Winter Olympics: Finland wins Gold Medals thrashed ROC- Russians fail to retain title in Beijing 2022.
Finland's men's ice hockey team finally reached the top of the Olympic podium on Sunday by beating the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) 2-1 to claim the final gold medal on offer at the Beijing Winter Games.
Ville Pokka and Hannes Bjorninen each had a goal while Harri Sateri was rock solid in net when called upon, facing 17 shots as the inspired Finns capped an unbeaten run to gold by overcoming the Russian defending champions.
- Finland have made regular appearances on the Olympic podium, returning home with a medal from five of the previous seven Games,
- World No. 3 ROC edged past Germany 4-3 in overtime at Pyeongchang 2018, and it fell 3-1 to Finland in the quarterfinals at Sochi 2014.
- Twice before the Finns had contested the final, at the 1988 Calgary Games and 2006 Turin Olympics, and came up short but the third time proved the lucky charm.
Slovakia, with the help of two goals from teenage sensation Juraj Slafkovsky, beat Sweden 4-0 on Saturday to claim the bronze and their first ever Olympic medal in men's ice hockey.
In Sunday's final Finland dominated the early going but it was the ROC going ahead on a power play goal from Mikhail Grigorenko on what was just their second shot of the game.
Deadlocked at 1-1 Hannes Bjorninen put the Finns in front just 31 seconds into the third, and then the defence and Sateri shut down the ROC attack to seal the victory.
The Finns won all the five games before the final, and defeated Slovakia 2-0 in the semifinals, while the Russians edged past Sweden 2-1 in shootout to reach the final.
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Reuters - Reporting by Steve Keating; Additional reporting by Julien Pretot
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