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JNH · 10-08-2024, 11:08 PM

This past weekend the top teams in this year's IIHF tournament played in the medal round games, and this recap is going to focus on the results of the bronze and gold medal games.

France vs. Sweden

The first game that we saw was a high-scoring affair for bronze between France and Sweden. Sweden came into the bronze medal game with an 8-3-1 record - looking to get back into the medal circle for the first time in a bit. France came in with a slightly less impressive 6-3-3 record, which meant that many had the experienced Sweden squad pegged as the early favourites ahead of puck drop.

Dubolk got the Swedish contingent on their feet early as he struck just four minutes into the game, with assists from Soprano and Soderberg-Snooks. Soderberg-Snooks is coming off a big summer in which they tested free agency and ended up moving to the defending champion Los Angeles Panthers where the team will be looking to come back for a big repeat performance.

However, Sweden's jubilation was short lived as France answered back quickly twice. First at the six minute mark Lazer Gato was able to find the twine - cutting to the middle and blasting one home short side. Then another six minutes later it was the always dangerous Furious Chicken who took a pass from Beauregard and pulled France ahead. Chicken is the type of player that France was absolutely going to need a contribution from to bring home a medal in this game.

Sweden wasn't to be kept down for long, as Will Tomlander (not to be confused with Tom Willander) pulled Sweden even with just over 2 minutes left in the first. Soderberg-Snooks kept their summer fun going by adding another assist here and the first period ended 2-2.

The second period started quietly, which was a far cry from the high scoring first period we had. It looked for most of the period like we'd be going to the room through 40 still tied up at 2-2 and looking for a fast-paced, high-intensity third period ahead. However, Tony Soprano had different plans as he was able to get a shot through traffic and past France's goalie. This one picked up assists from FourStar (not the cup, actually a player) and from another Panther in Rasmus Bergling. And you might get sick of hearing this guys' name - because 45 seconds later, the current MVP of this bronze medal game Soderberg-Snooks took a pass from fellow hyphen name Soderberg-Tremblay and tucked it home five hole to have Sweden jump out to a two goal lead. These goals gave 45 seconds apart at the 15 minute mark of the 2nd and the France contingent was floored, while the Swedish fans were going wild - bringing a rendition of Voulez Vous that would make ABBA proud.

However, France wasn't to be kept down for long as Furious Chicken did what superstars do and found the net yet again to bring France back to within one. I don't think I can emphasize enough how France just needs players like this if it wants a chance to medal, and Furious Chicken stepped up big time in the bronze medal game to bring his team into a game going into the third. The score was now 4-3 going into the third, and both Swedish and French contingents were clearly nervous.

The third period started and you could tell that the nerves were there. Pucks were being fumbled, passes weren't clean, players were tripping over the bluelines. It was a bit of a far cry from the high level hockey that these teams had been playing all IIHF tournament, but everything changes once the stakes are higher and the players all know that there's 20 minutes between them and a medal.

However, determined to calm his team down a bit, Heinrich broke free behind the defence off a pass from Soprano and made a slick move to the backhand to put Sweden up 5-3, and Sweden didn't look back from here. Searching for some more insurance, it's... guess who?

Willow Soderberg-Snooks came in and blasted one high glove to put Sweden up 6-3 now with 11 minutes to go. For those keeping track at home, that's 2 goals and 2 assists for Soderberg-Snooks and the summer of Willow just keeps on chugging along. France made a valiant effort over the last 11 minutes of the game, but Sweden had simply put it too far out of reach and really locked it down defensively. Every move that France made, Sweden had a counter and France ultimately fell short.

Final Score: Sweden 6, France 3

While the score was lopsided, this wasn't a dominant game by Sweden by any means. Shots were 48 for France, and 41 for Sweden. Sweden got a heroic performance in net from Milasch to limit France to 3 goals and give his team the chance that they needed to win the game. He was limited to the one goal, but DuBolk had an absolute stat stuffer of a game notching 6 blocked shots, 3 shots on goal and the early goal. Soderberg-Tremblay also had a great game in possibly his last IIHF game ever as he was firing pucks from ever, finding the target with six of them and adding a blocked shot for good measure.

Gold Medal Game: Finland vs. Canada

The gold medal game was to be played between the artist formerly known as Winland and then Canada. Finland was a bit of a surprise team to be in the gold medal match, coming in with a record of 5-6-1. This was noticeably worse than both France and Sweden, but it's hockey where anything can happen when a team finds a hot goalie or just a great run of play overall. Canada on the other hand came in at 10-1-1, and looked to be the clear team to beat.

The first ten plus minutes went by in the game without much occurring. The teams were battling back and forth, both looking to find some ground out there without conceding anything too dangerous to their opponents. The big breakthrough came with 6 minutes left in the first as Canada went to the PK. Barca made a big shot block, and it kicked out to Tooyo and all of a sudden Canada was off to the races shorthanded. Tooyo found Cale Salad and Salad made no mistake in beating the goaltender to score a massive shorthanded goal and put Canada out to an early lead.

However, Finland didn't take this lying down and true to their nature came storming right back. Two minutes later, Donskoi took advantage of a poor turnover at the Canada blueline and broke in alone, making a move backhand before sliding it five hole to tie the game back up at one. The Finnish fans were rocking once again, and the teams went to the end of the first tied 1-1.

The teams began the second period much like the first, with not a ton happening as they started to jockey for position on the ice and see who would blink first. That question ended up being answered 11 minutes into the second as off some good cycle play Sawschuk found himself out in front of the net and picked the puck out of some traffic before chipping it past the sprawled out goaltender to put Canada up 2-1. Assists went to Kaliyev and Barron. Canada wasn't placated by this 2-1 lead and kept pushing, with Tooyo who already had an assist on the first goal finding a breakaway of his own and shooting it low blocker to jump Canada out to a 3-1 lead.

Finland was stunned, and they couldn't seem to gain their footing back after this. Tooyo's line stayed out, and they moved the puck well around the Finland zone before Tooyo was able to tip home a long Salad shot from the point - to take himself up to 2G 1A and to move Canada out to a commanding 4-1 lead. This, as everyone knows, is one of the safest leads in hockey and surely nothing could go wrong for the Canadians from here.

The teams went off for second intermission with Canada up 4-1, and you could tell that the wind had be taken out of the sails of both the Finnish players and the Finnish fans. Tooyo with 2G 1A and Salad with 1G 1A were the early stars of the game.

The Canadian fans had the building rocking with a rendition of Hey Baby as their players took the ice looking to close out the third period of the gold medal game strong. Canada began to park the bus a bit, just banging it in deep and eating up the clock wherever possible. Cale Salad kept his impressive gold medal game going, walking into a one timer in the high slot and blasting it high glove to put Canada up to a 5-1 lead. The assists went to - you guessed it - Bruno Tooyo and Billy Herrington. Tooyo and Salad both now had multi goal games and it was just too much for Finland to do anythign about.

They went out with a whimper and a silver medal, and Canada got to celebrate once again being back on top of the hockey world.

Final Score: Canada 5, Finland 1

Cale Salad had himself an insane game notching 2g 1a and adding 8 shots to that total. Bruno Tooyo was the game's first star as his goals gave Canada the extra insurance that they needed to take the game out of reach, and he added 5 shots and 3 hits to this stunning statline. In net, Dionne had himself a great game as he made 24 saves in total - with 13 of those coming in the first period. Canada carried play in the 2nd and 3rd periods, outshooting FInland by a tally of 22 to 11 in those latter 2 periods, but shots in the first were an even 14-14. Without Dionne being on his game, Finland easily could have pulled themselves out to an early lead and put Canada in a real tough spot. Instead, Dionne did exactly as he was asked to and gave his team a chance to win.

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This concludes yet another exciting IIHF tournament and a big congratulations to Canada, Finland and Sweden on their medals and success in the tournament, and we are already looking forward to next year's tournament. Will Canada repeat as champions? Will Finland be the underdog again? Will some of Sweden's players be able to take that next step to put them into the gold medal game?

[1840 words]

MrPrime · 10-08-2024, 11:55 PM

Woooo!!! Hell yeah! Back on top once again! So proud of the squad, we deserved it.

juke · 10-09-2024, 06:47 AM

where are the graphs

***Anthique*** · 10-09-2024, 12:24 PM

Great review!

Was not easy for Canada even if you look at our record. But happy that we kept one of our best game to the most important one!

See ya next tournament!

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