Sakari Manninen scores overtime winner to lift Finland to World Championship glory on home ice

Canada and Finland met in the Gold Medal Game at the 2022 IIHF World Hockey Championship in Tampere. This marks the third consecutive tournament where they've face each other in the final, with Finland coming on top in 2019 and Canada winning in 2021.

The teams played to a tight, scoreless first period, but on the powerplay in the second, Canadian forward Dylan Cozens ripped a shot past Jussi Olkinuora to give his nation a 1-0 lead.

Flash forward to the third period, where as the legendary Bob Cole would say, 'Everything is happening'.

Early on in the third period, Canadian forward Cole Sillinger found himself on the wrong side of a terrible call by the officials. Sillinger lifted the stick of Finnish defenceman Miro Heiskanen, and Heiskanen's stick hit his own face. The official standing at least ten feet away didn't put his hand up, but the other official, who is in the neutral zone makes the call and despite them pleading their case, Canada went down to a 5-on-3 penalty kill.

Miro Heiskanen high-sticked himself in the face, but Cole Sillinger gets a penalty. #IIHFWorlds pic.twitter.com/wTkqryAwTu— Steven Ellis (@StevenEllisTHN) May 29, 2022

Five seconds after, Finnish forward Mikael Granlund scored to tie the game at one. On the play, Canada's netminder Chris Driedger pulled himself after suffering an injury, forcing Matt Tomkins to make his first appearance of the tournament. It's worth noting that Tomkins hasn't played a minute prior to this game in over a month when he played with Frolunda in the SHL.

Roughly 1:40 later, still on the powerplay, Granlund scored on a beautiful shot to put the Finns up 2-1 and less than ten minutes later, Joel Armia scored right off a faceoff to extend their lead to 3-1.

But then Canada came back, much like they did in the Quarter-Final against Sweden. Defenceman Zach Whitecloud scored with just over two minutes left in the third period and then with 1:24 left, Max Comtois tied the game at 3-3 to force overtime.

For a second straight year, Canada and Finland will play 3-on-3 overtime in the Gold Medal Game.

In overtime, Canadian captain Thomas Chabot was called for hooking and Finland headed to the powerplay. On the powerplay, Sakari Manninen one-timed a shot past Matt Tomkins to score the golden goal and give Finland their second gold medal in three tournaments.

With the win, Finnish captain Valtteri Filppula becomes the latest member of the Triple Gold Club. For those who aren't aware, the Triple Gold Club is a gold medal at the Olympics, a Stanley Cup and a gold medal at the World Championship.

And just like that the 2022 IIHF World Hockey Championship has come to a close. The tournament will return to Tampere (Finland) next May, where they will co-host with Riga (Latvia).

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