There was to be no fairy-tale ending to the 2007 Ice Hockey World Championships in Moscow, at least not for the Finns. Finland's Lions eventually went down 4-2 (2-0, 1-0, 1-2) to Canada on Sunday, and had to be content with the silver medals.
The Finnish squad played anaemically for two periods and allowed the Canadians a three-goal advantage, and even though they made the final into a match in the third period with goals from Petri Kontiola and Antti Miettinen, their late charge was brusquely interrupted by a goal from Rick Nash at 58:54 that put the result beyond doubt.
The defeat was Finland's sixth in a World Championships final. The only win and world title to date has come from Stockholm in 1995. Four silver medals in the years since 1998 suggest that Finland lacks that mysterious quality of a "culture of winning".
Many thought that this time at last they had found it, after the team beat the USA in a penalty shoot-out in the quarter-finals and then scored an unlikely 2-1 overtime victory over Russia to set up the encounter with Canada. In Sunday's earlier bronze medal game the Russian hosts gained some balsam for their semi-final loss by beating Sweden 3-1.
Sunday's match was also the last under the eye of head coach Erkka Westerlund, who also took Finland to a silver medal at the Torino Olympics. From now on the Finnish national team will be coached by Canadian Doug Shedden.
