LATE COMEBACK GIVES FINNS SEVENTH PLACE

by Ashley Wiebe

WINNIPEG, Man. – Teuvo Teräväinen, Artturi Lehkonen and Kalle Torniainen all scored goals in the last 18 minutes as Finland claimed seventh place at the 2011 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge with a come-from-behind 5-4 win over the Czech Republic on Monday night.

The Finns opened the scoring just 1:42 in on a goal by Rasmus Kulmala, but goals 17 seconds apart from Vojtech Tomecek and Jan Schleiss put the Czechs into a 2-1 lead after one period.

Dominik Volek pushed the Czech lead to two midway through the second period, but Kulmala’s second of the game cut the Czech advantage to one after 40 minutes.

Matej Zadrazil’s power play goal restored the two-goal lead for the Czech Republic at 2:02 of the final frame, but again the Finns responded, with Teräväinen converting a pass from Jusso Ikonen just 25 seconds later to continue the back-and-forth affair.

Teräväinen’s goal seemed to spark the Finns, as Lehkonen pulled Finland even at 11:17, followed by Torniainen three minutes later, giving Finland its first lead since 1-0, one that would hold up until the final horn.

Both teams improved on last year’s position – Finland moved up from 10th to seventh, while the Czechs rose one spot from ninth to eighth.