IIHF statement after Finland's flight as World Champion

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The 2019 IIHF World Women's Hockey Championship was a tournament unlike any other.

For the first time since the inaugural tournament in 1990, the gold medal match did not pit the United States against Canada, Finland, the host nation, performing an upset miracle in the semi-finals. Canadians had to settle for bronze.

Finland would need a second bigger miracle on the ice during the gold medal game against the United States on Sunday, and they nearly did it.

After exchanging goals in the second half, the match was extended to 1-1. With only 8:28 left in overtime, Finland's Petra Nieminen seemed to score the golden goal. Nieminen was assaulted by her teammates on the ice and fans of her hometown in Espoo went crazy.

It was like the 1980 Miracle on Ice, except that it was even more improbable. Beating Canada and the United States in consecutive matches has never been done before. It would be like the 1980 team beating the Soviet Union twice.

Finland shocked the world.

Then the video replay reminded the purpose.

Jenni Hiirikoski came into contact with goalkeeper Alex Rigsby, forcing the American goalkeeper to move away from his net. The contact took place outside the end zone and Rigsby dipped into Hiirikoski's lane, making the call difficult.

After a long review, no goal was judged and the game continued. The United States ended up winning shootouts, earning them a fifth consecutive gold medal at the World Championships.

Many players in the hockey world did not agree with the goalless call, including Canadian hockey legend Hayley Wickenheiser.

The IIHF issued a statement Monday to explain its decision, referring to the following two rules:

  • Goalkeeper and Prohibited Goal: An attacking skater who makes a non-incidental contact with a goalkeeper who is out of his goal zone during the match will be punished with a minor interference penalty. . If a goal is scored at that moment, it will not count.

  • According to the rule of play 183 of the IIHF ii. Protection of a goalkeeper: Accidental contact is permitted when the goalkeeper plays the puck out of bounds, provided the attacking skater makes reasonable efforts to minimize or avoid such contact.

"Taking into account these two rules, the operations of the IIHF Video Goals Judge determined that the goal was to be rejected," read the statement. "During the match, the official on the ice claimed a penalty for tripping over the US goaltender. The penalties imposed on ice can not be subject to control by the judge of the video's objectives. The VGJ can not impose or cancel a penalty. The decision to maintain the penalty was made by the official on the ice. "

As difficult as the loss must have been, Finland must be incredibly proud of its performance. It was Finland's first participation in a gold medal game after winning bronze 12 times.

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