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2011 IIHF World Championships: Finland tops Sweden for gold, Czechs take brozne

Sweden v Finland - 2011 IIHF World Championship

BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA - MAY 15: (L) of Sweden and (L) of Finland battle for the puck during the IIHF World Championship gold medal match between Sweden and Finland at Orange Arena on May 15, 2011 in Bratislava, Slovakia. (Photo by Martin Rose/Bongarts/Getty Images)

Martin Rose

Voters named Swedish goalie Viktor Fasth the MVP of the 2011 World Championships tournament right in time for him to allow five Finland goals in the third period. Call it a curse or a coincidence, but either way, Finland dominated that final frame to win their first gold medal since 1995. They beat Sweden in that final game as well, which was their first ever gold in the World Championships.

Finland 6, Sweden 1; Finland wins gold medal.

Petteri Nokelainen began that third period scoring frenzy with a breakaway goal to give the Finns a 2-1 lead. Niko Kapanen made it 3-1 just 46 seconds later. Finland buried any hope of a Swedish comeback later on in the third when Janne Pesonen and Mika Pyorala scored 35 seconds apart while Antti Pihlstrom scored in the final minute to make it 6-1.

The Swedes could have taken a 1-0 lead into the second intermission, but David Petrasek took a hooking penalty with 30 seconds left. That ended up being an inopportune infraction as Jarrko Immonen tied it up in the dying seconds.

If you count that Immonen goal, the Finns crushed the Swedes with two three-goal bursts, with the first set taking about four minutes and the second taking about five. Magnus Paajarvi scored Sweden’s only goal in this contest.

Though you won’t confuse the Finns with Kristen Wiig, they have qualified as bridesmaids in the World Championships going into today’s contest. NHL.com points out that the Finns are tied with Canada (and Sweden) for the most gold medal round losses since their last title in ’95.

Czech Republic 7, Russia 4; Czech Republic wins bronze

The Czechs fell short of matching their 2010 gold medal, but beating Russia for the bronze isn’t a bad consolation prize.

Roman Cervenka scored a hat trick, Petr Prucha found the net twice while Jan Marek and Tomas Plekanec also scored to lead the Czech Republic to another victory against Russia. The Czechs forced Russia to settle for the silver last year and left their rivals without a medal of any kind in 2011. Ilya Kovalchuk scored twice while Dmitri Kulikov and Vladimir Tarasenko found the twine once in a losing cause.