Finland vs Canada in the final of the Ivan Hlinka Memorial

A thriller in Piešťany went the distance, as in the battle of the two great Scandinavian rivals, it was Finland who got the better of Sweden in the first semi final of the Ivan Hlinka Memorial. Finland scored twice in the second half of the third period, before Felix Westermarck netted the overtime winner as Finland snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and advanced to the final. Finland could have easily cruised through to the final if they hadn't have capitulated in the second period, where Sweden scored three unanswered goals through Rasmus Fyrpihl, André Burakowsky and Lucas Wallmark. However, Finland laid siege to their opponents in the third period, outshooting them 11:1 and controlling every aspect of the game. They would finally break the Swedish resistance at 51:28, as Jonatan Tanus scored to cut the lead in half, before Janne Puhakka scored in the 56th minute to bring Finland level. Try as they might, Finland couldn't find the game winner in regulation, so the game headed to overtime, where Westermarck proved to be the hero of the night, winning the game in the second minute of overtime.

Once again it was the Sam Reinhart show at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial, as Team Canada's captain once again showed why he is one of the highly rated prospects going into the 2014 NHL Draft. He scored one and had three assists, as Canada were able to outpace a plucky Czech side who will be pleased with their performance in this tournament. Bo Horvat scored a powerplay goal early in the first period, which was cancelled out after Lubos Rob's powerplay goal for the Czech Republic. The game ebbed and flowed, but Canada always looked to have the extra gear in reserve. With just over a minute to go in the second period, Reinhart scored his second goal to give Canada a 2:1 lead going into the third period. The teams traded goals at the beginning of the period, but after Max Domi's goal to make it 4:2, Canada never looked back, making it 5:2 thanks to Bo Horvat's second of the game with six and a half minutes remaining. Rob scored both of the Czech Republic's goals.

This years edition of the Ivan Hlinka memorial really has been one for the forwards. After two teams scoring eight goals in the final games of the round robin stages, Russia and Switzerland combined for twelve goals in what turned out to be a closely fought game for two teams that missed out on the medal rounds. One thing that might be far to say about this years group of players is that there are not going to be many star netminders between the countries, as in this game the twelve goals were scored on 58 shots. Russia took a 3:1 lead late in the first period after two goals in ninety seconds through Ruslan Trubkin and Maxim Mamin. However, Switzerland rallied back, and mainly through the efforts of Jason Fuchs who had a goal and two assists, they tied the Russians at 4:4 and 5:5. However, in the end Russia simply had too much for the Swiss to handle. Rinat Valiyev made the score 6:5 less than a minute after Kevin Fiala had tied the game, before Sergei Tolchinski capped off Russia's slightly disappointing tournament with the insurance goal with 16 seconds left in the game.

It would be hosts Slovakia who would once again leave the Ivan Hlinka Memorial with the wooden spoon, as Anton Bartanus' side went winless in their four games this year. Once again they put up a good fight against heavily favoured opponents, but they failed to get the result that they so desired. The USA, who struggled this year will be happy for this tournament to be over. The USA jumped out to a two goal lead in the opening period before Tomáš Török scored for the Slovaks to send the teams into the break with the score at 2:1. Adam Erne, voted the USA's best player of the tournament then took the game by the scruff of the neck, as he scored two goals in a row to give the United States a 4:1 lead at the start of the third period. The Slovaks were not out of it just yet, and goals by captain Dominik Rehak and Patrik Bacik closed the gap, but Justin Bailey would score before the game was finished to give the United States the two goal victory.

1/2. Finland or Canada

3/4. Sweden or Czech Republic

5. Russia

6. Switzerland

7. USA

8. Slovakia

 

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