BEIJING, Feb. 20 – Finland won the last gold medal at the Beijing 2022 Winter Games after narrowly beating the Russian team (2-1) in the ice hockey final held at the National Indoor Stadium in Beijing. Russia failed to defend the title they won at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games despite taking the lead thanks to the action of HC CSKA Moscow striker Mikhail Grigorenko after Finland’s Bjorninen conceded a heavy penalty for two minutes. The Finns responded with a goal from Phil Boca during the second half, which ended two minutes from another penalty kick with an elbow from Russian Kirill Semyonov. The match was decided in the third 20-minute period, which began with an early goal, thirty seconds later, by Hannes Björnenen, who had already provided the assist for the second goal. The drills by the Russians to try to tie the game were thwarted by the strong defense of the Finns, the team led by Valtteri Vilpola in the NHL, shot more on goal and dominated possession during the match. Thus, Finland’s first Olympic gold in men’s ice hockey – in 2018 it did not go beyond sixth place – and silver for the Russian Committee and bronze for Slovakia, which beat Sweden 4-0 in the match for third place. EFE jco / ea