Finland wins historic Winter Olympics ice hockey gold medal after beating ROC team 2-1 in Beijing final

Finland has won its first Olympic ice hockey gold medal, beating the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) team 2-1 in the men's final at the National Indoor Stadium in Beijing.

Goals to Ville Pokka and Hannes Björninen cancelled out Mikhail Grigorenko's first-period score as the Finns came from behind in a tense and absorbing gold medal decider.

The ROC team were defending men's champions while Finland had medalled in five of the last seven Olympics without ever standing on the top step of the podium.

«It is hard to put in words what this means,» Finland captain Valtteri Filppula said just before he presented each of his beaming teammates with their gold medals.

«Hockey is a big thing in Finland.

»I thought we played a great tournament and this is the reward."

A long-range Grigorenko powerplay goal early in the first period opened the scoring for the ROC team.

But Russian goaltender Ivan Fedotov was always the busier of the two keepers, making 29 saves to his opposite number Harri Sateri's 16.

Finland knocked on the door a number of times without reward throughout a tense first period but had to wait until the second before making their breakthrough when Pokka equalised with another long-range shot that squeezed under Fedotov's pads.

Fedotov saved a number of solid Finnish chances during the rest of the period but some neat interplay at the start of the third saw the Finns take the lead thanks to a deflected Björninen shot just 31 seconds after the break.

The Finns were popular winners in the media centre, with the final siren being greeted by a round of applause as the players threw off their gloves and celebrated wildly on the ice.

ROC team goal scorer Grigorgenko said he felt «empty and disappointed» by the defeat.

He defended Fedotov