In the men’s hockey tournament gold medal match, the teams that had looked favorites even before the start – the best-played Finland against the best-staffed ROC met. It was a classic final, with plenty of power play and minimal scoring chances. Suomi generally dominated the entire game. But they were the first to concede. The ROC team converted the only power play of the game in the eighth minute, when Olympic champion PyeongChang Mikhail Grigorenko aptly shot from the right circle into the far corner of Harry Säteri’s goal.
Both of the Finns’ pucks early in the second and third periods were similar. Both were orchestrated by members of the fourth line, led by 2019 World Cup hero Marko Anttila. This time, unlike in the World Championship final three years ago, when he scored a double, Mark didn’t score. But he helped his teammates to do it. Both of the field goals came after shots from the blue line. The forwards blocked Ivan Fedotov’s vision, and he couldn’t save his team. Only in the first case Ville Pokka shot directly from the blue line, and in the second, center-forward Hannes Bjorninen slightly corrected the puck’s direction after a shot by Anttila.
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The Okhaerovs had almost the entire third period to pull themselves back into the game. However, the Finns and their goalie Syateri defended perfectly and were closer to increasing the score on the counterattack than they were to conceding.
Coach Jukka Jalonen stunned the hockey world in 2019. Back then, he brought to the World Cup an over-experimental Finnish squad that included even the less-than-stellar hockey players from the domestic championship. At the time, Suomi was predicted not to make it out of the group, but they won the championship by beating Canada 3-1 in the final. Now, Yalonen has become the creator of his country’s first-ever Olympic hockey gold. Before that Finland had played in the finals of the Olympics in Calgary in 1988 and in Turin in 2006, but lost there to Soviet and Swedish teams respectively. In Lillehammer 1994, Nagano 1998, Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014 Suomi had bronze medals. And now here is the historical gold.
Goalkeepers Harri Säteri, Jussi Olkinuora, Frans Tuohimäja, defenders Mikko Lehtänen, Jusso Hietanen, Petteri Lindbom, Sami Vatanen, Niklas Freeman, Valtteri Kamilainen, Ville Pokka, Atte Ohtamäja became the first Finnish Olympic champions in hockey history, Forwards Markus Granlund, Sakari Manninen, Teemu Hartikainen, Iiro Pakarinen, Harri Pesonen, Miro Aaltonen, Joonas Nattinen, Leo Komarov, Marko Anttila, Hannes Bjorninen, Saku Mänalanen, Niko Ojamäki, Tony Rayala and captain Valtteri Filppula.
Note that there are nine 2019 World Champions among the current triumphators: Olkinuora, Lehtonen, Ohtamäe, Lindbom, Ojämäki, Raiala, Manninen, Pesonen and Anttila.
