Finland will play the final of “its” ice hockey world championship on Sunday, but the reigning Olympic champions suffered against the United States (4-3) in the semi-finals on Saturday in Tampere.
Stupor at the Nokia Arena and throughout Finland: after only one minute of play, the local team, big favorite of the World Cup-2022, is trailing 1 to 0 after a goal by Nate Schmidt.
Boosted, the young American team, however dominated 4 to 1 by their opponents of the day in the group stage, gains confidence and makes Finland, vice-world champion 2021, doubt.
At the end of the first period, Miro Heiskanen brought the two teams tied.
Sakari Manninen doubled the lead at the start of the second half (2-1, 24:11), but the United States still did not capitulate and equalized two minutes later (2-2, 26:52).
Finland regains a one-goal advantage (3-2, 29:40), then takes the lead (4-2, 45:03), but the Americans still do not let go and Adam Gaudette reduces the score to 4-3 (57:09), a last goal for the honor.
“It’s a shame to lose this match, we did everything we had to, but in the end, we lacked a bit of experience in defense in particular,” analyzed Nate Schmidt.
In Sunday’s final, Finland, chasing their fourth world title, will face defending world champions Canada who crushed the Czech Republic 6-1
The results of the semi-finals:
Finland – United States 4 – 3Canada – Czech Republic 6 -1
Sunday’s program (2:20 p.m.) Match for 3rd place: USA – Czech Republic (7:20 p.m.) Final: Finland – Canada
