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Finland routs U.S. 5-0 for bronze in men's ice hockey

18 Comments
By LARRY LAGE

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HYVÄ SUOMI!!!!!! :D

Great game for us Finns and great to watch a 'weak' team such as Finland demolish the 'strong' US team 5-0!!

Shame though that we couldn't get the gold for the Finnish flash to end his extraordinary Hockey career. WE LOVE YOU TEEMU. One more Olympics!

3 ( +4 / -1 )

This comes as no surprise. The States hadn't truly been as dominating as the media had previously reported. They should have lost to the Russians if it wasn't for the net being knocked from its moorings. The Canadians, like the Finns simply had their way with them. to be honest the U.S. had the look of being shell shocked from their bout with the Russians onward.

Congratulations to the Finnish Hockey team.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Congratulations Team Finland ! Congrats to you also, KariHaruka !

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Thanks Finland. Good game!

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Bronze medal in hockey? No point to it and the Americans were just not emotionally committed to it. That semi-final against Canada was a lesson in domination on all aspects of the game.

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Congrats to Finland. The US team didn't seem to care as much on the bronze medal game unfortunately - they seem to be playing to get out of the Olympics injury-free for the rest of the NHL. For that, they deserved to be crushed by Finland. But props to the US team for no loser talk. Some people could learn from that.

to be honest the U.S. had the look of being shell shocked from their bout with the Russians onward.

Oh yeah, including their comfortable 5-2 win against Czech Republic.

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@lostrune2 - Props to them for no loser talk ? Yeah, I'll give them that. Their attitude has improved leaps and bounds since their trashing of the players" dorm after their loss in the Nagano games in '98 ! (yes, I know it was a different team, but . . . )

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Yes! HYVA SUOMI! I think that is Finnish for, Hey we kicked your butt! So congrats TEAM FINLAND! I do not even like ice hockey, way too violent but if little Finland won against big USA, it makes me want to run around naked drinking FINNISH VODKA with lovely babes from Helsinki in Roppongi! Way to go FINLAND!!

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Great game for us Finns and great to watch a 'weak' team such as Finland

Nobody thought the Finns were weak. If they did they were mental. So happy for Selanne. That guy is all class.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Lostrune...us team tried so hard. I saw the game, the frustration had set in by the 3rd period and they kept getting penalties against them and just couldnt score. They tried so hard but still couldn't even score one goal. Pretty pathetic for an olympic team. Kane couldn't even score 1 goal for the entire tournament including 2 penalty shots against finland.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Nobody thought the Finns were weak. If they did they were mental. So happy for Selanne. That guy is all class.

On a lot of the websites (including this one) there was comments about how much stronger the US team apparently were compared to the Finns just because of the NHL players. Even the press were just as bad with some of the articles they wrote. But its not something I will be bitter about because we'll just keep coming to each tournament without the pressure of being one of the 'strong' teams and keep doing what we already do and that's winning medals.

Talking of the Finnish Flash this was fantastic. Hes been selected as the MVP of the tournament and one of the All Stars. http://sochi2014.iihf.com/men/news/awards/

0 ( +0 / -0 )

TokyoDiman,

Yes, we all watched the game. Even reknowned Canadian hockey ex-player ex-coach now-analyst Barry Melrose was disappointed the US team that played so great early in the tournament gave up after the first period. They obviously did not play as hard. If you've seen them early in the tournament, they were taking hits and taking shots all over their bodies. No longer in the bronze medal game; no longer want to risk injuries. Kane couldn't score either penalty shots obviously because he didn't really try so hard.

Bronze is good if they happen to win it, but there's not much money nor accolades for it compared to lucrative NHL careers if they get injured. Unless the fight is for Gold and the accompanying riches from media sponsors if they won Gold, their NHL contracts are more significant to them it seems. That's usually been an issue with US hockey team of NHLers - Gold or bust. Finland was better; they wanted it more; the retiring great Teemu Selanne's last game for the Fins; they deserve it.

(BTW Crosby couldn't score the entire tournament neither, until he scored one today. Congrats to Canada - shows how good a team the US ran into. Even Sweden gave up after the 3rd goal.)

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Lostrune...obviously Kain didn't try so hard...seriously? Obviously if they tried hard they could have won...wow...every player that competes in the olymipics tries to get a medal, otherwise whats the point of even competing. He had 2 penalty shots and didn't try hard? us had forwards blocking shots in goal with their bodies. They looked down and depressed in the third period because they were down 3-0. Not because they didn't care. I think you need to face the facts that this team was highly overrated by the us media. Finland won because they are a better team plain and simple. The only reason US won earlier is because they played non contender teams. They truly lost their bout with Russia btw.

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TokyoDiman, you still can't get over that Russia defeat, hahahaha.

Yes, the US didn't try so hard. If you think they tried so hard in their bronze medal game, then you should've seen them earlier in the tournament. The US team overachieved - they were hardly in the media discussion for medals prior to the Olympics. Yes, people were disappointed that they gave up - people who watch hockey all the time, not just every 4 years. Finland was the better team. Russia underachieved for the 2nd straight Olympics - they have only themselves to blame. As someone said, "lose gracefully."

The only reason US won earlier is because they played non contender teams.

OK, this is the most stupidest thing that you don't know what you're talking about. Let me show you. First of all, Russia and the US were in the same group, so obviously they played the exact same teams there!

Russia: Slovenia (group), Slovakia (group), US (group), Norway (finished 12th), Finland (finished 3rd)

US: Slovenia (group), Slovakia (group), Russia (group), Czech (finished 6th), Canada (finished 1st), Finland (finished 3rd)

So Russia and US shared the same opponents - the only difference being Russia faced a 12th-placed team (Norway) while the US faced a 6th-placed team (Czech) and the gold-medal team (Canada). So who had the weaker opponents? So you're saying Russia faced non-contender teams too? Since US faced Russia, you're saying Russia is a non-contender team. That's stupid.

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Lostrune...no what's stupid is saying that US didn't try. They did try and lost to every contender country. Let's face it they lost to Russia but I'm not talking about Russia being a contender. I realize that they didn't live up to expectations. I'm not trying to defend their poor performance. You are trying to defend the poor performance of the usa. Let me explain to you what I mean by contender counties. There are 3 contender countries ..canada, Sweden and finland. The us lost to two of the 3. Chec republic, Slovenia,Slovakia are not contenders. The american team player their best but couldn't score even one goal in the two most important games of the Olympics. Thats poor performance. Just accept it and let it go. Sometimes we try and dont win but it's ok to admit the other team was just better.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

TokyoDiman,

To be more specific, the US didn't try like they're capable of, like they showed early in the tournament. Of course they did try for Bronze (for the 1st Period), but not their hardest. Like I mentioned, everybody who's seen how they played early in the tournament could tell - by comparing, that's how we knew. And I'm not defending their poor performance - I'm making an observation. Meanwhile, how many times did I already say: "Finland was the better team," "Finland deserves it." (Go ahead, do a word search on this page.) Now remember that I said those.

Not top team but Czech Republic I'd consider a contender like the US (who beat Czech). Prior to the Olympics, the top teams I'd consider Canada, Sweden, and Russia especially with home advantage, then just below would be contenders US, Finland, and Czech. So US overachieved, but Finland overachieved more. Russia unfortunately underachieved and didn't beat any top team or contenders. (Let's not go into suppositions - anything can happen in suppositions. Suppose Russia's goal counted; suppose the US still managed to tie the game and still won in OT; suppose the US women hockey team scored that 3rd goal - who knows? We can't base a debate on suppositions, only on what actually happened, and fact is Russia lost to US.) Latvia actually gave Gold-winning Canada the best run for their money. T'was a fun tournament. Now off to South Korea, where no top or contending team has distinct home advantage, a bit more fair.

(Oh BTW, here's another difference in rules: Sweden center Nicklas Backstrom was disqualified for the gold medal game due to a positive drug test - for a drug that's illegal in International Hockey but legal in the NHL. Sweden's furious at the IIHL.)

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Lostrune...its very difficult to gage the level of effort as neither of us are actually part of the team. I understand that you feel they didn't try. I've seen all the games myself and to me it looked like they tried very hard but lost to a better squad. We can't guess as to what might have happened but we can make an educated and somewhat accurate estimation. If that goal in fact counted it would give the usa team 5 minutes to eaven the score. Thats an unlikely possibility. So more probably then not they would have lost. Russia would have faced Czech and would have probably won. I dont consider beating Czech an over achievement. Maybe beating canada,Finland or Sweden. Finland is one of the top 3 so defeating us would not be an upset.

Obviously we are on different sides of this issue but at least we can both agree that these were definitely memorable and probably the most exciting Olympics in years.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

TokyoDiman,

No prob. Sorry it got heated, but it was nice discussing nonetheless. Now all the fans go back to their club competitions.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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