ goal for the second goal after Chris Driedger was injured when he failed to defend the first goal.
Armia made it 3-1, but that wasn’t the deciding factor. Tomkins made room for a field player, Whitecloud and Comtois – each after an assist from Matt Barzal, who also set up the first goal – made the Canadians celebrate again. But the next penalty cost the “maple leaves” their 28th world title.
Finland ended the “home curse” in perfect fashion. The Scandinavians had gone without a medal in eight previous home world championships, and now they were able to celebrate their fourth World Cup gold after 1995, 2011 and 2019 with their ice hockey fans. Team boss Jukka Jalonen led Finland to three titles and the Olympic victory in Beijing. Captain Valtteri Filppula was the first Finn and a total of 30 players to join the Triple Gold Club (Olympic gold, World Cup gold, Stanley Cup victory).
In the match for third place, the Czech Republic beat the USA 8:4 (1:3,1:0,6:1) and won a World Cup medal for the first time in ten years. The Americans were 3-1 ahead after the first period thanks to goals from Karson Kuhlman (10′, 20’/SH) and Adam Gaudette (13’/PP) and a goal from Jiri Cernoch (16′).
After Jiri Smejkal’s goal (33′), the decision was made in the first minutes of the final third. NHL star David Pastrnak (41st, 44th) and captain Roman Cervenka (43rd), top scorer of the tournament with five goals and twelve assists, turned the game around with three goals within 2:46 minutes. David Kampf with a brace (55./SH, 59./EN) and Pastrnak with his third goal (60./PP) secured victory in the finish.
Source: Nachrichten
