Finland men's national ice hockey team

The Finnish men's national ice hockey team, nicknamed Leijonat / Lejonen ("The Lions" in Finnish and Swedish), is governed by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association. Finland is one of the most successful national ice hockey teams in the world and a member of the so-called "Big Six", the unofficial group of the six strongest men's ice hockey nations, along with Canada, the United States, Czechia, Russia, and Sweden.
Finland won the world championship in 2022, their fourth title after 1995, 2011 and 2019. A duo of silver medals (1988, 2006) remained the country's best Olympic results until 2022 when the Finns achieved a breakthrough by winning their first Olympic gold after defeating Russia. At the Canada/World Cup, their best achievement is also a silver medal which they won in 2004.
==History==
Finland's first appearance in an elite ice hockey competition was at the 1939 Ice Hockey World Championships in Switzerland. The result was a shared last place with Yugoslavia. 10 years later, Finland came to the 1949 Ice Hockey World Championships in Sweden. The Finns finished in 7th place by winning the consolation round. Finland's first appearance at the Winter Olympics occurred in 1952 in Oslo.
In the 1974 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships two players were suspended for doping. They were the Swede Ulf Nilsson and the Finn Stig Wetzell who failed a drug test for the forbidden substance ephedrine. Both players were suspended for the rest of the tournament. Nilsson failed the test after Sweden's game against Poland, which Sweden won 4–1. The game was awarded to Poland as a 5–0 forfeit. The Finn, Wetzell, failed the test after Finland's match against Czechoslovakia, which Finland won 5–2, meaning the game was awarded to Czechoslovakia as a 5–0 forfeit. The Finns were able to defeat Czechoslovakia again on the last day, which would have earned their first medal in history, if not for the points lost in the forfeited win.
Finland was close again to winning the first medal in its history at the 1986 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships, when it led 4–2 in the final minute of the medal round match against Sweden. However, in the last minute of the match Anders "Masken" Carlsson first narrowed Finland's lead to one goal and then leveled the score with the help of the Finns' mistake. The match eventually ended in a 4–4 draw, meaning Finland's ranking in the tournament was fourth place.
At the 1992 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships, Finland's success and silver medal came as a surprise to many Finns, as the team was not expected to much because of inexperience and the lack of success at the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics in the same year. The medal achieved in the tournament was the first World Championship medal and the second value medal after the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, where Finland clinched a surprise silver after defeating the USSR.
At the 1995 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships, Finland achieved its first gold in international ice hockey. The Finns reached the final with a 5–0 victory over France in the quarter-finals, and a 3–0 victory over the Czech Republic in the semi-finals. In the final, Finland faced off against their hockey rivals and host of the 1995 tournament, Sweden. In the first period of the final, left wing Ville Peltonen scored a natural hat-trick, and then assisted Timo Jutila's first period goal to give Finland a 4–0 lead, on the way to an eventual 4–1 victory.
At the 1998 Olympic men's ice hockey tournament, Team Finland came away with bronze, after defeating the Canadian national team 3–2. Teemu Selänne led the tournament in goals scored (4) and total points achieved (10). The tournament was the first in which players from the National Hockey League (NHL) were allowed to participate, allowing national teams to be constructed using the best possible talent from each country. The 1998 Olympic tournament therefore came to be known as the Tournament of the Century.
Finland in the 2006 Winter Olympics semi-final match against Russia
At the 2006 Winter Olympics, Finland won a silver medal, coming close to winning in the final but losing 3–2 to Sweden. Finland's goaltender Antero Niittymäki was named the MVP of the tournament (with only eight goals conceded throughout the whole tournament) and Teemu Selänne was voted best forward. The format was changed from the 1998 and 2002 tournaments, to a format similar to the 1992 and 1994 tournaments. The number of teams was reduced from 14 to 12. The 12 teams were split into two groups in the preliminary stage, which followed a round robin format. Each team played the other teams in their group once. The top four teams from each group advanced to the quarter-finals.
At the 2006 IIHF World Championship, Finland achieved third place after winning the bronze medal game against Canada. Petteri Nummelin was named to the Media All-Star Team.
At the 2007 IIHF World Championship, Finland lost the final to the Canadian team. The final marked the second time that Finland and Canada met in the gold medal game of a World Championship, the first time being in 1994. However, only a year before, in 2006 Finland had defeated Canada 5–0 in the bronze medal game. In 2007, Canada were looking on form, being undefeated coming into the playoff round, while Finland had registered two losses in the run-up to the finals. Rick Nash scored on the powerplay at 6:10 into the first period on a one-timer from the point from a pass by Cory Murphy off of Matthew Lombardi, to put Canada up 1–0. Near the middle of the period, Eric Staal scored in similar fashion also on the powerplay, assisted by Justin Williams, and Mike Cammalleri. 9:11 into the second period, Colby Armstrong scored to give the Canadians a 3–0 lead. This goal ended up as the game winner. Finland had some discipline difficulty in the first two periods, taking 6 minutes apiece in penalties in both periods. The Finns started to bring up the pressure in the last ten minutes, and Petri Kontiola scored a nice glove-side goal on Ward at 51:08 assisted by Ville Peltonen, to put the team on the board. With only 3 minutes left Antti Miettinen scored to bring Finland within one, 3–2. However, just one minute later Rick Nash scored on a skillful breakaway to put the game away, with Canada winning 4–2 and clinching the title. The Canadians were outshot 22–18, but their goaltender, Cam Ward, kept Canada in the game as he was solid between the pipes. They also were able to capitalize on the powerplay, which ended up being decisive in the Canadian win. Kari Lehtonen was voted Tournament's best goaltender.
At the 2008 IIHF World Championship, Finland achieved third place after winning the bronze medal game 4–0 against rivals Sweden.
At the 2010 Winter Olympics, Finland again came away with the bronze, winning 5–3 against Slovakia. During the tournament, Teemu Selänne became the all-time leader for points scored in the Olympics.[2][3] He notched an assist in his second game of the tournament for 37 career points, surpassing Valeri Kharlamov of the Soviet Union, Vlastimil Bubník of Czechoslovakia, and Harry Watson of Canada.
At the 2011 IIHF World Championship, Finland won its second world title, beating the Swedish national team by a score of 6–1 in the final. As two highly ranked neighboring countries, Sweden and Finland have a long-running competitive tradition in ice hockey. Before the game, mainstream media in both countries titled the match "a dream final". After a goalless first period, Sweden opened the game with a 1–0 goal by Magnus Pääjärvi in the second period at 27:40. Seven seconds before the period's end, Finland's Jarkko Immonen scored to tie the game 1–1. Finland took the lead early in the third period, scoring two goals at 42:35 and 43:21 by Nokelainen and Kapanen. Sweden then took a time-out with ten minutes left to play but did not manage to regroup, and Finland scored a further three goals courtesy of Janne Pesonen, Mika Pyörälä and Antti Pihlström to clinch the title. Team Finland's Jarkko Immonen led the tournament in both goals and points scored, with 9 and 12 respectively.
The Finns won their third world title at the 2019 IIHF World Championship in Slovakia, and after the cancelled tournament of 2020, they reached the final in the 2021 tournament, losing to Canada in overtime.
At the 2022 Winter Olympics, Finland won the gold medal for the first time, going undefeated and beating Russia in the final. This allowed them to rise to first place in the IIHF World Ranking for the first time ever. In May 2022, Finland won their fourth World Championship, beating Canada in overtime after a hard-fought game. This was the third Canada–Finland final in a row, and the first time the Finns won a medal on home ice.
==Tournament record==
===Olympic Games===
Games 	GP 	W 	L 	T 	GF 	GA 	Coach 	Captain 	Round 	Finish
1920 Antwerp 	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	
1924 Chamonix 	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	
1928 St. Moritz 	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	
1932 Lake Placid 	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	
1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	
1948 St. Moritz 	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	
1952 Oslo 	8 	2 	6 	0 	21 	60 	Risto Lindroos 	Aarne Honkavaara 	Round-robin 	7th
1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo 	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	
1960 Squaw Valley 	6 	3 	2 	1 	55 	23 	Joe Wirkkunen 	Yrjö Hakala 	Consolation Round 	7th
1964 Innsbruck 	8 	3 	5 	0 	18 	33 	Joe Wirkkunen 	Raimo Kilpiö 	Round-robin 	6th
1968 Grenoble 	8 	4 	3 	1 	28 	25 	Gustav Bubník 	Matti Reunamäki 	Round-robin 	5th
1972 Sapporo 	6 	3 	3 	0 	27 	25 	Seppo Liitsola 	Lasse Oksanen 	Final Round 	5th
1976 Innsbruck 	6 	3 	3 	0 	30 	20 	Seppo Liitsola 	Seppo Lindström 	Final Round 	4th
1980 Lake Placid 	7 	3 	3 	1 	31 	25 	Kalevi Numminen 	Tapio Levo 	Final Round 	4th
1984 Sarajevo 	6 	2 	3 	1 	31 	26 	Alpo Suhonen 	Anssi Melametsä 	Consolation Round 	6th
1988 Calgary 	8 	5 	2 	1 	34 	14 	Pentti Matikainen 	Timo Blomqvist 	Final Round 	
1992 Albertville 	8 	4 	3 	1 	29 	11 	Pentti Matikainen 	Pekka Tuomisto 	7th place game 	7th
1994 Lillehammer 	8 	7 	1 	0 	38 	10 	Curt Lindström 	Timo Jutila 	3th place game 	
1998 Nagano 	6 	3 	3 	0 	20 	19 	Hannu Aravirta 	Saku Koivu 	3th place game 	
2002 Salt Lake City 	4 	2 	2 	0 	12 	10 	Hannu Aravirta 	Teemu Selänne 	Quarter-finals 	6th
2006 Turin 	8 	7 	1 	0 	29 	8 	Erkka Westerlund 	Saku Koivu 	Final 	
2010 Vancouver 	6 	4 	2 	– 	19 	13 	Jukka Jalonen 	Saku Koivu 	3th place game 	
2014 Sochi 	6 	4 	2 	– 	24 	10 	Erkka Westerlund 	Teemu Selänne 	3th place game 	
2018 Pyeongchang 	5 	3 	2 	– 	16 	9 	Lauri Marjamäki 	Lasse Kukkonen 	Quarter-finals 	6th
2022 Beijing 	6 	6 	0 	– 	22 	8 	Jukka Jalonen 	Valtteri Filppula 	Final 	
2026 Milan / Cortina 	To be determined 	To be determined 	To be determined 	To be determined 	To be determined 	To be determined 	To be determined 	To be determined 	To be determined 	
Medals
Participations	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
18 	1 	2 	4 	7
===World championship===
Year	Location 	Coach 	Captain 	Finish 	Result
1939	Zürich / Basel, 	Risto Tiitola 	Erkki Saarinen 	Consolation Round	13th place
1949	Stockholm, 	Risto Lindroos 	Keijo Kuusela 	Consolation Round	7th place
1951	Paris, 	Risto Lindroos 	Keijo Kuusela 	Group stage 	7th place
1954	Stockholm, 	Risto Lindroos 	Matti Rintakoski 	Group stage 	6th place
1955	Krefeld / Dortmund / Cologne, West Germany 	Aarne Honkavaara 	Matti Rintakoski 	Group stage 	9th place
1957	Moscow, 	Aarne Honkavaara 	Yrjö Hakala 	Group stage 	4th place
1958	Oslo, 	Aarne Honkavaara 	Yrjö Hakala 	Group stage 	6th place
1959	Prague / Bratislava, 	Joe Wirkkunen 	Yrjö Hakala 	Final Round 	6th place
1961	Geneva / Lausanne, 	Derek Holmes 	Erkki Koiso 	Group stage 	7th place
1962	Colorado Springs / Denver, 	Joe Wirkkunen 	Teppo Rastio 	Group stage 	4th place
1963	Stockholm, 	Joe Wirkkunen 	Esko Luostarinen 	Group stage 	5th place
1965	Tampere, 	Joe Wirkkunen 	Raimo Kilpiö 	Group stage 	7th place
1966	Ljubljana, 	Augustin Bubník 	Lalli Partinen 	Group stage 	7th place
1967	Vienna, 	Augustin Bubník 	Matti Reunamäki 	Group stage 	6th place
1969	Stockholm, 	Augustin Bubník 	Juhani Wahlsten 	Group stage 	5th place
1970	Stockholm, 	Seppo Liitsola 	Lasse Oksanen 	Group stage 	4th place
1971	Bern / Geneva, 	Seppo Liitsola 	Lasse Oksanen 	Group stage 	4th place
1972	Prague, 	Seppo Liitsola 	Lasse Oksanen 	Group stage 	4th place
1973	Moscow, 	Len Lunde 	Veli-Pekka Ketola	Group stage 	4th place
1974	Helsinki, 	Kalevi Numminen 	Veli-Pekka Ketola	Group stage 	4th place
1975	Munich / Düsseldorf, West Germany 	Seppo Liitsola 	Seppo Lindström 	Group stage 	4th place
1976	Katowice, 	Seppo Liitsola 	Lasse Oksanen 	Consolation Round	5th place
1977	Vienna, 	Lasse Heikkilä 	Pertti Koivulahti	Consolation Round	5th place
1978	Prague, 	Kalevi Numminen 	Seppo Repo 	Consolation Round	7th place
1979	Moscow, 	Kalevi Numminen 	Juhani Tamminen 	Consolation Round	5th place
1981	Gothenburg / Stockholm, 	Kalevi Numminen 	Juhani Tamminen 	Consolation Round	6th place
1982	Helsinki / Tampere, 	Alpo Suhonen 	Juhani Tamminen 	First Round 	5th place
1983	Düsseldorf / Dortmund / Munich, West Germany	Alpo Suhonen 	Pekka Rautakallio	Consolation Round	7th place
1985	Prague, 	Alpo Suhonen 	Anssi Melametsä 	Consolation Round	5th place
1986	Moscow, 	Rauno Korpi 	Kari Makkonen 	Final Round 	4th place
1987	Vienna, 	Rauno Korpi 	Pekka Järvelä 	Consolation Round	5th place
1989	Stockholm / Södertälje, 	Pentti Matikainen	Timo Blomqvist 	Consolation Round	5th place
1990	Bern / Fribourg, 	Pentti Matikainen	Arto Ruotanen 	Consolation Round	6th place
1991	Turku / Helsinki / Tampere, 	Pentti Matikainen	Hannu Virta 	Consolation Round	5th place
1992	Prague / Bratislava, 	Pentti Matikainen	Pekka Tuomisto 	Final 	Silver
1993	Dortmund / Munich, 	Pentti Matikainen	Timo Jutila 	Quarter-finals 	7th place
1994	Bolzano / Canazei / Milano, 	Curt Lindström 	Timo Jutila 	Final 	Silver
1995	Stockholm / Gävle, 	Curt Lindström 	Timo Jutila 	Final 	Gold
1996	Vienna, 	Curt Lindström 	Timo Jutila 	Quarter-finals 	5th place
1997	Helsinki / Turku / Tampere, 	Curt Lindström 	Timo Jutila 	Second Round 	5th place
1998	Zürich / Basel, 	Hannu Aravirta 	Ville Peltonen 	Final 	Silver
1999	Oslo / Lillehammer / Hamar, 	Hannu Aravirta 	Saku Koivu 	Final 	Silver
2000	Saint Petersburg, 	Hannu Aravirta 	Raimo Helminen 	3rd Place Game 	Bronze
2001	Cologne / Hanover / Nuremberg, 	Hannu Aravirta 	Petteri Nummelin 	Final 	Silver
2002	Gothenburg / Karlstad / Jönköping, 	Hannu Aravirta 	Raimo Helminen 	3rd Place Game 	4th place
2003	Helsinki / Tampere / Turku, 	Hannu Aravirta 	Saku Koivu 	Quarter-finals 	5th place
2004	Prague / Ostrava, 	Raimo Summanen 	Olli Jokinen 	Quarter-finals 	6th place
2005	Innsbruck / Vienna, 	Erkka Westerlund 	Ville Peltonen 	Quarter-finals 	7th place
2006	Riga, 	Erkka Westerlund 	Ville Peltonen 	3rd Place Game 	Bronze
2007	Moscow / Mytishchi, 	Erkka Westerlund 	Ville Peltonen 	Final 	Silver
2008	Quebec City / Halifax, 	Doug Shedden 	Ville Peltonen 	3rd Place Game 	Bronze
2009	Bern / Kloten, 	Jukka Jalonen 	Sami Kapanen 	Quarter-finals 	5th place
2010	Cologne / Mannheim / Gelsenkirchen, 	Jukka Jalonen 	Sami Kapanen 	Quarter-finals 	6th place
2011	Bratislava / Košice, 	Jukka Jalonen 	Mikko Koivu 	Final 	Gold
2012	Helsinki, / Stockholm, 	Jukka Jalonen 	Mikko Koivu 	3rd Place Game 	4th place
2013	Stockholm, / Helsinki, 	Jukka Jalonen 	Lasse Kukkonen 	3rd Place Game 	4th place
2014	Minsk, 	Erkka Westerlund 	Olli Jokinen 	Final 	Silver
2015	Prague / Ostrava, 	Kari Jalonen 	Jussi Jokinen 	Quarter-finals 	6th place
2016	Moscow / Saint Petersburg, 	Kari Jalonen 	Mikko Koivu 	Final 	Silver
2017	Cologne, / Paris, 	Lauri Marjamäki 	Lasse Kukkonen 	3rd Place Game 	4th place
2018	Copenhagen / Herning, 	Lauri Marjamäki 	Mikael Granlund 	Quarter-finals 	5th place
2019	Bratislava / Košice, 	Jukka Jalonen 	Marko Anttila 	Final 	Gold
2021	Riga, 	Jukka Jalonen 	Marko Anttila 	Final 	Silver
2022	Tampere / Helsinki, 	Jukka Jalonen 	Valtteri Filppula	Final 	Gold
2023	Tampere, / Riga, 	Jukka Jalonen 	Marko Anttila 	Quarter-finals 	7th place
2024	Prague / Ostrava, 	Jukka Jalonen 	Mikael Granlund 	Quarter-finals 	8th place
Medals
Participations	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
70 	4 	9 	3 	16
===Canada Cup / World Cup===
Year	GP	W	OW	T	OL	L	GF	GA	Coach 	Captain 	Finish 	Rank
1976	5 	1	– 	0	– 	4	16	42	Lasse Heikkilä 	Veli-Pekka Ketola	Round-robin	6th
1981	5 	0	– 	1	– 	4	6 	31	Kalevi Numminen 	Veli-Pekka Ketola	Round-robin	6th
1987	5 	0	– 	0	– 	5	9 	23	Rauno Korpi 	Jari Kurri 	Round-robin	6th
1991	6 	2	– 	1	– 	3	13	20	Pentti Matikainen	Jari Kurri 	Semi-final 	
Year	GP	W	OW	T	OL	L	GF	GA	Coach 	Captain 	Finish 	Rank
1996	4 	2	– 	0	– 	2	17	16	Curt Lindström 	Jari Kurri 	Quarter-final	5th
2004	6 	4	0 	1	0 	1	17	9 	Raimo Summanen 	Saku Koivu 	Final 	
2016	3 	0	0 	–	0 	3	1 	9 	Lauri Marjamäki	Mikko Koivu	Group stage 	8th
Medals
Participations	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
7 	0 	1 	1 	2
===Euro Hockey Tour===
*1996–97 – Finished in 
*1997–98 – Finished in 
*1998–99 – Finished in 
*1999–00 – Finished in 
*2000–01 – Finished in 
*2001–02 – Finished in 
*2002–03 – Finished in 
*2003–04 – Finished in 
*2004–05 – Finished in 
*2005–06 – Finished in 
*2006–07 – Finished in 4th place
*2007–08 – Finished in 
*2008–09 – Finished in 
*2009–10 – Finished in 
*2010–11 – Finished in 
*2011–12 – Finished in 
*2012–13 – Finished in 
*2013–14 – Finished in 
*2014–15 – Finished in 
*2015–16 – Finished in 
*2016–17 – Finished in 
*2017–18 – Finished in 
*2018–19 – Finished in 
*2019–20 – Finished in 
*2020–21 – Finished in 4th place
*2021–22 – Finished in 
*2022–23 – Finished in 
*2023–24 – Finished in 
===EHT Medal table===
Gold	Silver	Bronze	Medals
9 	9 	8 	26
====Tournament summary====
*Karjala Tournament:
** Gold medal (1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2010, 2013, 2017)
** Silver medal (1995, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021)
** Bronze medal (2016, 2020, 2023)
*Channel One Cup / Izvestia Trophy:
** Gold medal (2003, 2009, 2021)
** Silver medal (1982, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2013, 2014, 2018)
** Bronze medal (1968, 1971, 1973, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1989, 1994, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020)
*Sweden Hockey Games:
** Gold medal (1997, 1999, 2000, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2018, 2024)
** Silver medal (2001 (February), 2006, 2008, 2023)
** Bronze medal (1991, 1998, 2001 (November), 2009, 2011, 2020, 2021)
*Czech Hockey Games:
** Gold medal (1996, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2012, 2013 (August), 2024)
** Silver medal (1997, 1998, 1999, 2006, 2017, 2018, 2019)
** Bronze medal (2008, 2009 (April), 2009 (September), 2011, 2021, 2022)
*Swiss Ice Hockey Games:
** Bronze medal (2022, 2023)
====Finland's Euro Hockey Tour (EHT) Cup medal table====
Tournament 	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Medals
Karjala Tournament 	12 	9 	2 	23
Channel One Cup 	3 	10 	17 	30
Sweden Hockey Games 	8 	4 	7 	19
Czech Hockey Games 	7 	7 	6 	20
Swiss Ice Hockey Games	0 	0 	2 	2
Total 	30 	30 	34 	94
===Euro Hockey Challenge===
*2011 – 
*2012 – 
*2013 – 
*2014 – 
*2015 – 
*2016 – 
*2017 – 
*2018 – 
*2019 – (Division Nord)
===Other tournaments===
*Deutschland Cup: Gold medal (1990)
*Nissan Cup: Gold medal (1989, 1994)
*Spengler Cup: Silver medal (1975)
==References==
==External links==
*Official website
*IIHF profile
Category:National ice hockey teams in Europe