The medal games of the IIHF World Championship were played on Sunday in Minsk. Sweden, with 12 CHLers on their roster, won the bronze medal with a 3-0 win over the Czech Republic. Later, Russia defeated Finland to win the gold. Three Finnish CHLers took silver medals.
by Derek O'Brien
MINSK - Two Nordic teams with Champions Hockey League players on their rosters took medals on Sunday in Minsk. Considering the CHL's roots in Finland and Sweden, perhaps that's appropriate.
Neither of them got the gold, though. That honour went to the team from Russia, who went through the tournament with 10 straight regulation-time victories, finishing it with a 5-2 win over Finland in the last game of the World Championships.
"I think the better team won," confessed a dejected Olli Palola afterward. "Russia capitalised on their power plays, but we had chances too and didn't do enough with them."
In fact, Russia was 4-for-7 with the man advantage, while Finland was 1-for-5. Sergei Shirokov opened the scoring on the power play at 10:45 and it looked like the Russians would take the lead into the first intermission, but IFK Helsinki's Iiro Pakarinen had something to say about that. The hero from Finland's quarter-final win over Canada fired a wrist shot through the legs of Sergei Bobrovsky with just 3 seconds left in the opening period.
"It was a pretty good feeling," said Pakarinen afterward, though not seeming like he was feeling good about it anymore. "I beat the goalie between the legs. That was a big goal but in the end we didn't make it."
The Finns took the lead with their only power-play goal of the night in the second period, and it was the Palola finishing the play with his fourth goal of the tournament, converting a pass from Tappara Tampere teammate Pekka Jormakka.
"At the time it seemed like a big goal," said Palola, "but then they came back and scored right away and everyone forgot about mine."
Indeed, Alexander Ovechkin made it 2-2 just 43 seconds later, and the Russians never looked back after that. Yevgeny Malkin scored the eventual game-winner on a two-man advantage late in the second period, and they added two more power-play markers in the third.
"I think when they scored their fifth goal, that's what did it," Pakarinen said of tournament scoring leader Viktor Tikhonov's goal to make it a three-goal difference with just 4:07 on the clock. "We never gave up, but we came here for the gold medal and we didn't get it, so it doesn't feel very good."
However, Finland's Nordic neighbours were in better spirits after capturing the bronze medal with a 3-0 win over the Czech Republic earlier in the day. They were led offensively by Joakim Lindström, whose two points give him 11 to finish the tournament, to lead all CHL players.
Lindström got the first goal of the game at 4:28. His pinball shot was originally credited to AIK Skelleftea linemate Oscar Möller, but it actually went in off a Czech defenceman, so it was Lindström's 5th of the tournament. Möller got an assist.
"It was a very fortunate bounce for me -- a lucky one -- so we got off to a good start," said Lindström.
The Swedes took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission, as Linkoping HC's Simon Hjalmarsson received a cross-ice pass and fired it home before Alexander Salák could come across.
The Swedes were opportunistic in the game, as the Czechs outshot them 29-24, but Anders Nilsson was perfect in the Swedish net.
Lindström earned his second point of the game on Mikael Backlund's goal to make it 3-0 with 11:38 on the clock, which essentially put the game away. For the Swedes, it was a gutsy effort just a day after a disappointing semi-final loss.
"It definitely was difficult," Lindström explained. "You know, you want to play the final and we were really disappointed to lose yesterday, but we had one more game in the season with a chance to win the bronze medal, so we pulled it together and came out very strong. It's a pretty good feeling to walk away from the last game of the season with a win."
The Medalists
Finland (silver): Pekka Jormakka, Olli Palola (both Tappara), Iiro Pakarinen (HIFK).
Sweden (bronze): Simon Hjalmarsson, Mattias Sjogren, Daniel Rahimi (all Linkoping), Jonas Ahnelov, Joel Lundqvist (both Frolunda), Dennis Rasmussen (Vaxjo), Magnus Nygren (Farjestad), Joakim Lindstrom, Jimmie Ericsson, Oscar Moller, Niclas Burstrom (all Skelleftea), Johan Fransson (Lulea).