Olympic Hockey Day 9 Recap: Finland Wins Bronze Medal 6–1 Over Slovakia

Fresh off their respective losses to USA and Canada, Team Finland and Slovakia would battle for a bronze medal. The Finns would be at a bit of a disadvantage heading into this one as Mikko Rantanen was ruled out with a lower-body injury. Oliver Kapanen would dress in his place

• It only took the Finns about seven minutes into the opening period, Sebastian Aho got the Finns on the board as he cashed in on a loose puck in the crease to make it a 1-0 game.

• About eight minutes into the second period, Erik Haula grabbed the puck out of mid air in the neutral zone and upon entering the zone, let a quick shot go that snuck through to extend Finland's lead 2-0

• A common theme during these Olympics was the fact that the puck was taking crazy bounces off the boards and glass, specifically behind the nets.
• In the final minute of play in the second period, Slovakia dumped the puck in and as Juuse Saros went to play it, the puck bounced out in front. Tomas Tatar collected the puck and while Saros managed to get back to the crease, Tatar pulled off a nice backhand move to bring his country within one.

• Shots were 22-21 in Finland's favor after 40 minutes of play.

• Slovakia would begin the third period shorthanded as Pavol Regenda was called for slashing just 39 seconds in.
• While the Slovak's would kill it off, they'd head back to the penalty kill with about 12 minutes to go as Adam Ruzicka was called for slashing on what was about to be an odd man rush for Finland.
• They wouldn't be so lucky this time around as a shot from Miko Heiskanen at the point deflected off the stick off Roope Hintz at the top of the crease to extend Finland's lead 3-1.
• Just 42 seconds later, former friend Kaapo Kakko made it a 4-1 game as he let a shot go off the post and in following a fortunate bounce that led to 1-on-1 rush.
• From that point on, it was all Finland as it easily could have been a 6-1 game as the Finns continued getting chances and hit a couple of posts along the way.
• With four and a half to go, Slovakia pulled to goalie in desperate attempt to try and climb their way back in this one but Joel Armia quickly found the back of the net to make it 5-1.
• Away from the play as the game was nearing its end, Patrik Koch had another dirty play that put an early end to Mikael Granlund's night as he was sent into the boards pretty aggressively.
• Credit to Slovakia, they didn't give up and pulled the goalie again but with 78 seconds to go, Haula picked up his second on the empty net to make it 6-1.
• That would do it as the Finns took full control of this one and secured themselves the bronze medal. That becomes their sixth medal in Olympic hockey.

• Credit to Team Finland. They always fall by the wayside heading into these tournaments as USA, Canada and Sweden are often viewed as the top three teams but they battled hard, gave Canada a run for their money and proved they were deserving of a medal by winning this game in dominant fashion.
• Not to mention, they did so without one of their top players in Mikko Rantanen after already being without their captain and star player in Aleksander Barkov from the get go.
• The big game will take place tomorrow morning as team USA and Canada will battle for gold with an 8am puck drop on Sunday.