Finland 4 Russia 0; Lions to meet Canada in quarter-finals

Czechs stamp their class on tournament, while Slovakia and Sweden battle to a goalless draw

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By William Moore
     
      On Monday night Finland’s ice hockey team played their last World Championship match in Qualifying Round Group F, and consigned the hapless Russians to an early vacation. After a sticky start, the Finns skated to a relatively convincing 4-0 victory, with three goals coming in the final period.
      Jukka Hentunen (1+1), Niko Kapanen, Tomi Kallio, and Petteri Nummelin provided the goalscoring touches, while Janne Niinimaa had an inspired game and supplied three assists, including a delicious pass to release Kallio that deserves a place in the TV Top 5.
     
A scoreline of 4-0 looked anything but likely during the first period, when a disciplined Russian performance completely belied their parlous position in the group table and their purely mathematical chances of progressing into the quarters. The Finns made little impression, and Jegor Podomatski in the Russian goal only had to make six saves to Mika Noronen’s five. A shot from Ville Peltonen rattled a post, but 0-0 was a fair result.
      Hentunen broke the stalemate on a breakaway after 34 minutes, but the real blow to the Russian hopes came with Kapanen’s goal after five minutes of the third period. From then on the result was never in doubt and the only question was whether Finland could score a couple more to make up the goal difference on Sweden. This they duly did.
     
Their endeavours were not rewarded, however, since Slovakia and Sweden played out a goalless draw some hours later. This meant that the Finns would inevitably finish third in the group, and would therefore face the loser of the match between the Czech Republic and Canada in the quarter-finals.
      The Czechs eventually had too much class for Canada in a highly-charged and occasionally bad-tempered match in Prague, and they ran out 6-2 winners to top Group E.
      So Finland must overcome the Canadians on Thursday if they wish to progress to the semi-finals and a shot at the medals. Team USA, meanwhile, will have watched the Czech Republic’s performance on Monday with some trepidation: they have to face them after their final Group F match with Denmark. Today’s USA-Denmark meeting is really only about honour, but the Americans will be hoping for an easy ride to conserve their energy for the Czechs.
     
Slovakia pipped Sweden to the top of Group F on goal difference. These two do not yet know whom they will face next, as the third and fourth spots in Group E remain to be decided.
      Latvia’s 5-2 win over Austria put them into 3rd place for now and ensured that they will progress, but the result of today’s match between Germany and Switzerland will determine who joins them and could also change the Latvians’ next opponent.
      A German victory in tonight’s local derby or also an emphatic win (by four goals or more) for the Swiss could still push the Latvians into fourth place.
      Finnish fans have a soft spot for the feisty Latvians, not least because they are coached by Curt Lindström, a Swede who became an honorary Finn when he led the Lions to their only World Championship title so far, in 1995.
     
Slovakia may have been too good for us last week, and the tied match with Sweden might be seen as a missed opportunity, but tonight's game showed that Finnish ice hockey has come a long way.
      Not so very long ago, at this stage of a hockey World Championship tournament, the conversation among Finnish couch-potatoes would have gone something like this: “Hang on, it’s not so bad. If we beat the Soviet Union by... um... six clear goals, and if Czechoslovakia lose to Poland by four, and... and... if the French get at least a draw from their game with Canada, then we can still make it to the quarter-finals!”
      Sometimes it wasn’t even the quarter-finals, but avoidance of the Relegation Round, and beating a full-strength Soviet squad was about as likely as building a snowman in the Sahara.
      However, this time around the calculations were of a somewhat different nature. It was Russian hockey fans who were clutching at mathematical straws, and Finland had settled their progress into the knock-out stages of the tournament with one game still to play. A perfectly plausible victory by Slovakia over Sweden last night would simply have been icing on the cake.
     
One of the most telling television images of the entire evening was the sight of the Russian coach Viktor Tihonov, a veritable living legend in hockey circles, walking off grim-faced and hunched to the dressing room.
      This was the man who led the Soviet Union’s invincible “Big Red Machine” to three Olympic gold medals and eight World Championship titles in the 1970s and 1980s.
      Times really have changed.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finnish Lions secure World Championships quarter-final place and an Olympic berth (3.5.2004)

Links:
  IIHF World Championships 2004

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