TEAM FINLAND delivered a real fairy-tale ending to their impressive campaign at the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Slovakia, beating perennial pre-tournament favourites Canada 3–1 in the final on Sunday.
Finland fell down 0–1 in the first period but rallied with two goals from captain Marko Anttila – a first-period equaliser and third-period tiebreaker – to clinch their first gold since 2011.
The sounding of the final buzzer sent an estimated 10,000 people to celebrate the unlikely gold at Helsinki’s Market Place, according to a tweet from the Helsinki Police Department. A police spokesperson later said the championship party has gone on mostly without incident or injuries, although traffic had slowed down to a crawl in and around the square.
“Only the most tenacious fans are still keeping company to Havis Amanda,” a police spokesperson added at around 4am on Monday. “The event took place primarily without incident, except for a couple of disturbances. A few people were brought into custody.”
YLE reported this morning that people gathered to celebrate the championship in big numbers also in Tampere and Turku.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
Source: Uusi Suomi
