Canada gets bronze in OT victory over Finland

Team Canada and Team Finland squared off for a rematch of a group stage game, which ended better for the team from Northern Europe. This time, Canada built up a three-goal lead, which they lost in less than 20 minutes. With the game going to the overtime, Hunter Shinkaruk became the hero scoring the game-winning goal and a hat trick to lead Canada to their first medal in four years.

On a man-advantage halfway through the frame, Canada was long being denied by Korpisalo, until finally, after a highlight-reel pass by Dumba, Hunter Shinkaruk found the back of the wide-open net and it was 1-0 Canada. With five minutes left in the period, Brendan Gaunce was hooked on a breakaway by Ville Pokka and awarded a penalty shot. However, Korpisalo managed to read his backhand move and stop him with a glove save.

About a half a minute later, on a power play for Team Canada, Dumba one-timed it from the blueline and the puck found a deflection by Sam Reinhart in front, which made it a two-goal lead late in the first. There were some more chances on both sides for the rest of the period, but both Korpisalo and Matt Murray kept the score as it was.

The Finns entered the second frame with huge pressure in the offensive zone, which quickly resulted in a goal to cut the Canadian lead in half. A drive by Pokka was deflected on the doorstep by Henrik Haapala, who was the first to beat Murray in the game. However, the Canadian two-goal lead was immediately renewed by Hunter Shinkaruk, whose second of the game put his team up 3-1.

Later in the period, with Gaunce in the box for hooking, Scott Laughton intercepted a pass and got on a short-handed breakaway, pulling off the same move as Gaunce during the earlier penalty shot and getting stopped by Korpisalo´s fast catching glove. At the half point of the second, Josh Morrissey was given a game misconduct for kneeing and the Finns got a five-minute man-advantage, on which Murray had to make a beautiful blocker save on Teräväinen and Pokka fired one off the post.

In the same man-advantage, Brendan Gaunce escaped the defence and got on a short-handed breakaway, lifting the puck over Korpisalo´s shoulder and in to make it 4-1 Canada. The Finns responded in the best way with a power-play goal by Artturi Lehkonen, who one-timed it home with a big blast, cutting the lead to 4-2. In the last minute of the frame, Henrik Haapala got through the defence and fired the puck past Murray, cutting the deficit to one – 4-3.

Finland didn´t want to give up easily and welcomed Canada to the third period with a long drive by Esa Lindell that rang off the heavy metal. In the middle of the third, Henri Ikonen was slashed on a breakaway by Dumba and stopped by Murray´s pad. On the ensuing man-advantage, Murray first denied Teräväinen with a nice save, but didn´t manage to deny Rasmus Ristolainen whose drive was lifted up and over the Canadian goalie to tie the game at 4.

And the Finns kept on endangering the Canadian goal. Rasmus Kulmala received a nice cnetering pass, but Murray kicked the puck away. Saku Salminen tried one from the left circle and it went just over the bar. Henri Ikonen fired one dangerously again, but wide, and with just two minutes left, Dumba got two very promising shots away, but the first one went high and the second into the glove of Korpisalo. In the final minute, Samu Markkula almost gave Finland the lead, but Murray resisted and forced the game to overtime.

The overtime could have been as long as ten minutes, but one player managed to end it at the 2:05 mark. It was Hunter Shinkaruk, who moved the puck around goalie and completed his hat trick and a 5-4 win for Canada.

"Laughton sent me a great pass and I just beat the D-man wide, beat the goalie and tucked it in," Shinkaruk explained. "It was an exciting moment, when I knew I beat the goalie, I had a big smile on my face. We wanted the gold, but even bronze is good because Canada didn´t have any medals in the last three years."

"It was a pretty hard game for us, because the Canadians played well and aggressive. My linemates did an awesome job before my goals, but something was missing in our play," Haapala summarized. "I enjoyed the tournament, the Czech Republic is a beautiful country and I liked staying here."