Finland won its first Olympic men's ice hockey gold medal on Sunday in Beijing, defeating the Russian Olympic Committee 2-1.
Hannes Bjorninen of Finland scored the game-winning goal 31 seconds into the third period. He also assisted on Ville Pokka's second-period goal, which leveled the game after the ROC took the lead in the first.
Finland competed in the Olympic men's ice hockey competition for the 18th time, going undefeated in six games in Beijing. Before winning gold, the country won silver in 1988 and 2006, as well as bronze four times (1994, 1998, 2010, 2014).
"It's difficult to put into words what it means. What a grueling competition. I thought we played well the entire time, and this is our reward "said Valtteri Filppula of Finland, who won the Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings in 2008. "Hockey is a significant deal in Finland. This is, without a doubt, for all of us."
Harri Sateri made 16 saves, but the day was won by Finland's aggressive onslaught and forecheck. Finland held a 21-14 shot advantage after two periods and a 31-17 shot advantage overall. Russia was vying for a second consecutive Olympic gold medal in men's hockey, though not necessarily by name.
Due to a World Anti-Doping Agency prohibition that barred Russian competitors from displaying their flag or any Russian symbol on their uniforms, Russia competed as the Russian Olympic Committee. This followed IOC sanctions in 2018, when Russian Olympic athletes won gold at the Pyeongchang Olympics.
The ROC scored first on its second shot. With Bjorninen in the box for a high-sticking penalty, attacker Mikhail Grigorenko beat Sateri with a nicely set screen from teammate Pavel Karnaukhov just 7:17 into the game. Nikita Gusev pulled up an assist for his sixth point of the game, tying him for the team lead.
Only 3:28 into the second period, the Finns knotted the game. To tie the game at 1-1, defenseman Ville Pokka sent a shot from just inside the blue line that went through the legs of defenseman Nikita Nesterov and past goalie Ivan Fedotov.
31 seconds into the third period, the Finns took a 2-1 lead. Fedotov started the sequence by delivering the puck to Bjorninen. Finland responded with a forechecking clinic, which had the ROC running around in its own zone. Marko Anttila, a forward, gathered the puck and fired a wrist shot from high in the zone. Bjorninen deflected it for Finland's first lead.
The Beijing Olympics were the second consecutive Winter Games in which no NHL players competed. Despite an agreement between the NHL and the NHLPA to send players to Beijing, the league chose to opt out owing to a significant alteration in its 2021-22 regular-season schedule as a result of COVID-19 postponements.
The Finnish Olympic squad was not the only one to make history in Beijing. Slovakia, which overcame the United States in the quarterfinals, defeated Sweden 4-0 to win bronze, the country's first Olympic men's hockey medal.
