Ice hockey world championships final: Finland versus Canada
In about fourteen hours' time, at Ice hockey is the national team sport in Finland, but the comparatively small country is up against much larger ones, like Russia, the USA, Canada, Sweden and the Czech Republic. The Slovaks, also very good, are about the same size population-wise. Needless to say, everybody in Finland hopes the national team will go far in the tournament but with such formidable opponents, nobody dares to expect too much.
Last year, the Finns beat all the big nations and played Sweden in the Olympic finals - and lost. That was a bitter defeat, not just because Finnish Lions had done so well throughout that tournament, but also because Sweden is the hockey arch-enemy.
This year however, there won't be a Finland-Sweden final in the world championships. Finland's been a bit shaky in the 2007 tournament, losing against Russia (5-4) and Sweden (1-0) but made up for it by beating the USA (5-4) through sheer determination.
There was a lot of that - or sisu as Finns call it - in the semi-final against Russia. The Russians are very, very good, with players like Ovechkin, Kovalchuk and Malkin. They're skilled, big and fast and furthermore, played on home ground at Khodynka, Moscow.
The Finns however weren't intimidated and played a brutal game that literally floored (or iced) the Russians. Malkin nevertheless managed to score first, but Hentunen equalised while Finland had Koivu sent off 2+10 minutes; later on at 5:40 into overtime, Mikko Koivu became hero of the match with his 2-1 goal that sent Finland to the finals:
Next up is Canada, which made mince-meat out of 2006 champions Sweden and won the match 4-1. The Swedes were flattened by the huge Canadians who are tall (six players 6'3" and over, with only one under 6') and heavy at 86-103kg - what the hell do they feed them there? The Finns are not as big, and the Canadians are a tough bunch with lots of NHL players so the final will be much harder than the game against Russia. Finland will need an overdose of sisu to get through.
I hope, I hope, I hope, but... the odds are heavily stacked against Finland. Hakkaapäälle sittenkin, Suomi!
Update Sigh. Didn't work out this time either. Canada were too good... see dwm's comment below for links to news stories. Sweden folded against Russia too.
Here's Tuomu Ruutu tackling Sergei Zinoviev during the Finland-Russia game:
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Comment by freitasm, on 13-MAY-2007 16:59
www.timeanddate.com is the answer. And 42 of course.
Comment by rscole86, on 13-MAY-2007 17:49
The exact same one I used juha, not too sure on freitasm
Comment by tonyhughes, on 13-MAY-2007 19:22
hopefully they end up with a fantastic finnish....
(cause no one's ever hears *that* before...)
Comment by rscole86, on 13-MAY-2007 19:39
I don't get it?
Comment by bradstewart, on 13-MAY-2007 19:58
Was it just me or did Evgeni Malkin look like he was about to cry after that goal? As he well might.
The Finns did really well considering they were missing their best player in Teemu Selanne (his Anaheim Ducks are going to get pasted by Detroit in the Western Conf finals by the way)
The final should be a very good game. Canada are also missing several of their top players as were most of the teams given the NHL playoffs are in progress.
Comment by Gareth Mitchell, on 13-MAY-2007 20:03
How can I get to see the game in West London? Please help!
Comment by dmw, on 13-MAY-2007 21:33
Sorry, Juha. Some of us have to cheer for Canada (having lived there for a while (even though I now live in Finn Place!) I'm sure it will be a great game.
Comment by Maxime, on 14-MAY-2007 05:40
Final is just over, Canada won 4:2, they have lead 3:0 after second period, then relax a bit, but easy score excellent 4th goal just in seconds after finns made 2:3...
Just like Russia beat Sweden 3:1 in match for 3rd place.
Sorry, but Finland was rather lucky is semi-final beating Russia in extra time and that Russia lost his semi-final...
I'm sure final Canada vs Russia and 3rd place match Finland vs Sweden would be much much exciting :)
Comment by dmw, on 14-MAY-2007 06:39
For those who don't want to know the result... don't visit this site:
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/World/2007/05/13/4177205-cp.html
(It was hard to find much reporting on the event!)
Comment by bath mate, on 19-DEC-2009 02:28
very good. thanks. :)-
Bathmate
Comment by bath mate, on 31-DEC-2009 09:16
Happy new year.
Very nice website.
I am impressed.
I like it very much.
Bathmate
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Comment by rscole86, on 13-MAY-2007 14:49
Are you sure its not 415am? I just looked at the wiki on the IIHF and it states that the game starts 2015 Moscow time, which is 0415 NZ time.
Or am I wrong?