The Finnish women’s national ice hockey team beat Sweden 3–1 in the ranking match and ended the World Cup tournament in fifth place. The victory means that Finland will return to the tougher A group of the World Cup.
The Finnish women’s national ice hockey team achieved its minimum goal at the World Cup in Brampton, Canada, when it defeated Sweden 3–1 in Sunday’s ranking match. At the same time, Naisleijonat secured their place in next year’s World Championships in the tougher A group.
This year, Finland played in group B together with France, Sweden, Hungary and Germany. It won all four of its opening group matches with a goal difference of 26–3.
In the semifinals, Finland lost to the Czech Republic 1–2 and thus continued the tournament in the ranking matches. Germany fell first with a crushing 8–2 score, and Sweden fell on Sunday.
– We lost one match in the tournament, which culminated in one minute in the game against the Czech Republic, when the Czech Republic scored two goals. I am very satisfied with the look the team has had throughout the tournament and in the Sweden game. There was a strong belief in what we did, head coach Juuso Toivola your sum after the match.
– There were moments where we made the game difficult for ourselves, we will improve those in the future. We have a good game, the players believe in it. The shots went clearly to us today and the minimum goal of an A-series place was achieved. I am satisfied with the team’s performance.
Toivola reminded that the team has gone almost from victory to victory since November. Finland won all of its matches in the EHT tournament.
– If we narrow it down to 20 matches, 18 wins from November to today. The team has grown together well in terms of play and cooperation.
Toivola became the head coach during the Beijing Olympics and has now piloted Finland in two World Cups. In both of them, Finland has been excluded from the medal games – for the first time in its history. Before last autumn, Naisleijonat was always in the semi-finals.
But how does Toivola assess his own position?
– It must be the task of some others… Well, it is the task of others, we have done our own task and the result is this. Let others think about those things. We focus on doing our mission and work well.
This is how the match went
Sweden got a dream start to the placement match when Anna Kjellbin delivered the puck to the goal after only 48 seconds. For the one who failed in his first adult competition To Sanni Ahola the start was nightmarish – it was Sweden’s first shot, and it was a bit lucky that it flew from Ahola’s läng to the finish line.
Sweden started the match strongly anyway, but Finland recovered from the initial shock quickly.
Sweden, on the other hand, fell into the ice again. Against the Czech Republic, Finland did not manage to score during any of their five possessions, but now Naisleijonat needed only 12 seconds during their second possession, when the puck was in Sweden’s goal.
Jenni Hiirikoski the bet from the feel of the line sank as if it had sunk past the air by Emma Söderberg.
The second set started with a 1-1 tie. For Finland, the start of the set was better than the opening set, and in 26:48 the puck was in Sweden’s goal again. Cool in the first field Kiira Yrjänen finally got his goal tap open when Ronja Savolainen served Yrjänen tasty in front of the goal and hit the post once again in the second period.
Finland had the opportunity to increase its lead, especially during force majeure, but Naisleijon didn’t like it. Söderberg also made important saves for his team.
In the final set, Finland continued to dominate and got the upper hand twice more after the middle of the set. The facilitating 3–1 lead goal came three minutes before the end, when Nora Tulus was allowed to tune out in peace by overcoming the exact itch.
Sweden tried to narrow it down without a goalkeeper early on, and managed to try again with superior power, but the final score remained silent.
Ahola survived in the Finnish goal with 18 saves, while Söderberg had 39 saves.
It was Sweden’s fate to continue playing in Group B in the next World Cup.