The five biggest USA-Finland games

Originally published on IHWC.NET in 2007

By Lucas Aykroyd

The United States versus Finland can’t be classified as one of those natural geographical or historical international rivalries like USA-Canada or Finland-Sweden.

At one time, both were ranked among the weakest of the former “Big Six” hockey nations, usually lagging behind the Soviet Union, Canada, Czechoslovakia, and Sweden.

In the 20th century, the Americans could point to two Olympic gold medal victories, but the Finns didn’t even have an IIHF World Championship to their credit until 1995.

So what happens when a global superpower whose population has now hit 300 million takes on a small Nordic nation of 5 million? Here are IHWC.NET’s picks for the five biggest USA-Finland games of all time in senior international competition.

1) February 24, 1980: USA 4, Finland 2

While many people assume that the 4-3 “Miracle on Ice” victory over the Soviet Union at the Lake Placid Olympics was what gave the USA the gold medal, that’s actually not correct. In order to claim top spot, the Americans had to beat the Finns two days later. They trailed Finland 2-1 heading into the third period, and Coach Herb Brooks told his players: “If you don’t win this one, you will take it to your graves.” The USA rallied for three third-period goals to seal the deal.

2) September 10, 2004: Finland 2, USA 1

The Americans entered the 2004 World Cup as the defending champions from 1996, but the underdogs with “Suomi” on their jerseys brought that reign to an end. Not only was the USA heavily favored to advance on paper, but the Finns also had the added disadvantage of jet lag after having flown into St. Paul, Minnesota from Europe. With under four minutes left, Saku Koivu corralled a loose puck at the side of USA netminder Robert Esche’s net and banged it in to give his country the victory and a berth in the final against Canada, where they would fall by a 3-2 count.

3) February 22, 2006: Finland 4, USA 3

The Swedes may have taken top spot at the 2006 Turin Olympics, but overall, from start to finish, silver-winning Finland iced the best-performing team. The USA’s hopes of earning its first-ever gold with full NHL participation in the Winter Games were dashed when Finland prevailed in the quarter-finals. Olli Jokinen scored the winner late in the second period, and although Teemu Selanne was high-sticked in the mouth by Derian Hatcher and lost several teeth, Selanne said: “That’s a little sacrifice to win a medal. You can always get new teeth.”

4) September 11, 1991: USA 7, Finland 3

This was the first time Finland had ever cracked the semi-finals in a Canada Cup tournament. A 2-2 opening tie with Canada had put the blue-and-white squad on the right track, and the Finns felt they had a chance to oust the Americans, who had never played in the Canada Cup finals. However, the semi-final matchup turned out to be an easy rout for the USA, which then fell in two straight games to Canada in a final remembered both for Gary Suter’s nasty hit from behind on Canada’s Wayne Gretzky and for Steve Larmer’s breakaway winner in Game Two.

5) February 5, 1939: USA 4, Finland 0

As Finland took part in the IIHF World Championships for the first time ever in 1939, this round-robin encounter in Basel, Switzerland was the inaugural meeting between the two nations. The Finns wouldn’t beat the USA at the Worlds until posting a surprisingly lopsided 11-3 victory on March 8, 1963 in Stockholm, Sweden.