Sochi Winter Olympics Men's Hockey Final: Canada Downs Sweden, Completes Undefeated Olympic Run
Canada is officially the world's best country in the ice hockey category
The men's hockey team from Canada soundly defeated the men's hockey team from Sweden on Sunday, the only competition left standing in their way from the gold medal and world championship of hockey. Prior to the final, Canada had defeated the United States in a close 1-0 match to reach the final. The United States went on to lose soundly (5-0) to Finland, who took the bronze medal.
"Jonathan Toews scored in the first period, captain Sidney Crosby scored his first goal of the tournament and Canada defended its Olympic men's hockey title Sunday with a 3-0 victory over Sweden in the gold-medal game. Chris Kunitz also scored and Carey Price made 24 saves for the Canadians, who confirmed their worldwide dominance in their national game by winning gold for the third time in the last four Olympics," CBS reported.
By allowing just only three goals in six victories in Sochi, Canada became the only repeat Olympic champion in the NHL era and the first team to go unbeaten through the Olympic tournament since 1984.
The story was all too familiar in the game between the United States and Canada: Carey Price was all but impenetrable against the United States offense. Add in Canada's plan to play in the United States' court and that paved the way to the final against Sweden.
The gold medal game was a bit imbalanced and a bit of luck contributed to Canada's victory because while Canada got goals from two of its best centers, Sweden was playing without its top three centers. Henrik Sedin and Henrik Zetterberg were already out for the tournament due to injuries and later Nicklas Bäckström was also pulled because of a positive drug test from a substance in allergy medicine that he had been taking for seven years.
"We're just an amazing team to watch, the way we work together," Jonathan Toews said. "We were just all over them. It's fun to be a part of."