Finland vs. ROC Men's Gold-Medal Game Highlights and Historic Moments

Entering the 2022 Winter Olympics, there was every expectation that the Russian Olympic Committee would win gold in men's hockey. The team was just better, a brute force and obvious favorite ahead of the competition.

Then came the actual tournament.

The Finland team dominated, winning all five of their matches preceding the finals and looking very much like the best team in the competition. That run included a 2-0 shutout of eventual the bronze medal-winning Slovakia squad.

They rolled into the final match of the tournament ready and able to score the upset and assert themselves on the international stage.

They did just that.

The ROC opened the scoring in the first period on a quick wrister from Mikhail Grigorenko, assisted by Nikita Gusev, that he put just past Finnish goalie Harri Sateri.

It would be the only goal scored by a team many expected to leave Beijing with gold.

The ROC roster had depth, sure, but it lacked the dominance that had been a trademark of the country in international competition. It played closer matches than normal early and only advanced to the gold-medal match after a 17-shot shootout against Sweden.

They would not get that opportunity against the Fins.

Finnish defender Ville Pokka narrowly sent the puck past ROC defender Nikita Nesterov, then goalie Ivan Fedotov, to tie the match.

The score was the only thing even from that point on.

In a tough match, against a team known for its physical dominance, Finland proved the aggressor.

Just seconds into the third period, Finland hit its opponent with a barrage of forechecking that cut off any opportunity by the defense to get the puck out of its own zone. It was an aggressive play by the Fins, no longer willing to sit back and wait for a scoring opportunity to come their way.

The strategy worked.

Finland took the lead off a deflection from forward Hannes Bjorninen, with the initial shot coming from Marko Anttila. It was the game-winning score.

The Finnish squad played defense, not allowing the ROC to get in a position to tie things up and send it to a shootout, as it had in previous matches.

As the clock struck zero, the Finnish bench erupted with jubilation, not only happy to have won a match some thought would spell the end of their Cinderella story, but because they were the first squad in their country's history to win gold in the event.

The win was a culmination of a games the team had made its own.

"We battled hard, and we got the first Olympic gold medal in Finnish ice hockey history. It's something something special, and nobody can ever take it away from us," defenseman Sami Vatanen said after the game, per the AP (h/t SI.com).

There will be some who question whether the outcome of these games would have been different with the inclusion of NHL talent, but that is a question the gold medalists neither considered nor could answer. Instead, Finland defeated every opponent put before them and etched their names in the history books.