Finland take bronze at Floorball World Championships after penalty shoot-out

Swedes win fifth successive title

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The Finnish floorball team did not come home completely empty-handed from the World Floorball Championships in Switzerland, but rather as had been feared, their dramatic defeat by Switzerland in the final group match derailed any hopes that they could grab the gold medals.
      The 4-3 defeat to the Swiss meant a meeting with reigning World Champions in the semi-finals, and once again the Swedes were too good, coming from 3-2 down to win 5-3. Sweden and Finland had met three times previously in the World Championships, and always in the final. On each occasion the Swedes emerged victorious. In the other semi-final, the Swiss were upset by the Czech Republic by the same 5-3 score.
     
Clearly, honours in the sport of floorball are no longer the sole province of the Swedes and the Finns, as both the bronze match (another Finland-Switzerland encounter) and the final between the Swedes and the Czechs were closely-fought affairs.
      Finland had a particularly torrid time, as the game finished tied at 7-7. The Finns led 7-4 at one stage, but the opposition fought back and equalised with just 20 seconds left on the clock.
      Ten minutes of overtime could not separate the sides, although the Swiss came very close, with a shot that hit the crossbar and bounced down parlously close to the line. The referee ruled no goal. The ensuing penalty shoot-out went to the Finns by 4 goals to 1.
      Three times in the tournament the Finnish side had given away a lead in the closing stages, but at least this time they came out ahead.
     
Sweden, meanwhile, looked to have wrapped up their match when they went into a 5-1 lead, but the Czechs had other ideas and the game eventually finished only 6-4 in favour of the Swedes, who therefore chalked up their fifth successive title.
      It was the first-ever medal at this level for the Czech Republic, and by all accounts their players were more delighted with their medals than the Swedes were.
      Three members of the Finnish squad were selected to the All-Star Team: goalkeeper Henri Toivoniemi, defender Jari-Pekka Lehtonen, and forward Mika Kohonen. Goalie Toivoniemi was a tower of strength in the bronze match, making 47 saves in the game itself and only conceding one goal in the penalty shoot-out.
      The Finnish head coach Pasi Tilander was happy enough to win the bronze medals in the end, but the Finns had set their sights rather higher, and so he expressed some disappointment with the overall performance. It was his farewell appearance in this role, as he is to give way to Petteri Nykky. The next World Championships will be held in 2006 in Sweden.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finns upset by feisty Swiss team at Floorball World Championships (21.5.2004)

Links:
  Floorball World Championships 2004

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