Swedes win gold after hockey epic

[cdokakis]

Sweden picked up the final gold of the Turin Games in the ice hockey final after a thrilling 3-2 win over Finland.

Finland took the lead in the first period courtesy of Kimmo Timonen before the Swedes took control in the second period of the tie.

First Henrik Zetteberg equalised and then Niklas Kronwall put Sweden ahead.

Finland, though, hit back in the final second of the period through Ville Peltonen, only for the Finns to be denied by Nicklas Lidstrom's winner.

His goal came just eight seconds into the final period and, despite a raft of Finnish shots on goal, Sweden held firm for their first gold since beating Canada at the 1994 Games in Lillehammer.

It was Finland's first defeat of the Games - they had won all seven of their previous matches on the ice.

On Saturday, the Czech Republic picked up the bronze after a comfortable 3-0 win over Russia.

BBC Sport

I saw the game and I must say that Sweden had this game in their pocket after the 1-1 equalizer. A wonderful game where both the old NHL stars and the stars from Elitserien played very well and the Swedish team really deserved this gold medal. Heja Sverige!

[Rablet]

Yay! So great!

EDIT: We were lucky in the end though. They had some really good chances to score in the last minute. Creds to Finland for an amazing tournament!

Edited February 26, 2006 by Rabbai

[macro]

I haven't seen it yet but congrats to Sweden!

[waddle5000]

alright go Sundin

[CoLdFuSi0n]

heh

[Pettor]

Go Sweden!

I nearly had a heart attack in the final minutes of the game.

By the way, Lidstroms goal is just awsome!

[pcw]

Go Sweden!

The dominating nation in Hockey ;)

[sn00pie]

I was rooting for Sweden the whole time! :D Go Mats Sundin! :D

[Ayepecks]

All three goals by Red Wings! :D

[BroChaos Veteran]

hell of a game. exciting down to the very last second. well played game by both ends, very competitive. glad i woke up to watch it.

[oldaccount1]

That's awesome--I just read this in the headlines.

[R-Flex]

I'm disappointed, but a silver is still great. The Finns didn't have the talent of other teams, especially in net, but their teamwork (and Niittymaki's performance) really paid off.

I watched into the second, but I stopped watching because a moving truck crashed into a house in the vincinity of my residence.

[deuz]

i neva seen ice kcokey on tv b4 but afta watchin it on tv from turion it is a hectic an violent at time sport....it is very enoyable .......its cool that swedes won...i lyk there yellow uniform :)

[golazo]

lol @ canada :p

[Malisk]

Yay! :)

This win was one gold medal among a number that actually made this winter olympics the best ever for Sweden. :)

In total 7 golds, ranking us at 6th place, only below large winter olympics nations with a far higher population than ours. :)

Great for Sundin, Lidstr?m, and probably many more who this was their last chance to win something in the Olympics.:DD

[qdave]

i think it was on eof the best hockey game i have ever seen ( and i didnt see much...only on olympic events). but it was damn exciting. the last few mins were so tense!

[R-Flex]

It was refreshing to actually see great hockey again.

[scsgoal31]

All 3 goals scored by my Wings! Too bad the 5 Swedish Wings are partying in Sweden instead of coming home in time to play tonight..I guess they deserved it though. Hopefully the Wings can pull out a win tonight anyway.

[scsgoal31]

Guh..neowin hiccuped. DP

[bigbluepride35]

Once I realized the U.S. had no chance I was pulling for Sweden solely based on the fact that Hanrik Lundqvist was their goalie. He's the Rangers' goalie and I have a biased toward goalies being my favorite players (Richter is my all-time favorite). That save he made in the last minute was incredible. Considering the stakes, one of the most clutch saves I've ever seen. Great game and I'm glad for the Swedes. But now let's get back to some NHL! :D