Swedes win tournament! 4-3 win over Finland clinches 1st

A 4-3 win over arch-rival Finland means that Sweden finishes first in the Five Nations Tournament. They were led by a hat-trick by defenceman Adam Bokvist, who now leads the tournament with seven points. Filip Hallander, Samuel Fagemo and Rasmus Sundin had two point each for Sweden, while Lenni Killinen, Eetu Maki and Juuso Ketola did likewise for Finland.

Finland came out with lots of energy in the first period and opened the scoring on the power play in the ninth minute, when Mikko Kokkonen´s one-time blast from the point was deflected on the way by Lenni Killinen, who scored his second goal of the tournament.

For the rest of the first period and the first half of the second period, the Finns had several chances to widen their lead, but Olof Lindbom made several big saves in the Swedish net. This was key, as the Swedes poured on the pressure in the last half of the middle frame. After being dangerous on the power play but failing to score, Adam Bokvist´s first of the game tied it up with just over four minutes left in the period, taking a cross-ice pass and firing a wrister from the high slot that beat Justus Annunen to the blocker side. Then just 50 seconds later the Swedes took the lead, with Filip Hallander putting the finishing touch on a 3-on-1 rush.

The Swedes widened their lead to 4-1, thanks to two more goals from Bokvist in the first seven minutes of the third period. The 3-1 goal came just after Lindbom made a huge save off Jesse Moilanen to keep his team in front, and the Swedes went back the other way. Bokvist kept the puck onside, skated in to the top of the circle and beat Annunen with another deadly wrister – this one to the glove side. Then on the power play he completed his hat-trick, taking a pass from Hallander and firing a wrister from the right-wing boards that went top shelf.

With a three-goal lead, the Swedes seemed to have the gold medal wrapped up, but the Finns didn´t quit and added a couple of late goals to make it close. First Eetu Maki beat Lindbom with a nice wrister high to the glove side with 6:42 to play, and then with Annunen pulled for a sixth attacker in the last two minutes they put on all sorts of pressure. Finally, Killinen scored his second of the game, but there was only 5.5 seconds on the clock by that time.

After the game, the Swedish team poured off their bench and mobbed Lindbom, celebrating the win. Their eight points tied the United States for top spot, but the Swedes get the gold because they beat the Americans 3-2 on the opening day of the tournament.