Monday, December 31, 2012

Armia strikes twice as Finns get bounced

Joel Armia scored a pair of power play goals Monday but Finland was eliminated from medal contention with a 7-4 loss to rival Sweden. Getting the game to overtime would have gotten them into third place, but instead the Finns head to relegation and will go home without a medal for the seventh straight year while Switzerland advances.

With Finland trailing 3-0, Armia emerged from the corner with the puck and slung a quick wrist shot short-side over the goalie's shoulder to get his team on the board with less than four minutes to play in the opening period. The tally was his first of the tournament.

Armia kept chugging into the middle frame, eventually connecting for his second strike when he opened up for a big one-timer from the top of the faceoff circle to tie the game 3-3 in the game's 24th minute.



Finland trailed 4-3 late in the game, but saw their power play cut short by a minute when Armia took a hooking penalty with 3:04 left on the clock.

Finland's failure to escape the preliminary round of games is surprising given their pre-tournament success in beating both Canada and Team USA prior to leaving for Ufa.