Finland won its second world title, beating the Swedish national team by a score of 6–1 in the final. As two highly ranked neighboring countries, Sweden and Finland have a long-running competitive tradition in ice hockey. Before the game, mainstream media in both countries titled the match "a dream final". After a goalless first period, Sweden opened the game with a 1–0 goal by Magnus Pääjärvi in the second period at 27:40. Seven seconds before the period's end, Finland's Jarkko Immonen scored to tie the game 1–1. Finland took the lead early in the third period, scoring two goals at 42:35 and 43:21 by Nokelainen and Kapanen. Sweden then took a time-out with ten minutes left to play but did not manage to regroup, and Finland scored a further three goals courtesy of Janne Pesonen, Mika Pyörälä and Antti Pihlström to clinch the title. Team Finland's Jarkko Immonen led the tournament in both goals and points scored, with 9 and 12 respectively. The Finns won their third world title at the 2019 IIHF World Championship in Slovakia, and after the cancelled tournament of 2020, they reached the final in the 2021 tournament, losing to Canada in overtime. At the 2022 Winter Olympics, Finland won the gold medal for the first time, going undefeated and beating Russia in the final. This allowed them to rise to first place in the IIHF World Ranking for the first time ever. In May 2022, Finland won their fourth World Championship, beating Canada in overtime after a hard-fought game. This was the third Canada–Finland final in a row, and the first time the Finns won a medal on home ice. Tournament record Olympic Games World Championship Canada Cup / World Cup Euro Hockey Tour 1996–97 – Finished in 1997–98 – Finished in 1998–99 – Finished in 1999–00 – Finished in 2000–01 – Finished in 2001–02 – Finished in 2002–03 – Finished in 2003–04 – Finished in 2004–05 – Finished in 2005–06 – Finished in 2006–07 – Finished in 4th place 2007–08 – Finished in 2008–09 – Finished in 2009–10 – Finished in 2010–11 – Finished in 2011–12 – Finished in 2012–13 – Finished in 2013–14 – Finished in 2014–15 – Finished in 2015–16 – Finished in 2016–17 – Finished in 2017–18 – Finished in 2018–19 – Finished in 2019–20 – Finished in 2020–21 – Finished in 4th place 2021–22 – Finished in EHT Medal table