VIENNA, Austria -- The United Kingdom notched the nation's first gold medal at the International Ice Hockey Federation Championships, defeating Finland 7-3 in the championship match at the Lord Vader Dome. The Lions seemed in disbelief in the final five minutes as they went ahead 6-3 at the 15:13 mark in the third period and the celebrations started as time wound down shortly after the final goal of the game. The crowd got into it as Union Jacks waved high and proud throughout the Dome and the players spilled out onto their goalkeeper, Michael McFadden, after the final horn blared.

The match started off an even contest in the first period, with Jack Durden deflecting Ace Redding's shot to open their accounts. Finland responded in turn on the power play, with a missed shot from Reinis Aumeisters, followed by a blocked shot from Alek Koivu, then a scoring shot from Mikko Linna.

The second period was all United Kingdom from the halfway mark of the period onward. Randy Randleman picked up Raven Silverwing's missed shot and turned it to the go-ahead goal at the 10:18 mark. Ace Redding then found an opening almost six minutes later when he hit Eero Hamalainen and jarred the puck loose for Durden, who set Redding up to knock down a lead-stretcher. Less than a minute later, TJ Bayley fired a shot on, was blocked by Ensio Kalju, then Danny Mete recovered and snapped it into the twine to pull the Brits ahead to a 4-1 lead they would carry into second intermission.

In the midgame of the third period, Xander Green loosened the puck off of Mikael Talo's stick. Redding retrieved it, fed it to Green and he and Durden went on an uneven break, keeping the defense guessing until Durden dished to Green at the backdoor to pull the British ahead 5-1. Finland weren't quite done yet, however. Toivo Kosonen retrieved a free puck during a line change, then passed to Matthew Leetch, who carried it across looking for a play. He found his way in with a pass to Linna, who one-timed it to bring the Finns back to a 5-2 deficit. About a minute later, Kosonen intercepted a pass intended for Durden off of Green, laid it off to Esa Anrikkanen and let him take off on a breakaway and score to bring Finland to a much more manageable 5-3 margin. With renewed life on the Scandinavian side's bench, the UK seemed uneasy about the direction the momentum had swung.

After a few more tense scoreless minutes, however, their fears were relieved. After a neutral-zone face-off win, the UK moved into the attacking zone, where Durden, Jasper Clayton, Green and Redding moved the puck around beautifully before Redding buried the one-time pass from Clayton to move back ahead by three with less than five minutes remaining. About a minute later, Durden fired a puck Kosonen blocked, though Dubois recovered and found Green at the back post again to put the game to bed. All that was left from there was the final formality of the buzzer and the United Kingdom had conquered the hockey world for the first time in their history at these IIHF championships.

The UK outshot Finland 52-24 in the final.

Redding was named first star of the game, contributing two goals on eight shots-on-goal and two assists for four points total and throwing eight hits. Durden was named second star, scoring one goal from 10 shots and pitching in four assists for five points. Green was named third star with two goals from eight shots, two hits and going 16-12 in face-offs for the game.

Captain Clayton stood atop the podium for the UK as "God Save the Queen" played on the speakers and the words roared throughout the stadium, from the proud players standing at the ice and the fans bellowing from the seats.

This marked Silverwing's final career match. The New England Wolfpack winger of 13 seasons contributed 2 goals and 7 assists for a total of 9 points throughout the S41 tournament, including 4 assists in the knockout stage. After two silver medals, including last season's with the defeat in the final to the USA, and two bronze medals, Silverwing now sets off into retirement with a gold to complete the podium and exit the ice victorious. He now takes a fledgling under his wing for the future - Rafe Ulrich, who was selected first overall in the Season 42 draft for the Wolfpack.

Sadly, this was also the final game for Finnish goalkeeper Jason Aittokallio, the Manhattan Rage goalkeeper of 11 seasons. Aittokallio saved 45 of 52 shots fired his way for a .865 percentage on the night. He announced his retirement at the conclusion of Manhattan's regular season, marking this IIHF as his last chance to bring gold home for Finland. Aittokallio still sets off into retirement with plenty of hardware, finishing his international career with a gold medal from Season 37, two silver medals and a bronze medal. The family tradition continues as the third Aittokallio to enter the SHL system, Jax, begins his journey in the SMJHL next season. He looks to take gold for his nation as Jakub (Season 30) and Jason did before him.

As this story was being written, it was announced Queen Elizabeth II would arrange a parade for the victors as well as a knighting ceremony as they overcame great odds to become champions of a game long dominated by the United States, Canada, Russia and the Scandinavian nations.

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