SEATTLE — Finland coming mere inches from a stunning upset at the just completed IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship in Edmonton, Alberta, is yet another sign of its emergence as a global power in the sport.
It took a desperation overtime save by Team Canada forward Mason McTavish — an Anaheim Ducks prospect who batted the puck out of midair with his stick as it headed toward an empty net — to prolong Saturday’s championship game and eventually secure a gold medal for the host nation. Canada went undefeated in the Under-20 tournament, but the Finns overcame a two-goal deficit late and appeared to have the title game won before McTavish’s iconic defensive play and the ensuing overtime winner seconds later by Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Kent Johnson, a former college linemate of Kraken center Matty Beniers.
Still, for Finland, a nation of only 5.5 million people, the latest medal at the world’s premier NHL prospects event signals its continued ascension among the sport’s finest. If not for McTavish’s heroics, it would have been a fourth gold medal for Finland since 2014 — tying Canada for the most by any nation that stretch. As things stand, the five medals won by Finland since 2014 ties outputs by Canada and the United States, surpassed only by the six accumulated by Russia.
