2002 IIHF World Junior Championship

Canada 1 Finland 4 December 30, 2001
Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic

Jared Aulin opened the scoring for Canada early in the first period, but Finland responded with four unanswered goals to notch a 4-1 victory at the 2002 World Junior Hockey Championship in the Czech Republic on Sunday. Aulin scored on the power play early in the first period when he bounced the puck in off Finnish goalkeeper Kari Lehtonen. Finland scored two goals in the third period that made the difference as Canada tasted defeat for the first time at this year's tournament. Canada's record now stands at 3-1 in the World Juniors and will now play Sweden on January 1, 2002 at 11:30am ET/8:30am PT on TSN/RDS. Tuomo Ruutu, Jarkko Immonen, Mikko Koivu and Toni Koivisto scored the goals for Finland.

With the win, Finland wins Group B, and Canada finishes in second place in Group B. Finland will now face the host Czech Republic when the quarterfinals get underway on New Year's Day.

Ruutu then put Finland back on even terms on the power play when he took a feed from Koivu and beat Olivier Michaud with a slapshot from the faceoff circle midway through the frame. In the final minute of the opening period, Immonen put the Finns in front, once again on the power play when he banged home a loose puck in front of the Canadian net. Canada very nearly fell behind 3-1 in the second period but Nathan Paetsch managed to swat away a loose puck that was headed over Michaud and into the Canadian net. Early in the third period, Koivu gave Finland a commanding 3-1 lead when he converted on a 3-on-1 deep in the Canadian zone and then Koivisto put a bow on the win with a goal midway through the final stanza.
Canadian defenceman Dan Hamhuis missed the game with a shoulder injury he suffered in Saturday's win over Russia. In other Group B action, Russia defeated Switzerland by the score of 4-0 in an ugly affair.

In Group A, Slovakia battled to a 4-4 draw with the United States to finish atop the standings while Sweden's game-winning goal in a 2-1 victory was scored into an empty net as the Czech Republic needed a win to move up in the standings. As the medal round begins, Canada now will face Sweden in the quarter-finals on Tuesday, January 1st in Pardubice.