Players, coaches and working staff of Finland celebrate after beating the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) 2-1 in the men's ice hockey final to win the gold medal at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games at National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, February 20, 2022. /CFP
Finland edged past defending champions the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) 2-1 in the men's ice hockey final at National Indoor Stadium to secure their first ever Olympic ice hockey gold medal at the 2022 Winter Games on Sunday.
Before the final, Finland, the second in the world rankings, had never won a Olympic gold medal since it entered the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) family during the Olympics in St. Moritz in 1928. They had a silver medal at Turin 2006 after losing to Sweden in the men's final. The U.S. and Canada split the seven women's titles since the women's program made its debut in 1998.
World No. 3 ROC edged past Germany 4-3 in overtime at PyeongChang 2018, and it fell 3-1 to Finland in the quarterfinals at Sochi 2014.
The 27-year-old Russian forward Mikhail Grigorenko put the puck into the net to break the deadlock at 7:17 in power play, before Finland struck back with an equalizer at 23:28 by the 27-year-old defender Ville Pokka.
Finland's forward Hannes Bjorninen scored at 40:31 to seal the victory.
The Finns won all the five games before the final, and defeated Slovakia 2-0 in the semifinals, while the Russians edged past Sweden 2-1 in shootout to reach the final.