Finland's triumph rips up script in Olympic hockey tournament

    China Daily | Updated: 2022-02-22 09:27
    Share
    Share - WeChat
    Gold medalists Team Canada pose for a group photo after the awarding ceremony of the ice hockey women's gold medal game of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics between Canada and the United States at Wukesong Sports Centre in Beijing, capital of China, Feb 17, 2022. [Photo/Xinhua]

    While the women's ice hockey tournament played out to a familiar script at the Beijing Games, the men's competition produced an unexpected finale.

    You cannot always be sure it will snow at a Winter Olympics but it is a safe bet that Canada or the United States will skate away with women's gold.

    In Beijing, it was Canada's turn to take top spot on the podium with a 3-2 win over its North American neighbors.

    If that has a familiar ring to it so it should.

    Since women's hockey became part of the Olympic program at the 1998 Nagano Games, Canada or the US have been crowned as gold medalists as they have at every world championship.

    Marie-Philip Poulin led Canada with a pair of goals and if that sounds familiar as well it is because 'Captain Clutch' has now scored three Olympic gold-medal clinching goals-all at the United States' expense.

    Athletes compete during ice hockey men's gold medal game of Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics between Finland and ROC at National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, capital of China, Feb 20, 2022. [Photo/Xinhua]

    In contrast, the men's podium saw Finland taking gold for the first time as it edged the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) 2-1, while Slovakia claimed its first medal by winning the bronze with a 4-0 rout of Sweden.

    Not many hockey fans had heard of teenager Juraj Slafkovsky before the Beijing Games.

    A lot more are aware of the Slovakian now after the 17-year-old led the Olympics in scoring with seven goals and was named the most outstanding player, underlining his likely status as a top-five pick in this year's National Hockey League draft.

    There were no surprises, however, when it came to the performance of China's men's team, which was making its Olympic debut in Beijing.

    China, featuring a mix of homegrown and foreign-born players, was expected to lose every game and did, but it managed to avoid the humiliating losses many predicted.

    The last medal to be decided in Beijing-the men's final-was supposed to feature the world's absolute best hockey talent battling for gold.

    But Beijing was denied that spectacle when the NHL opted out of Olympic participation after a COVID-19 surge through North American locker rooms forced the postponement of more than 100 games.

    Before the NHL pulled out, Canada and the US-stocked with rosters of All-Stars and future Hall of Famers-were the hot favorites for men's gold.

    But without their best players, and with teams instead cobbled together from minor leagues and colleges, both countries crashed out in the quarterfinals.

    Reuters

    Top
    BACK TO THE TOP
    English
    Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
    License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

    Registration Number: 130349
    FOLLOW US
    无码av免费一区二区三区| 亚洲毛片av日韩av无码| 中文无码人妻有码人妻中文字幕| 亚洲色无码专区在线观看| 亚洲综合中文字幕无线码| 久久久久亚洲av无码专区喷水| 最近2019在线观看中文视频| 亚洲中久无码不卡永久在线观看| 日韩人妻无码精品一专区 | 中文亚洲欧美日韩无线码| 无码人妻少妇色欲AV一区二区| 亚洲国产综合精品中文第一区| 国模无码一区二区三区| 无码人妻丰满熟妇区免费| 久久精品中文字幕有码| 天堂√中文最新版在线下载| 国产精品xxxx国产喷水亚洲国产精品无码久久一区| 五月婷婷在线中文字幕观看| 人妻中文字幕乱人伦在线| 中出人妻中文字幕无码| 无码日韩人妻AV一区免费l| 国产亚洲精品a在线无码| 无码无套少妇毛多18PXXXX| 免费a级毛片无码a∨免费软件| 最近2019中文字幕免费大全5| 久久中文字幕一区二区| www.中文字幕| 中文字幕精品视频| 痴汉中文字幕视频一区| 无码日韩人妻AV一区免费l| 国产AV无码专区亚洲A∨毛片| 秋霞无码一区二区| 国产亚洲AV无码AV男人的天堂| 国产精品亚韩精品无码a在线| 97久久精品无码一区二区天美| 国产在线拍偷自揄拍无码| 国产精品毛片无码| 精品久久久久久中文字幕大豆网 | 91精品久久久久久无码| 国产白丝无码免费视频| 日韩美无码五月天|