Follow the Olympic Games on RDS and Sportish
The Russians, the reigning Olympic champions, will be aiming for a second straight ice hockey gold medal on Sunday against Finland, who hope to finally climb to the top step of the men’s tournament in Beijing.
The Russian team had to wait for the penalty shootout to overcome Sweden (2-1) in the second semi-final on Friday. A few hours earlier, the Finns had more easily beaten Slovakia (2-0), surprise faller in the quarter of the United States.
Russians and Finns were favorites in a private tournament, as in 2018, NHL stars, retained by their franchises to make up for matches moved due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Canada and the United States were particularly handicapped by these absences, both falling from the quarters, respectively against Sweden and Slovakia.
The latter, Tom Thumb of this last four, did not manage to fault the solid Finnish defense on Friday despite the efforts of his 17-year-old prodigy Juraj Slafkovksy, co-scorer of the Olympic tournament.
Led after a quarter of an hour after a goal by Sakari Manninnen (1-0), the Slovaks even tried to outnumber their goalkeeper in the last minute of the game. The bet failed and Harri Pesonen closed the deal by scoring in the empty cage a few seconds from time (2-0).
“It’s huge for all of us, as a team and as a hockey country,” said Harri Sateri.
Finland, three-time world champion (1995, 2011, 2019), hopes to finally win Olympic gold after winning silver in 1988 and 2006 and bronze four times (1994, 1998, 2010, 2014).
The Russians, on the other hand, suffered against Sweden, despite Slepyshev opening the scoring at the very start of the second period (20:15).
Lander first equalized a quarter of an hour from the end of regulation time (46:22) and in the penalty shootout the Swedes were first more efficient but Yakovlev equalized, Fedorov then stopped the last opposing attempts and Gritsyuk delivered his own.
In the final, the Russians will be able to count on their experience from 2018, since several players were already part of the gold medal team in Pyeonchang, beating Germany in the final.
