Slovakia Takes Bronze In 4-0 Win Over Sweden In Men’s Olympic Hockey

On 02/19/2022 By CanucksBanterIn Olympic Men's Hockey TournamentLeave a comment

Two goals in the second period and determined defence in the final 20 minutes gave Slovakia a 4-0 win over Sweden in the bronze medal game at the National Indoor Stadium tonight. This marks the first ever Olympic ice hockey medal for the Slovaks. In 2010, they had a 3-1 lead in the third against Finland but ended up losing, 5-3. There was no such collapse today, only joy and celebration as the buzzer sounded to end the game.

Juraj Slafkovsky scored twice, and Patrik Rybar recorded the historic shutout by stopping 28 Sweden shots.

“It’s just an amazing feeling,” Slafkovsky said. “After all we went through, bouncing back from the first two losses and a tough [4-1] loss to Sweden in the group stage, and then we score four goals on them. This has been an amazing few weeks since the start of camp and I’m so happy to be part of this.”

“I’m proud of the guys,” said assistant captain Peter Cehlarik. “Obviously we had a rough time at the beginning of the tournament, but we came together and today we played amazing. That’s the way to win a game. The second half we were the better team. We outworked them. We outbattled them, and we deserve this. All the energy and the sadness from losing yesterday, we used it all tonight and I’m really proud of the guys.”

“We didn’t have the legs today,” admitted Sweden’s coach Johan Garpenlov. “We didn’t have the mindset today, and we played a really good team. We tried really hard, but we couldn’t get anything going. We had a really tough game yesterday, after the overtime and shootout, and it was a late night for us. But then again, we had the whole day planned for us to recover and go for the bronze medal. But we couldn’t really get it going. And Slovakia got the first goal and some energy from that, and we couldn’t respond.”

As is often the case with bronze games, it took a while for the teams to get going. The opening 20 minutes was tame and uneventful, with the exception of one dangerous flurry around the Sweden goal. Juraj Slafkovsky, the 17-year-old who has developed before our eyes in Beijing, made a little drop pass to Marek Hrivik, and he snapped a quick shot off the post. Moments later, Mislav Rosandic had a point-blank shot, but there were half a dozen bodies between him and the net, and his shot didn’t get through.

Sweden had the only power play on a rare minor to goalie Rybar for tripping, but nothing came of that. It was Rybar’s second minor of the tournament. The only other goalie penalty this Olympics was incurred by China’s Jieruimi Shimisi (Jeremy Smith).

The Slovaks picked up the pace in the second and took control with two goals. Slafkovsky scored his tournament-leading sixth at 3:17 on an odd play, the kind of goal that only goalscorers get. He got control of the puck in his own end and roared up ice, cutting down the left wing. He was angled towards the boards by Swedish defender Christian Folin, and in that moment Slafkovsky let go a shot. The puck was on end, and it then hit Folin in the leg and fooled Johansson.

Sweden then had a flurry of chances, but Rybar was rock solid. The Slovaks went up 2-0 on their second of two quick power plays. Pavol Regenda fought off two Swedes in the corner to get the puck, and he made a sharp pass out to the side for Samuel Takac. His shot beat Johansson to the short-side post, a shot the goalie should have saved. It was Slovakia’s first power-play goal of the entire tournament.

“It was our second power play in a row, so we played it well,” Regenda described. “It was a draw, and I won the puck, I passed it to Takac and he ripped it from a really weird angle but he put it in. That really gave us some good momentum in the game being ahead, 2-0.”

The history and drama and pressure of the game built as the third period progressed. Sweden made their hardest push yet, but the Slovaks were relentless. You could see how much victory would mean to them. Players stood at the bench; the forechecking grew more intense; the clock ticked down. They had a chance to put the game away midway through the period when Peter Cehlarik created a breakaway, but he was stoned by Johansson.

Coach Johan Garpenlov pulled Johansson with two minutes left, and Sweden had a great chance when Pontus Holmberg was alone in front with the puck. He deked to the backhand, lost the puck, and never got a shot off. Moments later, Slafkovsky iced the victory with an empty netter, and 16 after that Regenda scored into the empty net as well to start the celebrations.

“When you take a group of players from all over Europe and make one team out of it, it becomes somewhat difficult,” said winning coach Craig Ramsay. “I relied on my coaches and certainly on my captain to get everyone on the same page. I told them we can beat anybody, and in the end our third period today was the best period I’ve ever seen in my 50 years in hockey. The talk on the bench was spectacular. The talk on the ice was spectacular. That’s when you know you have a team. To see a group come together and be so committed at the end. They played great, and it just needed a goal to do even more. To be part of it and to see it happen and feel it happen – our kids were willing to do whatever it takes. I’m looking forward to a walk outside. I’m so thrilled for the country, that they can have this sense of pride. This is so vital to build something and keep moving forward.”

Source: iihf.com

The Lure Of Olympic Gold, One Game Away For Finland

On 02/19/2022 By CanucksBanterIn Olympic Men's Hockey Tournament, Winter Olumpics 2022Leave a comment

Over the course of the IIHF’s long and glorious history there is no greater story of slow and consistent and remarkable development than Finland. And now, Suomi is one game away – maybe one goal away – from doing something it has never done – win Olympic gold. The path from there to here, from 10 February 1928, when the nation was welcomed into the IIHF family during the Olympics in St. Moritz, has been a long one, but this proud and hockey-loving culture has been waiting and hoping for this moment for a long time.

It wasn’t until 1939 that Finland played its first IIHF event, the World Championship in Basel and Zurich, Switzerland. The Finns lost all five games and placed in a tie for 13th, and last, spot, with Yugoslavia. Their first ever game came on 3 February 1939, when they were swamped by Germany, 12-1. That lone Finnish goal was scored by Holger Granstrom, who is forever the answer to the trivia question, who scored Finland’s first ever goal in IIHF competition.

The war interrupted the IIHF schedule for several years, and Finland didn’t play again until 1949 when it had a 3-0-2 record and finished 7th. Suomi played at the 1951 Worlds and finished 7th again, and this was the lead-in to the 1952 Olympics in Oslo, the first time the Finns participated in the five-ringed event. Risto Lindroos was the coach and Aarne Honkavaara the captain. Honkavaara was a star of this era. He played in all three events right after the war and was a fine goal scorer. Finland won only two of six games, though, and finished 7th, and starting in 1954 they played at the World Championship and have been doing so ever since in the top pool.

But here’s the incredible part. The years and decades passed. The Finns kept competing, but they never came particularly close to any sort of medal until the 1988 Olympics in Calgary, Alberta. By this time, several Finns had started to play in the NHL. The first were Pekka Rautakallio and Risto Siltanen, who both made their NHL debuts on October 10, 1979. A year later, the great Jari Kurri started, changing the reputation of Finns in North America forever.

In Calgary, Finland won three and tied one in the preliminary round, and in the medal round they completed their incredible run by defeating the gold-medal-winning Soviets, 2-1, on the final day. Finland won silver, its first medal ever in senior IIHF competition, exactly 60 years after joining international hockey.

This success had its roots in excellent performances at the World Junior Championship during that tournament’s first days. The U20 was first established by the IIHF in 1977, and in 1980, the Finns earned medals three years running – silver, silver, bronze. In 1987, they won their first gold at the U20, but between then and 2013 they won gold only once more (1998).

More success followed more quickly after Calgary. They won their first World Championship medal in 1992, a silver, and followed that with another silver two years later. In 1994, they won a bronze at the Lillehammer Olympics. A year later came an historic gold, the team famously captained by Timo Jutila that included the most famous forward line in Finnish history – right winger Jere Lehtinen, centre Saku Koivu, and left winger Ville Peltonen. They were all young and were nicknamed “Tupu, Hupu, Lupu” after Donald Duck’s nephews.

But that gold in 1995 didn’t signal the start of a new wave of success. Although they won four medals in a row (1998-2001), they didn’t win gold again until 2011. In between, they had one of their greatest moments in 2004 in Toronto during the World Cup, advancing to the championship game before losing to the hosts. And in 2006, in Turin, they came agonizingly close to Olympic gold. Tied 1-1 to start the third period, Saku Koivu broke his stick at the faceoff, and while he was getting new lumber Swedish defender Nicklas Lidstrom was slapping the gold-medal-winning goal into the net.

But at the junior level, there were signs of future greatness. The new U18 event was a boon for the Finns who won gold at the inaugural tournament in 1999 and again a year later.

There have been some great results and disappointments along the way, of course, but in the last decade it can be argued Finland has been just about the most consistent winning team in the world. At the World Championships it has won five medals in the last ten events. Since 1998, when the NHL started at the Olympics, no country has won more medals than the Finns (five, including this year). At the World Juniors, they have taken four medals in the last eight events, and in the U18, between 2009 and 2018, they won seven medals, including two more gold in 2016 and 2018.

And right now, the Finns are in a place they have never been before. For the first time, they have advanced to the gold medal game at three consecutive events in men’s ice hockey – 2019 Worlds (win against Canada), 2021 Worlds (loss to Canada), and now the Olympic final against ROC. This is the most dominant Finnish team ever. Led by coach Jukka Jalonen and big captain Marko Anttila, the Finns have been the favourites all tournament long.

The rise of Finland has taken decades, but here they are. They have won gold at the U18 and the U20 and the World Championship, but the one thing they don’t have is Olympic gold. It has been 94 years, but maybe on Sunday they will check this all-important box off their to-do list. It would be well-earned and come from a most remarkable patience.

Source: iihf.com