Winter Olympics 2022 - Finland advance to the ice hockey gold medal match after seeing off Slovakia in the semi-final

Updated 18/02/2022 at 07:39 GMT

Finland were victorious in their ice hockey semi-final with Slovakia as they guaranteed themselves at least a silver medal in Beijing. In a tight 2-0 game, Sakari Manninen opened the scoring in the first period and Harri Pesonen hammered the final nail in the coffin with minutes to go. Finland will face either the Russian Olympic Committee or Sweden in the final.

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Finland beat Slovakia in a tightly-contested clash to progress to the men's ice hockey final.

In a cagey opening first period, Finland were first on the board through Sakari Manninen, scoring 16 minutes into the game.

Manninen deservedly put Finland ahead after some clever play, who was found unmarked on the left of a congested goalmouth, shifted the puck to his left and then slid his shot just inside the post from a narrow angle.

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The second period was just as tight as the first, setting up a nerve-racking but exciting final period.

Both teams managed 21 shots on goal in the opening two thirds, and despite Finland having two minutes and 47 seconds of power play time and peppering the Slovakian goal, they failed to take advantage of the extra man to extend their lead.

Early into the third period, Finland once again failed to capitalise on a two-minute man advantage when Kristian Pospisil was dismissed for tripping.

Late on in the final period Finland doubled their lead to all but secure their place in the final. Harri Pesonen was on target to make it 2-0.

Finland will face either the Russian Olympic Committee or Sweden in the gold medal match. The second semi-final match gets underway at 13:10 GMT on Monday.

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