Finland national hockey team

1930s - 1980s: from outsiders to middle peasants

For the first time, the Finns took part in the World Championships in 1939 in Switzerland, where they were first defeated by the Germans (1:12), the Italians (2: 5) and the Americans (0: 4). At the next stage, the Finns were defeated by the Dutch (1: 2 ) and Italians (1: 2) and eventually shared the last 13th place with the team of Yugoslavia.

After World War II, the Finns stopped looking hopeless outsiders, but they could not get to the medals either. At the world championships, they usually took places from the 4th to the 7th, staying behind the teams of Canada , Sweden , Czechoslovakia , and then the USSR . In the 1950s, even the Swiss in most world championships looked better than the Finns, regularly taking prizes.

At the Winter Olympics, the Finns made their debut in 1952 in Norway , where they took only seventh place. Suomi squad suffered a number of major defeats: 2: 9 from Sweden, 0:12 from Switzerland, 3:13 from Canada, 2: 8 from the USA, 2:11 from Czechoslovakia. It was possible to win only from Norwegians and Germans.

After this failure, the Finns in the Olympics gradually began a slow but steady increase in the final results: again seventh in 1960 , sixth in 1964 , two fifth in a row in 1968 and 1972 , and then twice in a row they became in the Olympics the fourth ( 1976 , 1980 ). In 1976, in the absence of Canadian and Swedish national teams, the Finns were considered real contenders for the bronze. However, having won two victories in five matches of the final round, the Finns scored the same number of points with the national teams of Germany and the United States (the first two places were taken by the national teams of the USSR and Czechoslovakia), but in the end the Suomi team remained fourth, and the third place was taken by the Germans, thanks to a better difference pucks in matches between three teams.

In 1984, at the Games in Sarajevo, there was a small “kickback” - only sixth place, but then in 1988 in Calgary, the Finns finally won the Olympic awards. In a difficult struggle, the “Suomi” team managed to get ahead of both the Swedes, and Canadians, and the Czechoslovaks, leaving behind only the USSR national team. It should be noted that the rules and schedule played into the hands of the Finns: in the last match of the second and decisive group stage they met with the USSR national team, which had previously won all 7 matches in the tournament and had already secured gold awards. The Finns beat the unmotivated opponent with a score of 2-1, and thanks to that they bypassed the Swedes and Canadians. Erkki Lehtonen (4 + 6 in 8 matches) and Raimo Helminen (2 + 8 in 8 matches) scored a productive game in the Finnish national team in Calgary. After 1988, the rules were changed, and at the Olympics a play-off stage and the final match appeared.

It is noteworthy that the Finns managed to win medals at the Olympics earlier than they did at individual world championships. In the 1960-1980s, the Finns repeatedly ranked from fourth to sixth, occasionally dropping to seventh place. Only in 1992 in Czechoslovakia, the Finns first broke the resistance of the Canadians (4: 3) in the stubborn quarter-finals, and in the semifinal in the shootout team beat the hosts, thereby securing at least silver. In the final in Prague, the Swedes after the second period were 4-0, but in the end the match ended with a score of 5: 2. However, 4 years after the Calgary Olympic silver, the Suomi team won the world championship medals.

1990s - Present: Regular Winners of Major Tournaments

Since the early 1990s, the Finns have become one of the leading teams in the world. At the Olympics, since 1994, the Finns have only twice been left without awards (in 2002 in Salt Lake City, they lost in the quarter finals to Canadians, and after 16 years in Pyeongchang, they lost again in the quarterfinals of Canada). In 1994 and 1998 , the Finns won the Olympic bronze medal, and in 2006 for the first time in their history they reached the Olympic final (in 1988 there was no final match), in which they lost to their neighbors from Sweden (2: 3). Finnish strikers Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu were top scorers at the 2006 Olympic tournament, and 25-year-old goalkeeper Antero Niittimyaki was recognized as the most valuable player in the tournament. Together with Niittimaki, Koivu and Seljanne, the defender Kimmo Timonen was also included in the symbolic team. In 2010 and 2014 , the Finns again became the third. In 2014, 43-year-old Selanne was recognized in Sochi as the most valuable player in the tournament and, together with Michael Granlund, entered the symbolic team of stars. Such stability (five prizes in the last six Olympics) failed to achieve any team in this segment (Canadians have four awards since 1994, and three Swedes for the Swedes).

At the World Championships, the Finns have also regularly become winners since the early 1990s: in 1994 they repeated their “silver” success in 1992, and the following year they brought a loud sensation at the World Championships in Sweden, beating the national team in the final -trick in the decisive match made the young Ville Peltonen ), for the first time becoming world champions. The next victory at the World Championships was that the Finns had to wait as long as 16 years (during this time they won 4 silver and 3 bronze world championships). Finally, in 2011, at the World Championships in Slovakia, the Finns showed an impressive game at the playoff stage: Norwegians were replayed in 1/4 finals (4: 1), in the semi-finals the Finns confidently sorted out with the Russians (3-0, memorable triumphant puck during the In the second period, young Mikael Granlund ^[2] , who was even marked on the Finnish postage stamp, gave up, and in the final the Swedish team was defeated (6: 1). At the same time, the Finns managed to level the score in the very ending of the second period of the final, but in the third period they were not stopped - within 16.5 minutes the gates of the Swedish team were hit five times. Jarkko Immonen became the top scorer of the tournament, and was also included in the symbolic team.

In 2014, the Finns for the ninth time in Minsk reached the World Cup finals, but failed to win their third gold - defeat from the Russians with a score of 2: 5. Nevertheless, goalkeeper Pekka Rinne , who played three times in the tournament "to zero", was recognized as the most valuable player. The most productive player of the Finns was the 26-year-old striker Jory Lehter , who collected 12 points (3 + 9) in 10 matches. In 2016, at the World Championships in Russia, the Finns reached their third final in the last six years, scoring 9 wins in 9 matches, including the defeat of the Canadian team in the group stage (4: 0). However, in the final, Canadians took the score 2-0. Mikko Koskinen was named the best goalkeeper of the tournament, and 18-year-old Patrick Laine - the best striker. Along with Koskinen and Laine, Mikael Granlund joined the symbolic tournament team. At the 2017 World Championships, the Finns had a weak preliminary stage, having won only two wins in seven games in the main time. One of the championship sensations was the crushing defeat of the Finns from the French (1: 5). The Finns reached the playoffs only from the 4th place in the group, but in the quarter finals they managed to beat the winner of another group the US team (2-0, dry match Harry Sateri ). The Finns made it to the World Cup semi-finals for the sixth time in the last seven tournaments. But then in the semifinals, the Finns lost to the Swedes (1: 4), and in the match for third place they lost to the Russians (3: 5).

At the 2018 World Cup, the Finns managed to win their group, defeating the Canadian teams (5: 1) and the USA (6: 2, Sebastian Aho's hat-trick), but in the 1/4 finals, quite unexpectedly lost to the Swiss team (2: 3), conceding three goals within 4 minutes of the second period. 20-year-old Sebastian Aho, who collected 18 points (9 + 9) in 8 matches, was included in the symbolic team of the tournament, and also recognized as the best striker. Also clearly in the attack of the Finnish national team played Teuvo Terjäinen (14 points) and Mikko Rantanen (11 points).

In 2019, at the World Championships in Bratislava, the team took the 1st place, defeating Sweden in the quarterfinals (5: 4), Russia in the semifinals (1: 0) and Canada in the final (3: 1), becoming the three-time world champion .

Olympiad

World Championships

World Cup

• 1996 - loss in the quarter finals
• 2004 - loss in the final
• 2016 - 8th place

Canada Cup

• 1976 - 6th place
• 1981 - 6th place
• 1984 - did not get to the tournament, losing the right to participate the national team of Germany
• 1987 - 6th place
• 1991 - loss in the semi-finals

European Championships

• 1929 - not qualified

Euro Hockey Tour

Composition for the 2019 World Cup .

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