King on WJHC: That’s more like it
Posted January 5, 2012 5:50 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
CALGARY, Alta. — Mark Visentin made 27 saves to post a shutout, win a bronze medal and turn a skeptical crowd into adoring fans.
Visentin made several big stops for Team Canada in the 4-0 win over Team Finland, but none more impressive than the spin-around glove save on Joonas Donskoi in the third period. Visentin made the save of the tournament with the score 3-0 and the Finns pressing.
He put his stick forward to poke Donskoi’s shot, only to have the puck drift over his left shoulder. The puck hit the post, then descended down his back when Visentin spun around and somehow tracked it with his glove. The play was under review, but deemed a save. The fans applauded the special moment.
Despite constant pressure in the third period, the Finns couldn’t find a way to beat Visentin, who allowed five goals in the third period in last year’s gold-medal game loss to the Russians.
There wasn’t much intensity from either team after heartbreaking losses in the semifinal. Team Finland fired just seven shots in the opening frame and trailed 1-0.
Canada opened the scoring on a power-play. The Barrie Colts’ duo hooked up when Mark Scheifele stepped forward from the right half-wall then threw a pass across to Tanner Pearson. Pearson had his stick in perfect position to flick the puck past Sami Aittokallio’s right pad and into the net.
Both teams had chances on the penalty kill. Canada’s Quinton Howden tracked a loose puck that skipped behind a Finnish defenceman at the blue line and took a shot down the left wing that missed high.
Later in the first period, Mikael Granlund collected the puck near the defensive blue line and in one fell swoop, spun around and threw it up the middle to his brother, Markus Granlund. The pass hit Markus perfectly in stride, but he was unable to beat Mark Visentin on the deke, faking the backhand before shooting on his forehand.
On a late, five-on-three power-play, Ryan Strome nearly put Canada up by two. A shot from the right side deflected to the left, where Strome sat with an empty net, only the puck was knocked away by Konsta Makinen before Strome could get to it.
The second period wasn’t great for Brandon Gormley. He let one puck get past him near the offensive blue line that led to a partial break for Finnish playmaker Mikael Granlund, who missed his shot to the far post. Not long after, Gormley tried catching a puck in the neutral zone that got past him and went right to Teemu Pulkkinen. The Finnish sniper couldn’t beat Visentin on the shot.
Later in the second period, the Barrie duo hooked up once again. Pearson knocked a knee-high clear out pass from Makinen. Pearson tracked the puck down in the offensive zone then found Scheifele heading to the net. The Winnipeg Jets first-rounder had a precision finish, finding the far side top corner to make it 2-0 Canada.
Shortly after, Howden was pushed into Aittokallio by Otto Paajanen and the Finns got a golden opportunity to come back. Pulkkinen was given a penalty shot after it was deemed Visentin threw his stick on a chance in tight.
Pulkkinen tried beating Visentin five-hole, only to have the Canadian goalie close the wickets. So pumped from the save was Visentin that he slapped the puck towards Pulkkinen, who was curling back up along the far wall.
It wound up being a crucial miss for the Finns, who would again find themselves shorthanded when Miikka Salomaki jostled with Ryan Strome in the Finnish net. Salomaki went to the box and Strome to the power-play, where Howden put the Canadians up for good with a backhand shot to make it 3-0 for the home side.
Howden scored his second of the game on a tap-in on a pass from Mark Stone. The late third-period goal put the exclamation mark on the win for Canada, who captured the bronze medal.
This was the first time in 11 tournaments that Canada did not play for the gold medal. They lost the last two years, earning a silver-medal for their efforts. It was the first time Canada played for the bronze since 2001, when they won their second-straight third-place finish.
With the win, Canada kept its streak of 14 straight tournament appearances with a medal. The Finns have not reached the podium since defeating the Americans in the 2006 bronze-medal game in Vancouver, B.C.
