Finns shut down Canada’s big guns, advance to final

The fact that Finland defeated Canada in this semifinal game is probably not a huge shock in the hockey world, but the way they won it might be. As a team, they limited Canada's potent offence to one goal and not many more scoring chances, and at the other end of the rink they forced Zachary Fucale to make several spectacular saves trying to keep his team in the game, but it wasn't enough. 

After a fairly uneventful first period, the Finns opened the scoring 4:19 into the second period on a strange play. Defenceman Julius Honka dumped the puck into the Canadian zone along the boards and Fucale started to move to the opposite post, expecting the puck to come around the other side. Instead, the puck hopped out of the corner and into the slot, where Joni Nikko was in the right place and the right time, and fired it over Fucale's shoulder, who was out of position.

The Finns went to the power play less than a minute later, and with the Canadians still reeling, the Finns moved the puck around with masterful precision, with Fucale stopping a deflected shot and Artturi Lehkonen backhanding in the rebound to finish it off.

Canada's top offensive line got one goal back, with Curtis Lazar attempting a wraparound and then Jonathan Drouin backhanding in the rebound on the other side. But that's as close as they would come.

Just 39 seconds later, Drouin was given a minor penalty for checking to the head, which carries with it an automatic 10-minute misconduct -- taking one of the team's top offensive weapons off the ice for 12 minutes. 

Finland continued to generate chances on the power play, forcing Fucale to come up big, and the pressure continued after the penalty ended. He made a near-miraculous save on a two-on-one, only to have Rasmus Ristolainen fire a shot off the back crossbar seconds later to restore his team's two goal lead -- a shot that went in and out so quickly that video replay was needed to confirm it.

By the time the third period rolled around, the Finns had thrown a blanket over the game, with the Canadians gripping their sticks tighter and tighter as time passed. When Josh Morrissey was called for tripping with 4:31 to go, the team was in a desperate situation, and they tried to create chances shorthanded. That led to a breakaway for Henrik Haapala, who was pulled down from behind and awarded a penalty shot. 

Injured on the play, Haapala was replaced by Teuvo Terevainen on the penalty shot -- the team's captain and leading scorer with 10 assists, but no goals yet in the tournament. He broke the goose-egg with a beautiful goal, which gave his team a stranglehold on the game, then added his second later, into the empty Canadian net, to make it a 5-1 final. 

The disappointed Canadians now have to regroup for Sunday afternoon's bronze-medal game against Russia, while Finland will take on their Scandinavian rivals, Sweden, going for their first gold medal since 1998.

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