Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Canada just can't Finnish it off
Rule round-robin, but can't win gold
They are historic mementos but the players on Canada's national deaf hockey team had their silver medals off within moments of leaving the ice Saturday evening.Finland won the gold medals, defeating Canada 5-2 in the final of the first World Deaf Ice Hockey and Curling Championship at the MTS Centre before a crowd of about 2,000.
The Canadians earned the first-ever silvers of the new championship, but that was little consolation. The team had defeated Finland 8-3 on Friday in round-robin play and had ripped through the preliminary games of the tournament undefeated, outscoring their opposition 63-8.
"It was a pretty emotional game. Everyone came out fired up and ready to go, but we got sucked into some stuff we shouldn't have emotionally," said Team Canada head coach Jim Vitale, whose team outshot Finland 55-17.
"Finland is a good team. In the third period, the guys tried hard. Champions are made of adversity and we tried our best to come out of the adversity."
Finland got on the board early with Janne Yrjyla potting a power-play goal at 3:23 of the first period.
Canada got into penalty trouble in the second period and was short-handed most of the frame. Finland had three two-man advantages and capitalized on two of them. Kimmo Hoivassilta scored on a shot from the slot at 11:05 and just over a minute later Janne Nyberg beat Canadian goalie Ryan Armitage. Canada outshot Finland 25-4 in the frame.
The Canadians came out firing but more disciplined in the third and potted a pair of goals, as defenceman Casey O'Brien and forward Brent Pinch found the net in the last six minutes of the game.
"By the time we woke up in the third period, it was too late," said forward Scott Nelson, 21, through interpreter Hubert Demers.
Nelson is a Vermilion Bay, Ont. native who has been living in Winnipeg for the past three years, attending Red River College.
"We never gave up, we wanted gold, that's what we came for but it was just too late."
Finnish goaltender Pauli Kitula won three individual awards as he was named his team's player of the game, the tournament's top goaltender and the tournament MVP.
In the curling championships which wrapped up Friday night, Canada's women's and men's teams each won gold medals. In the women's game Canada beat USA 9-4, while the men beat Switzerland 10-3.
ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 19, 2009 C4
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