Medal talk 'powered us through': Finland soothe semi-final sting by taking bronze

[p]2022 champions [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/finland/rRWMzYQu/"]Finland[/a] looked to have a second ‌straight trip to the gold medal game ‌within reach before [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/canada/dSsR389c/"]Canada[/a] wiped out their two-goal lead at PalaItalia on Friday.[/p][p]A day later, they ‌had to return to the same ⁠ice to avoid ‌leaving Milan empty-handed against a [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/slovakia/ruzLVmAN/"]Slovakia[/a] team that ​had outperformed early expectations before losing to the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/usa/GYgp4SO3/"]USA[/a].[/p][p][b]"It was probably the biggest ​challenge of my life to get over that game. It was hard,"[/b] said Finland forward [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/haula-erik/WjtRkOVl/"]⁠Erik Haula[/a], who ​scored two goals in Saturday's win.[/p][p][b]"Talking to the other guys, talking as a team about what a medal means and stuff like that, ‌that powered us through I think."[/b][/p][embed guid="e99d329c-73e9-4151-a0b8-5ddb9b47ca3a" url="https://x.com/Olympics/status/2025337159503192541" social-type="twitter" /][p]The medal may not have been the colour they had in mind but was nonetheless a fine conclusion to a tournament that got off to a rocky start.[/p][p]Finland lost their preliminary stage opener to Slovakia, hardly the kickoff they wanted for their title defence, and were forced ‌to regroup before beating Nordic rivals [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/sweden/vBLjQRXp/"]Sweden[/a] in ​their second game.[/p][p][b]"First game, we kind of ‌learned our lesson,"[/b] said [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/armia-joel/hjzwK8sl/"]Joel Armia[/a], who contributed a third-period empty netter in Saturday's rout. [b]"We didn't just sit back and we had the courage to play with the ⁠puck and play ⁠confident."[/b][/p][p]Armia finished the tournament as Finland's top point-scoring, with eight, made up of three goals and five assists.[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/hockey/finland-rRWMzYQu/slovakia-ruzLVmAN/?mid=lfBqdIRb"]Review the bronze medal match on Flashscore.[/a][/b][/p]