The Ice Hockey World Championship was won by the "reserve" Canadians, who lost 4 matches

At the moment, the Canadians have 27 victories, as well as the Soviet and Russian hockey players.

It was hard to believe in such an outcome when the Canadian national team, consisting of unknown players, lost the opening match of the group stage of Latvia 0-2, then it was smashed to pieces by the Americans 1-5, followed by the Germans 1-3, and finally lost to the Finns 2-3... And only three victories over Kazakhstan, Italy and Norway allowed the “maple leaf” to reach the playoffs from fourth place, gaining only 10 points (the Kazakhs earned the same amount).

However, defeats and lackluster wins did not prevent the Canadian national team from becoming a full-fledged team during the tournament. Our players, who lost to the Canadians in the quarterfinals with a minimum score of 1-2, were convinced of this. The victory in the semifinals over the United States has already shown that the Canadians have come to Riga for more than just having fun.

And the final with the Finns was a rematch for the defeat in the previous final of 2019, when the Finns became champions in the game with the Canadians, and a “response” for the defeat in overtime during the group stage with a similar score of 2-2.

In the ninth minute, Mikael Ruohomaa turned in front of the goalkeeper and sent the puck into an empty corner. On the 25th minute, Connor Brown hit the crossbar with a throw from the blue line, - Max Comtois sent the rebound into the empty net. In the 46th minute, Petteri Lindbom took the Finland forward again with a throw. In the 53rd minute, the Canadians in just 18 seconds converted the majority with a shot by Adam Henrik.

The piquancy of the situation also lies in the fact that for the first time at the World Cup the winner was determined in overtime, where three versus three field hockey players play.

In the fifth minute of overtime, Nick Paul scored the winning goal.

In the match for third place, the United States defeated the Germans 6-1.

The Russians also participated in the final of the 2021 World Cup - albeit in the form of match referees. Yevgeny Romasko was the chief judge, and Nikita Shalagin and Gleb Lazarev were his line assistants.