Olympic champions Finland won their fourth gold medal at the Ice Hockey World Championships in their own country and were the second team to achieve the historic double.
Like neighboring Sweden 16 years ago, coach Jukka Jalonen’s team secured a 4:3 (0:0, 0:1, 3:2, 1:0) after extra time in the gripping final against defending champion Canada after the triumph at the Winter Games also the world championship.
Mikael Granlund (45th/46th), Joel Armia (55th) and Sakari Manninen (67th), as the decisive man, scored the goals in Tampere for the Finns, who successfully avenged the 2-3 defeat after extra time in the final in the last year in Riga.
Dylan Cozens (25th), Zach Whitecloud (58th) and Max Comtois (59th) scored for the Canadians, with 27 world titles the maple leaves are still record world champions together with Russia.
Canada forces overtime – but then Manninen’s hour strikes
After a balanced first third, Cozens broke the spell in the final, the striker was successful on the power play. Finland pushed vehemently for an equalizer and benefited from time penalties against the Canadians. Granlund scored to make it 1-1 in five against three in front of a crowd of 11,487.
When defending, Chris Driedger was injured in the Canadian goal and was replaced by Matt Tomkins. A good 100 seconds later, the new goalie had to reach behind him: Granlund was again successful with a majority and turned the game around.
Canada fought back against defeat as best they could, but Armia made it 3-1. A good two minutes before the end, Tomkins went off the ice in favor of another field player, the plan worked, Whitecloud scored shortly afterwards – the goal was given after a video check. Just 48 seconds later, Comtois forced an extra time, again with Tomkins on the bench.
In overtime, Thomas Chabot had to go to the penalty box, Manninen took advantage and shot the Finns to gold.