Victory over Sweden brings Finnish Lions European Hockey Tour tournament win

After a poor start, results fell right for the Finns and a new star was born

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On Thursday of last week, the Finnish Lions, the country's ice hockey team, set off "under new management" to defend the European Hockey Tour title they won last year.
      The occasion was the Karjala Tournament, arranged in Helsinki and in Linköping, Sweden, featuring teams from Finland, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Sweden.
      Under their new head coach Erkka Westerlund, the Finns got off to a far from encouraging start in the tournament, going down 3-0 to the Czechs in a match where they actually outshot the opposition 28-23. It was a far cry from the 4-0 drubbing they inflicted on the Czech Republic in the opening encounter of the World Cup of Hockey some months ago.
     
On Saturday, things began to look a little better for Westerlund's charges after a scrambled 4-3 victory over Russia. The winning goal came in the last minute of the third period, courtesy of Oulu Kärpät's Jussi Jokinen. It was Jokinen's first-ever goal in a Finnish shirt, in his 8th international appearance, and a very timely strike indeed.
      After the Russians then did Finland a good turn on Sunday afternoon with an emphatic 6-3 victory over the Czech Republic, suddenly the hosts had a chance to wrap up top spot in the tournament if they could beat neighbours and great rivals Sweden.
      Since Sweden already had five points from a 2-1 win over Russia and a 3-2 penalty shoot-out victory over the Czech Republic, Finland had to win in normal time to collect three more points to head the table.
     
The Finns had built up a useful 3-1 lead after two periods, but when the Swedes struck early in the third, many of the home fans feared another of their famous last-ditch recoveries.
      However, two neat finishes by new-boy Jussi Jokinen - who now scored a clean hat-trick after acquiring a taste for finding the net - and some big saves from goalie Fredrik Norrena saw the Lions home by a comfortable 5-2 margin.
      The European Hockey Tour next moves to Moscow in mid-December, and the third stage will be in Sweden next February. Finland has plenty to play for, as the team has dominated this competition in recent years, taking five straight EHT titles since 2000.


Links:
  Westerlund takes over at the helm of Finnish national hockey team (2.11.2004)

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