Norrena shut-out helps Finland to win bronze in ice hockey

Finland back on IIHF World Championship podium after five lean years

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All well that ends well.
     
After Friday's bitter 1-3 semi-final defeat against the Czech Republic, the Finnish ice hockey team pulled themselves together and humiliated Canada in impressive style in Sunday's bronze-medal game in Riga, Latvia.
      A strong will, combined with some excellent goalkeeping, assured Finland's 5-0 victory over last year's silver-medallists from Canada.
      The Lions' strong finish on Sunday produced the team's first podium placing in five years in the IIHF World Championships. The lack of hardware has been all the more surprising given that Finland has taken silver medals at both the World Cup of Hockey and the 2006 Winter Olympics.
     
Finland's previous hockey worlds medal before yesterday dates back to Germany 2001, when the team finished second. Overall, Finland has won a World Championship medal eight times. The only gold so far came in 1995.
      Goalkeeper Fredrik Norrena was crestfallen after Saturday's disappointing loss to the Czech Republic, but he pulled himself together magnificently and shut out the skillful Canadians by fending off every single one of their 37 efforts on his goal.
      "After the semi-final I sulked for half an hour. Then I started preparing myself for this game. I wanted to win the bronze, and that I did. That comforts me", Norrena stated.
     
All told, this has been a productive season for Norrena. From the Torino Olympics he returned with a silver medal and from the Riga World Championships he now has a bronze. In the two tournaments he produced five shut-outs in all.
      Against Canada Norrena had an even spell of work over the three periods, which did not turn into an uphill struggle at any stage. After Saturday's late-night semi-final defeat to Sweden, the Canadian players had very little time to prepare themselves for Sunday's bronze-medal game, and that showed on the ice.
      Finland was better prepared and came out on top in a game that was littered with penalties.
      Finland's goals were produced by Tomi Kallio, Olli Jokinen, Riku Hahl, Antti Miettinen and Jussi Jokinen.
     
The Finnish captain Ville Peltonen was satisfied with his group's effort. "No-one has to feel ashamed on Monday morning. We came, we saw, and we conquered", Peltonen concluded, and gave special praise to goalie Norrena, who stepped in after the pre-tournament #1 goaltender and Olympic hero Antero Niittymäki was injured in an earlier encounter with Canada. Finland lost that game.
      The coach of the Finnish Lions Erkka Westerlund was also proud of his team.
      "Our goal was to win the gold, but for that we would have needed a sharper edge to our offensive play. The positive thing was that we're back among the World Championship medals."
     
Sweden, in turn, secured the IIHF World Championship by shutting out the defending champions from the Czech Republic 4-0 in the final, played later on Sunday. The Swedes therefore collected a delicious double - they also won gold in Torino, beating off the Finnish challenge.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finland to meet Czech Republic in semi-finals of IIHF World Championships (19.5.2006)

Links:
  IIHF World Championships, Latvia 2006

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