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Finland Claims Bronze by Michael Dell, editor-in-chief Maybe the NHL isn't that great after all? Team Finland won the bronze medal Friday night by upsetting Team Canada, 3-2. Ville Peltonen scored a power-play goal early in the third period to break a 2-2 tie. Jari Kurri and Jere Lehtinen had first-period goals for the Finns, while Rod Brind'Amour and Brendan Shanahan scored for Canada. Finland got an unexpectedly strong performance in net by third-string netminder Ari Sulander, who stopped 32 shots on the night. Sulander got the nod in net because Jarmo Myllys was still too emotionally and physically drained after getting used by the Russian. Pavel Bure has that effect on goaltenders. The loss just added to the disappointment of the Olympics for North America, which already witnessed Team USA bow out in the quarterfinal round. At the start of the tournament, who would have believed that either Canada or the United States would fail to medal? Canada's loss to Finland is made even more surprising considering that the Finns played without Teemu Selanne. The Finnish Flash, who was leading the tournament in scoring, was forced out of action with a pulled stomach muscle. The injury isn't expected to be too serious and Selanne hopes to be healthy in time to join the Ducks when the NHL schedule resumes. So basically Canada lost to a team that was without its best player and had an unknown third-stringer in net. Hard to get happy after that one. File this under W for "Whoa..." The Finns jumped on the Canadians early, getting a power-play goal from Kurri at 3:33 of the first. Kurri drew the holding penalty to Steve Yzerman and then closed the deal he started, one-timing a shot from the slot behind Patrick Roy. Esa Tikkanen created the play, feeding Kurri a beautiful saucer pass from behind the goal line on the right side of the cage. The pass was incredible. It floated over a whole mess of sticks and landed right where Kurri could crank it. Brind'Amour drew the Canadians even at 16:50. Saku Koivu had trouble with the puck as he attempted to leave his own zone and Yzerman pounced, stealing the rock and then managing to keep it in by dumping it back down low to Eric Lindros. With the Finns trying to recover, Yzerman took advantage of the panic by sneaking back in down the slot and one-timing a return pass from Lindros just wide of the left post. The puck bounced off the backboards and kicked out into the right wing circle. Adam Foote, fresh from the bench, streaked in and drilled a slap shot that got blocked in front. But Sulander was in such a hurry to get over in position for Foote's shot that he took himself completely out of the play. Brind'Amour cruised down the slot and knocked the rebound into the open net to tie the game, 1-1. A true sign of a great team is that they never allow a goal right after getting one themselves. Yet that's exactly what Canada did. Just 33 seconds after Brind'Amour tied the game, Lehtinen put the Finns back in front by snapping a Koivu centering pass behind Roy. It was scored almost from the same spot as Kurri's goal, with the pass coming from the same area, as well. Except this time it was scored on a rush and not a set power play. Hey, variety is key. Gotta keep things fresh. Canada was able to tie the game for a second time early in the middle period. Kurri was in the box for tripping Mark Recchi when Shanahan set up near the bottom of the right circle and pushed a cross-ice pass from Wayne Gretzky out of the left wing corner between Sulander's pads. The goal came at 2:47 and was the only scoring of the second stanza. While the period only featured one goal, it was the home for the game's turning point. Canada was just about to kill off another penalty to Yzerman when Raimo Helminen high-sticked Foote as the puck was leaving the Canadian zone. Referee Kerry Frasier had the delay call ready as the play went the other way. That's when Chris Pronger jumped into an opening on the rush and forced Peltonen to haul him down. Frasier not only rang up Helminen, who by the way makes a hell of a mayonnaise, for the original high-stick, but he also nailed Peltonen for interference. The Canadians had 1:58 to work with the two-man advantage in search for the go-ahead goal. They didn't get squat. There wasn't a whole lot of movement away from the puck and the best chances were limited to the point. That's not a recipe for power-play success. Although, on the back of them Helminen mayonnaisse jars there usually are a few tasty recipes for salads, sandwiches, and the like. The third period opened with Foote in the bin for tripping. It took the Finns only 17 seconds to make things work. Maybe they clipped one of those recipes. Peltonen carried the puck through the high slot and fought off a check before wheeling into the right circle near the dot and wristing a shot between Roy's blocker and body. Peltonen was off balance when he took the shot. It almost seemed like he was just hoping to create a rebound and didn't even mean to score. Yet the puck somehow got through Roy. Oh well... Canada had nearly a full period to try and get the equalizer, but couldn't generate much in the way of scoring chances. The Finns held everyone back and clogged the neutral zone. Hmm, that sounds familiar. Canada had all sorts of grief trying to get out of its end. They continued to try and run interference for the puck carrier coming out of the zone, but the ploy met with little success. It even drew an interference penalty to Pronger. Without Paul Kariya and Joe Sakic in the lineup, Canada just didn't have the speed or creativity to break the Finnish trap. Roy was pulled with a minute left in regulation but Canada never threatened. Hell, they barely even got into the offensive zone. And so it ended with a whimper and not a bang... Canada outshot Finland 34-15 for the game. That number is a little deceiving, tho'. There weren't a whole lot of quality chances or odd-man breaks. Most of the shots came from the outside or from bad angles. Canada just didn't have the players to create offense on the big Olympic rinks.
Impressive PerformancesCANADA Rob Zamuner: Zamuner had a nice game and a wonderful tournament. He even broke out the funk on one play against the Finns, racing down the right wing and pulling the puck through his own skates as he went around a defender and centered a pass to Joey Nieuwendyk. Who would have thought Zamuner would have such skilled tomfoolery in him? FINLAND Ari Sulander (32 saves): Sulander was solid, but not spectacular. The Canadians didn't force him to be. He's got pretty quick feet and decent agility, but he's not exactly an NHL caliber netminder. He could have easily been exploited up high. But he wasn't. Canada seemed to have a fear of lifting the puck. The bottom line is Sulander got the win. He beat Canada. That should work wonders with the chicks back home. Esa Tikkanen (0-1-1): Tikkanen was yapping and causing trouble all game. Then there was that pass to set up Kurri. That was a beauty. If that pass was any prettier I'd have married it. Maybe settle down, move out to the country, raise a few pucks of our own... Teppo Numminen: Teppo is just the man. He's impressive every time he takes the ice. He's the most underrated defenseman on the planet.
LinesCanada: The Canadian lines were juggled throughout the game. One reason for the swapping up front was that Shayne Corson left in the second period with an apparent knee injury. He made it to the bench on his own but was then helped back to the dressing room. It looked kind of serious. The lines listed are the ones that started, and they're different than the ones used to this point in the tournament. OFFENSE (lw-c-rw)
Corson - Lindros - Linden DEFENSE
Bourque - Blake POWER PLAY
Primeau - Lindros - Recchi - Bourque - Blake SHORT-HANDED
Zamuner - Yzerman - Bourque - Blake Finland: The absence of Selanne meant that the Finns reunited the Huey, Duey, and Luey line from the World Cup; featuring Peltonen, Koivu, and Lehtinen. Toumas Gronman was the extra defenseman and was worked in on a pretty regular basis. OFFENSE (lw-c-rw)
Peltonen - Koivu - Lehtinen DEFENSE
Numminen - Niinimaa POWER PLAY
Peltonen - Koivu - Lehtinen - Numminen - Niinimaa SHORT-HANDED
Lehtinen - Koivu - Numminen - Niinimaa
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