For those who haven’t been following, the IIHF World Championships have been played the last couple weeks in Slovakia. Games featuring the US and Canada have been seen on Versus along with solid studio commentary by Zach Parise of the New Jersey Devils (the guy might have a future in broadcasting someday). The United States got punked by Jaromir Jagr and the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals while the red Maple Leafs fell to the Russians in their quarterfinal matchup. On the other hand, this is a must-see goal by Mikael Grandlund of Finland in todays semifinals against Russia.
For those who are unfamiliar with Granlund, he is 19 years old and was a first round (ninth overall) pick of the Minnesota Wild. His regular season team is Helsingin IFK in Helsinki, Finland. They are known to produce many NHL players including Tim Thomas, Brian Rafalski, Olli Jokinen, Christian and Jarkko Ruutu. Last season, he scored 13 goals and had 27 assists in 43 games during the regular season. He was injured with a concussion for two months this season, missing the 2011 World Juniors and a chunk of the regular season. His stat line this season was eight goals and 28 assists in 39 games. They play 60 regular season games in the SM-Liiga. He is in his first international tournament with the Senior National Team in Finland, and he is tied for sixth in points with eight in the World Championships.
This goal doesn’t need much explaining, other than he scoops the puck and scores from behind the net. It was the first goal of the game early in the second period as the Fins went on to defeat the Russians 3-0. They will take on Sweden in Sundays Gold Medal game, as Sweden defeated the Czech Republic this afternoon.
This link of the video is not in English, but has many slow motion replays.
And if you want to hear the commentary in English, NHL.com posted the video below to their website.
