Finnish campaign at World Championships ends in overtime defeat to Canada

Lions never headed before Heatley's goal settles matters at 65.33

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Canada 5 Finland 4 (0-2, 3-1, 1-1, OT 1-0 65:33)
     
      Finland suffered a bitter quarter-final defeat to Canada in the World Championships, going down to an overtime goal by Dany Heatley. The game was tied at 4-4 after three periods, and at no time in the match were the Finns behind.
      The result puts an immediate end to the Finnish involvement in the IIHF 2004 World Championships in the Czech Republic, and it marks the third successive occasion when the Finnish Lions have returned from the tournament without a piece of hardware.
     
Finland got the best of possible starts, going into a 2-0 lead inside the first eight minutes. The first goal, scored on the powerplay and credited to Ville Peltonen, was helped on its way into the net by the skate of Canadian defenseman Derek Morris.
      If this was something of a lucky break, the goal that followed a minute later was pure class: Peltonen broke fast down the left, held up the puck until Tomi Kallio was in position, and then slid an inch-perfect pass into his path. Goalie Roberto Luongo, who was later to play a very significant role in the match, had no chance.
     
The Canadians were so stunned they called time-out. Though they picked their game up from this point onwards, the Finnish defence coped with everything the Canadian forwards could throw at them, and Mika Noronen made a couple of good saves to preserve the two-goal advantage.
      If this was a sublime start for Finland, the beginning of the second period was the inevitable "ridiculous". The Finns took several two-minute penalties, including one for goalie Noronen for delaying the game during a 5-on-4 for Canada, and the Canadians wasted no time in pulling a goal back with a two-man advantage. Danny Briere found an unmarked Heatley by the corner of the goal and he made no mistake.
      Four minutes later, the Canadians were on level terms, again on the powerplay. This time it was a speculative shot from distance from Jay Bouwmeester, which found its way between Noronen’s pads. 28:25, 2-2, and game on.
     
Some pundits blamed poor goaltending and an overly passive approach from the Finnish side for the defeat, but just as plausibly the game hinged on a 90-second spell midway through the second period, when the Finns had a two-man advantage but could not get the puck past Luongo, who was racking up big saves at a prolific rate. He made 17 stops in the second period alone, and 37 in the match.
      Three minutes before the end of the period Antti-Jussi Niemi struck a fierce shot through traffic and into the top corner for 3-2. The Canadians were having none of this, however, and Eric Brewer got a crucial equaliser inside the final minute. Initially it looked like another soft goal against Noronen, but the puck took a wicked deflection off defender Janne Niinimaa.
     
The deflections and bizarre goals continued into the third period, and Finland went ahead on 41.55. A shot from Sami Salo bounced off Kimmo Rintanen’s back and was bundled into the net eventually by Roberto Luongo himself, ably assisted by his own forward Glen Murray. It was that sort of night.
      Once again the Canadians upped the pace, and they came back through a blueline shot from Steve Staios that was screened by at least five bodies before it whizzed past a stunned Noronen.
      The last ten minutes of normal time saw a rampant Team Canada, and the Finns were under enormous pressure for long periods, but this time Noronen held out, even as Ryan Smith broke through one-on-one right on the buzzer.
      The four-on-four extra time again saw Canada in charge, as they rose to the sudden-death occasion rather better than the Finns, but their first five efforts on goal all went unrewarded before Heatley struck the puck sweetly over Noronen’s shoulder from the blueline.
      Dany Heatley, a player who has had more than his share of adverse headlines over the past several months, emerged with 2+1 and the MVP award for the match. Ville Peltonen took the corresponding award for the Finns, and in a ceremony that doubtless none of the Finnish players wanted to experience quite so soon, goalie Noronen, defender Petteri Nummelin, and Peltonen once again were selected as the best Finnish players of the tournament. Peltonen also currently leads the individual points table, with 4 goals and 6 assists.
     
So Finland are out, and Canada go on to play Slovakia in the semi-finals.
      Last year’s bronze medallists Slovakia had their own moment of doubt and pain in Thursday’s late game, going 1-0 down after ten minutes to the unfancied Switzerland. The Slovaks recovered their composure to score twice in the second period and went on to win 3-1, though without covering themselves in much glory. In terms of scoring, the match was an exact copy, period by period, of the two teams’ quarter-final meeting in Helsinki last year.
      Saturday's other semi-final match will be between Sweden and Team USA, who on Wednesday pulled off an astonishing against-all-odds win on penalties over the highly-fancied home team, the Czech Republic.
      Sweden, meanwhile, disposed of Latvia 4-1 in routine fashion and will have the huge advantage of two new NHL recruits, defenseman Nicklas Lidström (Detroit Red Wings) and the formidable Colorado Avalanche center Peter Forsberg. 


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finland 4 Russia 0; Lions to meet Canada in quarter-finals (4.5.2004)

Links:
  IIHF World Championships 2004

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