Finland’s junior girls were not far from a historic final place in the U18 World Cup in ice hockey. Canada won the semi-final 3–2 after extra time and this means that Finland gets to play for the bronze with the USA.
In the group stage, Canada took a crushing 8–0 victory over Finland and also entered the semi-finals as clear early favourites.
The girls’ gold is at stake for the 15th time since the tournament began in 2008 and Finland, which has won three World Cup bronze medals, has never played in the final. Canada, in turn, is the reigning champion and has only missed the final once.
Despite the conditions, the semi-final was a fairly even story. Canada took the lead 1–0, but Finland turned it around.
Sanni Vanhanen was able to push in the 1-1 puck when the match was halfway through. Before that, Julia Schalin had gone on goal and created the goalkeeper return that Vanhanen could easily handle. When the third period was only eight seconds old, Pauliina Salonen gave Finland a 2-1 lead with a slightly surprising shot.
Canada tied the score at 2–2 with seven minutes remaining and the game went to overtime.
There the clock stopped at 7.32 when Alex Law decided. Canada countered and Finland’s goaltender Kerttu Kuja-Hakola briefly looked to have saved the shot, but the puck somehow found its way into the goal.
See all the semi-final goals on the IIHF website.
Canadian victory celebration in Östersund.
Photo: Andrea Cardin/IIHF/All Over Press
Canada’s women’s national ice hockey team
Snowfall for Finland, who after Canada’s 2-2 draw, bogged down three power plays: 57.03-59.03, 59.05-61.05 and 62.10-64.10. Finland took a two-minute penalty in the match and Canada a total of nine.
– I have only seen the replay a couple of times. It looked like the goalie was trying to find the puck and it went in through her foot,” Canada captain Jocelyn Amos said of the overtime goal on the IIHF website.
– I think we were a bit lucky there, but on the other hand we had post and crossbar shots earlier in the match.
She gives praise to Finland.
– A good match. Finland came out hard and gave everything. We knew we had to step up and our key players did that,” said Amos.
Pauliina Salonen, Tuuli Tallinen and Sanni Vanhanen were awarded as Finland’s best players in the tournament.
Photo: Andrea Cardin/IIHF/All Over Press
Sanni Vanhanen
Finland’s head coach Mira Kuisma was of course disappointed, but still proud.
– Everyone left everything on the ice. After all, we want to go home with a medal. If we play like this, we should be able to win the bronze medal, says Kuisma.
In the other semi-final, host nation Sweden surprised by defeating the USA 2–1. Sweden turned the tables within three minutes at the end of the second period.
The last matches are played on Sunday. The bronze medal match USA-Finland starts at 17:00 and the final Canada-Sweden starts at 21:00.
Results
Canada–Finland 3–2 (1–0, 0–1, 1–1, 1–0)
09.47 Abby Stonehouse (Emma Pais) 1–0
31.56 Sanni Vanhanen (Julia Schalin) 1–1
40.08 Pauliina Salonen (Sanni Vanhanen) 1–2 PP
52.38 Alex Law (Emma Pais) 2–2
67.32 Alex Law 3–2
USA–Sweden 1–2 (1–0, 0–2, 0–0)
17.16 Lucia DiGirolamo (Finley McCarthy) 1–0
34.12 Mira Jungåker (Jenna Raunio, Ebba Hedqvist) 1–1 PP
36.44 Astrid Lindeberg (Mira Markström) 1–2 PP
