Finland did it again. They always do it. While the gold medal game tomorrow between USA and Canada will grab the headlines, let's talk about the team that refuses to go home empty-handed from the Olympics.
The Finns demolished Slovakia 6-1 in the bronze medal game, claiming their fifth medal in six Olympics featuring NHL players. Think about that for a second. Five medals. Six tournaments. That's not luck, folks – that's a culture of excellence.
Finland has never won Olympic gold in the NHL era. They've come close – silver in 2006, heartbreak after heartbreak in the semifinals. But here's what separates champions from pretenders: they don't pack it in after falling short of gold. They show up for the bronze medal game like it's the Stanley Cup Final.
Saturday's performance was vintage Finnish hockey. Sebastian Aho opened the scoring, Erik Haula notched two goals, and they turned a competitive game into a rout in the third period with four unanswered goals. Roope Hintz and Kaapo Kakko scored just 42 seconds apart to break it open.
While Canada has more golds and USA chases their first since 1980, Finland – a country of 5.5 million people – has built the most consistent Olympic hockey program on the planet. Four bronze medals and a silver. They're the team that always finds a way to the podium.
Some might say bronze is just "best of the losers." But winning bronze requires something special – the ability to bounce back from devastating semifinal losses, to find motivation when you're not playing for gold, to take pride in being third-best in the world.
The Calgary Flames now have the dubious distinction of being the only NHL team without an Olympic medalist returning from Milan. Every other franchise has someone bringing hardware home. That's the depth of talent at these Games.
