Finns top undermanned Americans, advance to gold-medal game
Finland is off to the gold-medal game of the 2022 IIHF World Championship for the third consecutive tournament after defeating a shorthanded United States squad 4-3 in the semifinals Saturday.
Miro Heiskanen, Sakari Manninen, Sami Vatanen, and Joel Armia scored for the Finns in the victory. Armia's seeing-eye shot stood as the game-winner.
Joel Armia threads the needle 🪡👀@leijonat extends the lead to 4-2#FINUSA #IIHFWorlds @CanadiensMTL pic.twitter.com/SRrNykjlWP
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 28, 2022
For a third straight tournament, the Finns will take on the Canadians in the gold-medal game. Finland beat Canada in the 2019 finals to win gold but settled for silver in 2021 after falling to the Canadians. The 2020 tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Finland will have a home-ice advantage with the contest being played at Nokia Arena in Tampere, Finland.
The Americans put forth a gutsy effort, playing with only four defensemen. Seth Jones was a workhorse for the U.S., logging an astounding game-high 31:57 in the contest.
| Defenseman | TOI |
|---|---|
| Seth Jones | 31:57 |
| Nate Schmidt | 27:10 |
| Andrew Peeke | 25:26 |
| Luke Hughes | 22:28 |
American blue-liners Nick Blankenburg, Jon Merrill, and Caleb Jones suffered injuries earlier in the tournament, and Jaycob Megna had to return home for a personal matter.
Despite the absences, USA still outshot Finland 28-26.
The Americans haven't played in the gold-medal game since winning the tournament in 1960. They'll play Czechia in the third-place matchup Sunday and have a chance to win their fifth bronze medal since 2013.