2012 IIHF World Championship final
123 Total
 Russia 132 6
 Slovakia 101 2
Date20 May 2012 (2012-05-20)
ArenaHartwall Areena
CityHelsinki
Attendance13,242[1]
 2011 2013 

The 2012 IIHF World Championship final was played at the Hartwall Areena in Helsinki, Finland, on 20 May 2012 between Russia and Slovakia.

Russia won the gold medal by defeating Slovakia 6–2.[1]

Background

Slovakia and Russia faced each other in the 2002 Championship final; that game ended 4–3 in favour of the Slovaks, who captured the team's only gold medal in World Championship history.

The 2012 final was Slovakia's third final in history, and their first since 2002. Russia made their fourth final appearance in five years. Russia had won twenty-five gold medals (three as Russia) previously.[2]

Road to the final

Russia Round Slovakia
Team GP W OTW OTL L GF GA DIF PTS
 Russia 77000278+1921
 Sweden 760012915+1418
 Czech Republic 741022411+1314
 Norway 740123319+1413
 Latvia 720051119−86
 Germany 720051431−176
 Denmark 710151323−104
 Italy 70106631−252
Preliminary
Team GP W OTW OTL L GF GA DIF PTS
 Canada 760103515+2019
 United States 742013217+1516
 Finland 750022114+715
 Slovakia 750022113+815
 France 730042132−119
  Switzerland 720051621−56
 Belarus 710061123−123
 Kazakhstan 700161133−221
Opponent Result Playoff Opponent Result
 Norway 5–2 Quarterfinals  Canada 4–3
 Finland 6–2 Semifinals  Czech Republic 3–1
Source:[3]

Match

Summary

The first period had only lasted one minute before Slovakia captain Zdeno Chára fired a hard shot from the blue line to open up the score. Russia would then dominate the rest of the period, and at 09:57 Alexander Semin received a pass from Washington Capitals teammate Alexander Ovechkin on a breakaway and tied the game 1–1. Russia continued to pressure the Slovaks' net, but a solid-playing Ján Laco and good defensive play by the Slovaks kept the game even. No penalties were called during the game's first 20 minutes.[4]

In the second period, Russia grabbed a three-goal lead. In a tangled situation in front of Slovakia's goaltender, Alexander Perezhogin put the puck in the net and gave Russia their first lead of the game at 26:10. Then at 33:31 Sergei Shirokov passed to assistant captain Alexei Tereshchenko on a two-on-one situation and Tereshchenko scored to give the Russians a 3–1 lead. Less than two minutes later, Pavel Datsyuk stole the puck in the Slovak zone and passed to Alexander Semin who netted his second goal of the game, giving Russia a three-goal lead. Shortly thereafter, at 35:43, Zdeno Chára was given the first penalty of the game, a tripping penalty. The Russians were unsuccessful in converting on the power play. Russia outshot Slovakia 16–8 in the second period.[5]

At 43:55 in the third period, Pavel Datsyuk sealed the game for Russia with his first goal of the game. Shortly after this, Slovakia's goaltender Ján Laco was pulled and replaced by Peter Hamerlík. Slovakia was given an opportunity on the power play following a slashing penalty on Alexander Ovechkin at 48:47, Russia's first penalty of the game. It took 50 seconds on the power play before Zdeno Chára scored his second goal of the game on a one-timer in front of the net to cut the deficit to three goals. Evgeni Malkin finished the game off at 58:02 by scoring his eleventh goal of the tournament to make the score 6–2.[6]

The game ended 6–2 for Russia, who captured the team's twenty-sixth World Championship gold medal in history (fourth as Russia). Slovakia earned their second World Championship silver medal.[4]

After the game had ended, several Slovak players donned Pavol Demitra jerseys backwards to honor his memory. Demitra had died on September 7, 2011.[7]

Evgeni Malkin was named the MVP of the tournament.[8]

Details

20 May 2012
20:30
Russia 6–2
(1–1, 3–0, 2–1)
 SlovakiaHartwall Areena, Helsinki
Attendance: 13,242
Game reference
Semyon VarlamovGoaliesJán Laco
Peter Hamerlík
Referees:
Czech Republic Antonín Jeřábek
Switzerland Brent Reiber
Linesmen:
Switzerland Roger Arm
Czech Republic Petr Blumel
0–101:06 – Z. Chára (T. Surový)
A. Semin (A. Ovechkin, P. Datsyuk) – 09:571–1
A. Perezhogin (A. Popov) – 26:102–1
A. Tereshchenko (S. Shirokov, N. Zherdev) – 33:313–1
A. Semin (P. Datsyuk) – 35:224–1
P. Datsyuk (A. Semin, A. Ovechkin) – 43:555–1
5–249:37 – Z. Chára (T. Surový, M. Šatan) (PP)
E. Malkin (I. Nikulin, N. Nikitin) – 58:026–2
2 minPenalties4 min
42Shots31

References

  1. 1 2 "Game Summary - Gold Medal Game" (PDF). IIHF. 20 May 2012. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 December 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  2. "Can David slay Goliath?". IIHF. 2012-05-20. Archived from the original on January 3, 2013.
  3. "2012 tournament standings, reports and game results". IIHF. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  4. 1 2 Aykroyd, Lucas (20 May 2012). "Golden glory for Russia!". IIHF. Archived from the original on May 23, 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  5. "Russia dominates Slovakia to win 2012 IIHF gold; 2014 Sochi groups announced". sports.yahoo.com. 2012-05-20.
  6. "Russia beats Slovakia to win gold at Worlds; 2014 Olympics groups set". cbssports.com. 2012-05-20.
  7. "Russia wins world championship gold". 2012-05-21.
  8. "Malkin wins MVP honours". IIHF. 2012-05-20. Archived from the original on 2012-05-23.
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