ROC vs. Finland Men's Gold Medal Game Winner, Highlights and Reaction

Finland's men's hockey team defeated the Russian Olympic Committee 2-1 on Saturday (Sunday in Beijing) at National Indoor Stadium to capture its first-ever gold medal at the Winter Games. 

While the Finns went down 1-0 early in the first period, they scored two unanswered goals from Ville Pokka and Hannes Bjorninen to capture gold. Finland dominated the ROC both on-and-off the puck, leading 31-17 in shots and preventing the opposing team from effectively moving the puck through the neutral zone. 

Here's some highlights and reaction from the gold medal game:

The Finns had previously never won a gold medal in the Olympics. They won silver at the 1988 and 2006 Games, in addition to winning bronze in 1994, 1998, 2010 and 2014.

Finland's run to the gold medal game was impressive. The country went 3-0 in preliminary round play with wins over Slovakia, Latvia and Sweden. It clinched a berth in the semifinals with a 5-1 quarterfinal win over Switzerland and earned a spot in the gold medal game with a 2-0 win over Slovakia in the semifinals.

While Finland's win comes as somewhat of a surprise, the country does have several former NHLers on its roster, including Valtteri Filppula, Sami Vatanen, Markus Granlund and Leo Komarov.

As for the ROC, they previously won gold at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. That is their only gold medal at the Winter Games. In addition to winning silver on Saturday, they won silver in 1998 and bronze in 2002.

If NHL players had competed in this year's Olympics, the results could have been very different. Teams like the United States and Canada, which were eliminated in the quarterfinals, likely would have made it deeper in the tournament with NHL players onboard.