Finland still undefeated at Ice Hockey World Championships, but only just

USA match sees third-period recovery, a shower of penalties, and refereeing glitches

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Finland’s national hockey team had two matches over the weekend, and both were won by coming from behind.
      On Friday, an unconvincing display - especially by the first-line players - was just enough to overcome Latvia 2-1, after the opposition had taken an early lead.
      Finland’s goal-scorers were Antti Pihlström and Niko Kapanen, and although there was no shortage of scoring opportunities for the Finns, Latvian goalie Edgars Masalskis proved otherwise impassable.
     
Masalskis made 62 saves, with 35 of them coming in the first period, when the Finns bombarded the Latvian goal through seven powerplay opportunities, but the millionaire Finnish NHL forwards could not deliver, even with a 5-3 advantage on the ice.
      Not even Pihlström’s equaliser managed to loosen up the Finnish attack, and though Kapanen eventually supplied the win and a guaranteed berth in the quarter-finals, this was a pretty disappointing performance all round.
     
It did not augur well for the meeting on Sunday with Team USA, who had shown themselves to be a bright young side who could take World Champions Canada right down to the wire before losing 5-4 in the last minute.
      Sunday’s game could hardly have started in worse fashion for the Finnish Lions. They took a string of penalties, culminating in a 5+20 for Olli Jokinen for a checking offence, and they never got any rhythm going.
      The penalties continued to flow from the Russian referees in the second period, with the Finns taking six minors to the Americans’ five. Team USA took immediate advantage of space on the ice when Antti-Jussi Niemi and Dustin Brown were both sitting out penalties, and went ahead through Tom Gilbert.
     
A second USA goal, this time on the powerplay, was supplied by Phil Kessel in the final minute of the period, leaving the Finns - who had actually outshot the Americans in both the previous periods and were playing quite well, given the fragmented nature of the game - with an ugly mountain to climb.
     
The third period saw a truly gutsy performance at last, three Finnish goals, masses of controversy, and a fight after the buzzer that left Finland's Anssi Salmela with a bloodied face and a torrent of names going into the referees’ black book.
      This time it was the Americans who couldn’t stay out of the penalty box, as the Finns - forced into a reshaping of their attack through the early loss of Olli Jokinen - finally found their form and pressed forward in numbers.
      The first goal came from Ville Koistinen after two minutes, and followed minor penalties for Team USA’s Matt Greene and David Booth.
      TV-replays showed that Koistinen’s shot looked very suspiciously as if it went in via the side netting, but even after examining the footage upstairs, the referees awarded the strike and gave the Finns new heart*.
      Teemu Selänne then scored a peach of a goal at around 50 minutes to level matters, after superb work by Sami Lepistö and Saku Koivu.
      The winner was delivered from close range by Mikko Koivu with just over three minutes left, scored after concerted pressure from the Finns, again on the power play, although the Americans were back at full strength just a second before the puck crossed the line.
     
Team USA did everything to get back on terms, including pulling their goalie Robert Esche, who had been a tower of strength for them, but they could not get a late equaliser.
      Esche in fact saved the Americans from a worse mauling in the third period, as he made a bucketful of huge saves: the Finns outshot their opponents by 25-7 once they got their motor running.
      A match that had already had more than its share of penalty minutes, largely owing to some very quixotic decisions from the referees, then erupted in raw violence after the buzzer, and when the dust had settled the officials handed out a string of game misconduct and fisticuffs sanctions.
      In all, the Russian referees racked up more than 200 minutes of penalties, with the Finns narrowly losing this particular contest by 96 to 106.
      Dustin Brown in particular can feel very fortunate indeed not to have collected a game misconduct penalty and a one-match suspension for starting the ball rolling with a hit to the head on Jussi Jokinen after the buzzer.
      Several players from both teams will be watching Monday's matches from the grandstand, including Salmela, who also got a broken nose for his troubles.
     
The Koistinen goal is bound to provoke controversy, and also the way the Americans lost it completely in the third period. However, from the Finnish perspective, although they can worry about their undisciplined first forty minutes on the ice, the victory and the way they buckled down in adversity was very welcome indeed.
      Finland's Canadian head coach Doug Shedden was full of admiration for the way the team pulled themselves out of a hole, albeit a hole of their own making.
      Taking this match keeps alive the chance of winning the entire Qualification Group and bagging an appetising quarter-final match against Norway or Latvia.
     
This will, however, require going out and doing it all over again - only rather better this time - against Canada tonight.
      Canada lead the table with 12 points to Finland’s 11, so an overtime victory would be enough to see the Finns home.
      Defeat would almost certainly mean a re-match with Team USA (currently on 6 points), unless Norway (4 points) cause an upset against them tonight.
      Germany are out of contention, but Latvia could squeeze into the fourth spot if they overcome Germany and the USA beat Norway.
     
     
Tonight’s game will be televised on YLE TV2 at 22:30 local time.
     
     
*The IIHF later reported that the Koistinen "goal" had indeed been called wrongly, and that the video judge involved would be taking no further part in the tournament.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  3-2 win puts Finland through as group winners: Latvia next opponent (8.5.2008)

Links:
  IIHF World Championships 2008 (Wikipedia)
  Game Summary (.pdf file; check out the penalties!)

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