Finland Stares Into the Abyss, Roars Back to Eliminate Sweden 9-6

by Getty Lee

Finland Stares Into the Abyss, Roars Back to Eliminate Sweden 9-6

FHL Spring Classic Series | 2026 1980 Olympic EditionPlayoffs — Division 1 | Inwood Ice Arena, Lake PlacidTuesday, May 5, 2026 | Final: Finland 9, Sweden 6

LAKE PLACID — Down three goals in the second period with Sweden's faithful shaking the rafters of Inwood Ice Arena, Finland could have crumbled. They had been here before — five days ago against this very same opponent — and they had lost. The crowd knew it. Sweden knew it. For a stretch of the second period, it seemed like Finland knew it too.

They didn't crumble. They came back. And when the final horn sounded Tuesday night, it was Finland celebrating a stunning 9-6 comeback victory, punching their ticket to the semifinals and sending Sweden to the tin medal game with a performance that will be talked about in Finnish hockey circles for a long, long time.

A first period that promised fireworks — and delivered

Neither team wasted any time. Ryan Helisomppi, playing with the urgency of a man on a mission, opened the scoring just over a minute into the game, finishing off a setup from Douglas Kressiharju to give Finland the early lead. The Finns barely had time to celebrate before Sweden's Ryan Shawberg, redirecting a feed from the ever-dangerous Michael Hannonberg, leveled it at 11:59. Kressiharju responded — collecting a pass from Anthony Petronzarvi and converting to restore Finland's advantage at 8:31 — only for Sweden's Jay Allendorfenblad to strike unassisted at 4:26 and send both teams to the dressing room locked at two apiece.

Eight goals in the first period of two playoff games between these sides. If anyone expected a defensive battle, they were in the wrong building.

Sweden seizes control — and Finland refuses to die

The second period will be remembered as the fifteen minutes that nearly ended Finland's tournament. Helisomppi pushed Finland back in front just fourteen seconds in, converting unassisted to make it 3-2. Then Sweden took the game by the throat.

Nick Macakstrom, set up by Kevin Voytensson and Hannonberg, tied it at 12:33. Voytensson answered the favour, burying a Macakstrom feed at 10:44 to give Sweden their first lead of the night. Then Allendorfenblad caught fire. He struck at 8:56 — assisted by Brad Oedzesson and Shawberg — to make it 5-3, before delivering what felt like the killing blow: unassisted at 6:49, stretching Sweden's lead to 6-3 and completing a stunning four-goal Swedish burst that had their bench in an absolute frenzy.

Three goals down. For many tournament teams, that is the moment the tournament ends.

Not Finland.

Kressiharju got one back unassisted at 3:49 — 6-4. Then the fireworks started. On a seemingly innocent play exiting the zone, Shawberg grabbed ahold of Hetfleischqvist ever so slightly impeding his movement and just as quickly, let go. As the two continued out of the zone, Hetfleischqvist unleashed a no look machete swing over his shoulder narrowly missing Shawberg by aboot three feet (sorry, I'm from Canada). The two continued to jaw at each other and this started the flames. Shortly after. Helisomppi, who is known for his short temper when his team is down skated directly into Swedish defensemen Hannonberg while stickhandling and was knocked off the puck. Helisomppi regained his balance and charged a good 15 feet right into Hannonberg along the boards. Now, Mikael Hannonberg once stood a good 6'2 and weighed 235 in his prime and although slighly diminished he is still a formidible opponent. He is undefeated in over 25 fights delivering knock out blows in many of them. Helisommpi charging in at 145 lbs didn't seem like the right move. And for the most part, it wasn't. A couple seconds later the hulking Hannonberg was on top and if it came to blows, losing a scoring force like Helisomppi would likely have been too much for Finland to overcome. Instead, no punches were thrown as the menacing Hannonberg has become more of a gentle giant in his golden years and reports say this Saturdays tin game will be his last. After the dust settled, the Swedish bench was very visibly irritated by the unwarranted aggression and it seemed they couldn't let it go. They were more focused on not getting the extra call from the ref and lost sight of the real enemy, Finland. The Fins promptly cashed in on the Swedish momentary loss of focus. With just over two minutes remaining, Bill Hetfleischqvist, set up beautifully by Adam Carltonen and Paul Silvas, made it 6-5. Finland had scored twice in the final four minutes of the period to drag themselves back into it. They went to the third period trailing by a single goal, and every ounce of momentum had shifted.

The third period belongs to Finland

What happened in the final fifteen minutes was a masterclass in Finnish resolve.

Kressiharju drew the teams level just 46 seconds into the third, converting off feeds from Michael Cosensalo and Kevin Moranqvist to tie the game at six. The building, so deafening for Sweden just minutes earlier, went quiet. Hetfleischqvist broke the tie at 13:35 on a Paul Silvas assist — 7-6 Finland. He completed his hat trick at 10:12 with an unassisted finish that made it 8-6 and drained the remaining life from Sweden's bench. And then Helisomppi, fitting for the man who had opened the scoring at the very start of the night and survived an encounter with Hannonberg and emerged unscathed, added the final dagger unassisted at 9:21 — 9-6 Finland, and it was over.

Sweden managed just ten shots in the entire third period. Finland held the zone, controlled the puck, and executed with a precision that belied the chaos of the previous thirty minutes. When it mattered most, Finland was the better team by a considerable distance.

Three men, three hat tricks

The Finnish offensive display bordered on the extraordinary. Three separate players recorded hat tricks in the same elimination game — and each one told a different story.

Douglas Kressiharju was the best player on the ice Tuesday night. The rookie listed as depth on Finland's roster sheet came to Lake Placid with no known statistics and a point to prove, and he proved it in the loudest possible way — four points, three goals and an assist, spread across all three periods at the most critical moments. His first-period opener set the tone, his second-period pull-back ignited the comeback, and his third-period equalizer opened the floodgates. Nobody saw this coming from Kressiharju. Nobody will forget it either.

Ryan Helisomppi delivered exactly the performance that had been promised of him all tournament. Three goals — the opener, the early second-period strike that briefly gave Finland breathing room at 3-2, and the final insurance marker in the third. At 5'11" and 145 pounds Helisomppi is the lightest man on the ice most nights, but he is also one of the fastest skaters in the entire tournament, and on Tuesday that speed was simply uncontainable. He bookended the entire Finnish scoring effort, first goal to last.

Bill Hetfleischqvist was the quiet hero — and the most important Finnish player on the ice once the third period began. The big forward with the staggering 3.2 career points-per-game pedigree was held to a single goal through 38 minutes, then erupted for three in the final frame including two in a row that drove a stake through Sweden's heart. The hat trick completion at 10:12 was the moment this game was truly decided.

For Sweden, Jay Allendorfenblad deserved far better. Three goals, a genuine one-man offensive effort that at one point had given his side a three-goal cushion and the game seemingly in hand. He was brilliant. His team simply could not hold what he gave them. Ryan Shawberg — 607 career points and one of the most dangerous players in the field — contributed a goal and an assist and was a constant physical presence, but even his best efforts could not stem the Finnish third-period tide.

Paul Silvas, the highly touted Finnish rookie defenseman, quietly put together a two-assist night of enormous importance — his setup on the Hetfleischqvist goal that made it 7-6 was the moment Finland seized the lead for good. Michael Hannonberg on the Swedish side distributed two assists and ran the blue line with his customary accuracy, but it was not enough to rescue his team in the third.

Moranqvist: a champion when his team needed him

Shaun Moranqvist — defending FHL champion, two-time Legend Cup winner, 71-43 career record — faced 46 shots on Tuesday night and stopped 40 of them. The numbers alone tell part of the story, but the context tells the rest. When Sweden was at the absolute peak of their second-period dominance, threatening to turn a one-goal lead into a rout, Moranqvist made the saves that kept Finland alive. He held the deficit at three rather than allowing it to become five or six. In the third period, facing a shell-shocked Swedish attack, he was virtually untouchable.

A champion goaltender wins games in the moments that matter. Moranqvist did exactly that on Tuesday night after dropping 3 decisions in the round robin.

Dan Foremblad, Sweden's elite netminder with a 37-20 record and championship credentials of his own, made 33 saves on 42 shots and cannot be faulted for what happened in the third. He was let down by a team that ran out of answers, not by anything he failed to do.

The road to gold — what comes next

The semifinal picture is now fully set, and it is a bracket worthy of the tournament that produced it.

On the other side of the draw, Czechoslovakia earned their place in the semis with a stunning 8-2 demolition of Canada on Monday, May 4th — a result that announced to the entire field that the Czechs are no longer anyone's easy night. They face the Soviet Union on Tuesday, May 12th at 10:15 PM at Inwood Ice Arena, a heavyweight matchup between a Soviet squad that went 3-2 in the round robin and a Czechoslovakian side that has found dangerous form at exactly the right moment.

Finland's reward for Tuesday night's heroics is a date with the United States — the tournament's unbeaten, unbothered top seed — on Thursday, May 14th at 10:15 PM, also at Inwood Ice Arena. The Americans went a perfect 5-0 through the round robin, outscoring opponents by eighteen goals and dispatching every team in the field without breaking stride. It is the most formidable possible opponent. It is also the opponent that Finland put five goals past in the round robin, which means nobody in the Finnish locker room is walking into Thursday with their head down.

The winners of both semifinals meet Saturday, May 16th at 7:00 PM for the gold medal. The losers meet at 5:30 PM for bronze. And in the tin medal game kicks things off at 4:00 PM on Saturday, Sweden and Canada settle their round robin accounts one final time — a consolation matchup between two teams whose tournaments did not go as planned, but who get one last game under the lights at Inwood Ice Arena to play for pride.

Sweden's story ends here. For Finland, the biggest chapter is still to come.

Box Score Summary

Finland 9, Sweden 6 | Shots: FIN 42 — SWE 46

First period: FIN — Helisomppi (Kressiharju) 13:43 | SWE — Shawberg (Hannonberg) 11:59 | FIN — Kressiharju (Petronzarvi) 8:31 | SWE — Allendorfenblad 4:26

Third period: FIN — Kressiharju (Cosensalo, K. Moranqvist) 14:14 | FIN — Hetfleischqvist (Silvas) 13:35 | FIN — Hetfleischqvist 10:12 | FIN — Helisomppi 9:21

Penalties: SWE — Oedzesson, Boarding 3rd/14:30 | FIN — Carltonen, Slashing 3rd/13:15

Goaltending: S. Moranqvist (FIN) 40 saves/46 shots | Foremblade (SWE) 33 saves/42 shots

Three stars: 1. Douglas Kressiharju, FIN (3G-1A) · 2. Ryan Helisomppi, FIN (3G) · 3. Jay Allendorfenblad, SWE (3G)