World Cup of Hockey: Canada defeats Finland for title

By Ira Podell
The Associated Press

DAVE SANDFORD / GETTY IMAGES Joe Thornton, center, celebrates a second-period goal by Canada during the World Cup of Hockey championship game against Finland last night in Toronto. Canada won the title.

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TORONTO — The World Cup returned to Canada after 13 years. How long hockey will be gone is anyone's guess.

Joe Sakic, Scott Niedermayer and Shane Doan scored on Canada's first shot of each period last night, and Martin Brodeur shook off a wrist injury to make 27 saves in a 3-2 win over Finland in the World Cup of Hockey championship game.

The host nation celebrated the victory, but the joy was tempered because the NHL is set to announce a lockout today because of a labor dispute with the players association.

"We'll worry about tomorrow, tomorrow," said Sakic, who scored four goals in six tournament games. "Tonight, we're going to celebrate."

Canada clinched the tournament, previously known as the Canada Cup, for the first time since 1991. The Canadians lost the World Cup in 1996 to the United States, but rebounded to win the event for the fifth time. Canada has reached the finals all seven times the tournament has been held.

This marks four straight championship wins for Canada, which was victorious at the 2002 Olympics and captured two consecutive IIHF world titles.

"We're just going to go out and enjoy this and then it'll set in what's going on with the NHL season," forward Joe Thornton said.

Fans counted down the final seconds that could be the last ones played in North America by Mario Lemieux and Finland's Teppo Numminen if the NHL lockout lasts a year or longer, as feared.

"It looks like it's going to be a while before we get back on the ice," said Lemieux, who plays for and owns the Pittsburgh Penguins. "I just want to keep myself in shape and try to play a few more years and enjoy the game."
 
Doan clinched this one 34 seconds into the final period when he cut from the corner and came in front to take Thornton's no-look, backhand pass from behind the goal and give Canada a 3-2 lead.

Miikka Kiprusoff allowed a total of six goals in Finland's first five games. He withstood tons of late pressure and kept it close, but teammates couldn't net the equalizer in one of the biggest games Finland has played.

Finland was in the finals of the eight-team tournament for the first time.

"We played here in Canada, in Toronto, and everybody could see that we were ready to fight," Finland coach Raimo Summanen said. "Five years ago, three years ago, two years ago, one year ago, this was a whole different mental approach for the team and I'm proud of that."

Sakic started the party early for Canada (6-0) when he took a beautiful pass from Lemieux in the slot and fired a shot past Kiprusoff 52 seconds after the opening faceoff.

Riku Hahl, playing in place of the benched Ville Nieminen, tied it at 6:34 when he deflected Toni Lydman's shot from the point past Brodeur.

Finland reached the finals with a 4-0-1 mark by playing tight defense. But the Finns couldn't keep the high-flying Canadians from three quick strikes that snapped ties.