Medals update: Finland win historic ice hockey gold with win over great rivals ROC

A great roar erupted from the Finland team after they finally claimed Olympic ice hockey gold, the first ever for their nation, beating ROC 2-1 at the National Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Sunday (20 February).

After winning two silvers and four bronze medals Finland finally took the ultimate prize beating the defending Olympic champions (who were known as OAR in PyeongChang four years ago) 2-1 in a tightly fought match that saw the Finns also claim their first ever Olympic medal in any team sport.

ROC took the lead in the eighth minute of the first period courtesy of Mikhail Grigorenko with assists from the Nikitas – Nesterov and Gusev.

In the second period, Finland drew level after defenseman Ville Pokka scoried (23.28), assisted by Hannes Bjorninen and Atte Ohtamaa.

Finland finally took the lead 31 seconds into the third period via Bjorninen with Marko Anttila and Ohtamaa assisting, to bring the gold home topped up nicely by a no-loss record at Beijing 2022.

In the bronze medal match on Saturday (19 February) Slovakia claimed bronze after beating Sweden 4-0 after two goals from teenage sensation Juraj Slafkovsky.