Before Friday night's semifinal in the World Cup of Hockey, coach Raimo Summanen of Finland and coach Ron Wilson of the US discussed different opponents.
Summanen said: "The US is favored. We know that. It's like the biggest thing for Finnish hockey if we can win, because this is bigger than the world championships. The Olympics is the same kind of tournament. It's like our dream."
PHOTO: AFP
Wilson had loftier ambitions. "I'm praying we get to the final and have an opportunity to play Canada again," he said. At this elite level, the Americans lost the gold medal game in 2002 to Canada and won the first World Cup championship over Canada in 1996.
Finland came from behind in the third period and took a 2-1 victory.
In the words of the team motto, often quoted by the coach, the Finns were able to fly across several time zones this week and "create our day."
"This is huge," said Saku Koivu, who scored the winning goal for Finland with less than four minutes to play. "We've done a lot, but there is one more step we can achieve."
That would be to beat either Canada or the Czech Republic on Tuesday night in the championship game in Toronto. Those two meet Saturday night there in the Air Canada Center in the other semifinal.
Canada is 4-0 in the tournament but may have to play without Martin Brodeur, the Devils goalie, who has a hand injury. He has played every game for Canada.
Finland has won only one major international title, the 1995 world championships.
Olli Jokinen scored the first goal for Finland, tying the score at 1-1 at 5 minutes 4 seconds into the third period. Doug Weight scored for the US on a power play at 12:57 of the second period.
Miikka Kiprusoff made 16 saves for Finland, including two in quick succession midway through the third period, on a slap shot by Brian Rafalski and a rebound by Steve Konowalchuk.
Kiprusoff, who led the Calgary Flames to the seventh game of the Stanley Cup finals in the spring against the Tampa Bay Lightning, followed it up by grabbing the puck in the air to gain a whistle. US goalie Robert Esche stopped 10 shots. The game was a tense and interesting demonstration of what Europeans call hard hockey, without many shots but with a lot of body contact.
The Finns finished their checks, colliding with the Americans as they passed the puck or just after.
And the Finns were strong on the puck; they carried it aggressively to the US defensemen, particularly Brian Leetch, who was on the ice with Aaron Miller for Finland's goals.
On Koivu's goal, at 16:06, Leetch was turned around on the initial thrust down the right side. He and Miller were away from the net when Koivu sneaked behind forwards Tony Amonte and Bryan Smolinski.
"We completely lost our coverage in our end," Wilson said. "We didn't have a defenseman in front of our net."
The Finns should have been weary from travel -- they beat Germany in Helsinki, Finland, on Monday and spent Wednesday night in Toronto -- but the US seemed to have the heavier legs.
Summanen noted a shift in confidence.
"We get this one goal and, after that, Team USA, they get a little bit nervous," he said. "It's always easier to play after that."
Wilson said: "We gave up 12 shots on goal and found a way to lose. Maybe their strategy was to lull us to sleep. It was one of those muck and grind games. It looked slow. It turned into an ugly game. We seemed tentative or nervous. It didn't make sense."
This may have been the last game together for the core group for the United States, the oldest team in the tournament.
"It's a quiet room right now," Weight, 33, said, his voice cracking. "It's not fun. It's hard. It's so disappointing. It's kind of a strange feeling. We expected to be in Toronto on Tuesday."
Scott Gomez, who set up Weight's goal with a diagonal pass from the right circle, took a more philosophical approach.
At age 24, he was the youngest forward and will probably return to the national team.
"It was more of a chess match," Gomez said. "No one held their head. We did have chances there at the end. Oh, well."
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