After the World Cup excitement: Canada cheers, Finland cries – national teams

Canada celebrates its 27th world title. © APA / afp / GINTS IVUSKANS

Canada crowned themselves ice hockey world champions on Sunday in Latvia despite a historically poor start to the tournament.

06. June 2021

The world number one defeated defending champion Finland 3:2 (0:1, 1:0, 1:1) after extra time in the final in Riga on Sunday and celebrated the 27th World Cup title. Thus, the Canadians tied with former record champion Russia.

NHL forwards Maxime Comtoua (25 minutes) and Adam Henrique (53) of the Anaheim Ducks equalized twice. In overtime, Ottawa Senator Nick Paul led the Canadians to the gold medal and prevented the Finns from winning their fourth world title. Mikael Ruhoma (9) and Petteri Lindbaum (46) goals were too few for Sumy.

Here Nick Paul scored the decisive goal. © APA / afp / GINTS IVUSKANS

With the win, the Canadians also avenged the defeat in the final of the 2019 World Cup. At that time, they lost 3-1 in Bratislava. For Canada, this is the first title since 2016, the Finns missed their fourth world title. In the group stage, Finland held out at home 3-2 after a penalty shootout against the new world champion.

Disappointed: Finland national team after the match. © APA / afp / GINTS IVUSKANS

This time, at the start of the tournament, an exciting qualifying round was more likely than the upcoming North American World Cup title. The young selection had surprisingly lost three times and also pulled the short straw with 1:3 against Germany. Only then did the world number one go up, but reached the quarter-finals thanks to Germany 2-1 against Latvia.

The United States had already won the bronze medal in the afternoon with a 6-1 victory over Germany. For the Americans, it was their fourth bronze medal since 2013. Click here for the match report.

World Cup Final

Finland 2-3 Canada after extra time
1:0 Ruohomaa (8.57), 1:1 Comtois (24.30), 2:1 Lindbohm (45.27), 2:2 Henrique (12.37), 2:3 Paul (66.26).

Author: am / dpa