BRATISLAVA, May 25. /TASS/: The Finnish national ice hockey team defeated on Saturday the squad from Russia 1-0 in the semifinals match of the 2019 IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) World Championship in Slovakia.
The match between the Russian and Finnish ice hockey teams at the 10,000-seat capacity Ondrej Nepela Arena in Bratislava was attended by 9,085 spectators.
The score was opened in the 51st minute with Finnish forward Marko Anttila putting the puck into the opponents’ goal.
The Finnish squad will vie for gold against the winner in another semifinals match between Canada and the Czech Republic, due later on Saturday. Russia will respectively clash for a bronze medal with the defeated team. Both matches will take place on May 26.
The Russian national ice hockey team roamed undefeated into the playoff stage of the 2019 IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) World Championship. On Thursday, Russia defeated the United States 4-3 in the quarterfinals match.
The 2019 IIHF World Championship is hosted by Slovakia between May 10 and 26. The participating teams were divided into Groups A and B. Group A played matches in Slovakia’s Kosice and included hosts Slovakia, Canada, the United States, Finland, Germany, Denmark, France and Great Britain.
Group B played matches in Bratislava and enlisted teams from Sweden, Russia, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Norway, Latvia, Austria and Italy.
Canada finished in the top of Group A with 18 points and was followed by quarterfinalists Finland (16 points), Germany (15 points) and the United States (14 points).
Group B was swept by Russia with 21 points (seven straight wins). The Red Machine was followed by the Czech Republic (18 points), Sweden (15 points), Switzerland (12 points), Latvia (nine points), Norway (six points), Italy (two points) and Austria (one point).
