Canada Doesn’t Get Medal Either

Canada went through the motions. Finland went through a soul-searching team meeting and decided the bronze medal was worth fighting for.

And so it was that medal favorites Canada, Sweden and the United States were shut out in the first Olympic hockey tournament to feature NHL stars.

“We’re extremely disappointed not to come out with a medal,” Canadian center Joe Nieuwendyk said. “Clearly, our objective was to come away with the gold. Years from now, you’d like to have a medal in your trophy case.”

Jari Kurri has a bronze medal to go with his five Stanley Cup championships--and he wasn’t surprised to see the favorites leave Nagano empty-handed.

“To ask you [reporters], it’s a surprise, but the players, we thought the tournament was pretty even,” said Kurri, who scored the first goal in Finland’s 3-2 victory over Canada in the bronze-medal game Saturday at Big Hat. “It’s a short tournament and a great tournament.”

It had a great ending for the Finns, despite the absence of Mighty Duck right wing Teemu Selanne, who has a pulled stomach muscle.

Hours after their bitter 7-4 semifinal loss to Russia on Friday, the Finns (3-3) conferred to discuss how they would approach the third-place game. They went for it, getting goals from Kurri, Jere Lehtinen and Ville Peltonen and benefiting from a 32-save performance by third-string goaltender Ari Sulander.

“Everybody said we had to try hard in this game,” said defenseman Aki Berg, who plays for the Kings. “Canada had a little bit of problems today. I saw that in the first period.

“For us, this is very big. For me, this is the biggest thing in my life.”

It was a major occasion for Kurri too. The 37-year-old right wing played on Finland’s fourth-place team at Lake Placid in 1980 and never imagined he would get another shot at Olympic success.

“This year has been great, getting my 600th goal and now this,” said Kurri, the highest-scoring European-trained player in NHL history. “And the year isn’t over.

“It’s tough to play your best in a game like this. We had to regroup. You’ve got to push yourself. We went out to play for each other and we played hard.”

Canada (4-2) clearly hadn’t recovered emotionally from its 2-1 semifinal shootout loss to the Czech Republic. Rod Brind’Amour and Brendan Shanahan scored for Canada, but Peltonen’s power-play wrist shot from the left circle was the difference.

“You never get over these losses,” said Wayne Gretzky, who again said he considers this his final appearance for Canada in international competition. “I remember tournaments I lost when I was 13 years old, championship games. In my career, I’ve had some hard losses and I’ve had some great wins.”

Any Canadian hockey loss is bad for the demanding fans back home.

“They won’t be pleased with it,” Coach Marc Crawford said. “And they shouldn’t be pleased. We’re a very proud people.

“Our goal here was to come out winners and try to be at our absolute best. We fell a little short. Disappointment is part of sports, but our team battled hard.”

Although several U.S. players said the tournament was “a waste of time” after they were eliminated, Gretzky said otherwise.

“For me it was a great experience,” he said. “Being part of the Olympics is something you never forget. Obviously, we wish the results were better. But to meet other Canadian athletes, congratulating somebody if they won a gold medal, I really enjoyed that. From that point of view, it’s an experience you never forget, and I’m glad I was part of it.”