Finland win bronze in Olympic women Ice Hockey

Finland won bronze in the women Ice Hockey in the 2018 PyeongChang winter Olympic on Wednesday beating the Olympic Athletes from Russia by 3 goals to 2.

With this, Finland won a total of four bronze medals in this year´s Winter Olympic so far.

Susanna Tapani set the pace with a goal and an assist. Her 2-0 marker, just 10 seconds into the second period, set a new Olympic record for the fastest goal from the start of a period, reported IIHF.

The old record of 19 seconds belonged to Slovakia’s Janka Culikova, who scored in the third period of a 5-2 loss to Switzerland on 17 February, 2010.

Petra Nieminen and Linda Valimaki also scored for Finland. Top Finnish netminder Noora Raty, who played every game, outduelled her counterpart Nadezhda Morozova. Shots were even at 22 apiece, said the IIHF report.

It was the first Olympic bronze match between the two neighbouring sides. In the women Ice hockey Russia beat Finland three times in bronze match in 2001, 2013, and 2016 while Finland returned the favor in 2011 and 2015.

Finland owns 12 Women’s World Championship bronze medals, more than any other nation, said the IIHF report.

News agency Xinhua adds: Powerhouse Canada and the United States will clash in the final on Thursday, a replay of the showdown in Sochi four years ago.

The American have no problem getting chances when they play the Canadians, but their scoring dilemma against their arch-rivals was never more evident than in the preliminary round match, when Canada won 2-1.

The two teams have traded world titles and Olympic medals since the 1990s. They have also been the only two women's ice hockey teams ever to win an Olympic gold medal. The Americans won the only Olympic gold in Nagano of Japan.

Meanwhile, Finland reached the quarter-finals of the men Ice Hockey in the 2018 PyeongChang winter Olympic 2018 on Wednesday beating the host Republic of Korea (ROK) by 5 goals to 2.

The Lions will face Canada in the quarter-final on Thursday.