Final: Finland - Sweden

Congratulations, Finland, for beating Sweden 6–2 (2–0, 1–1, 3–1) to win the World Floorball Championship in 2010! After warming up for a week, the 2010 World Championships reached its peak. The moment we had all been waiting for weeks, months or even years to witness. The final between Finland and Sweden.

The magical final of the Magical Games got a magical introduction with circus artist Sanna Warsell's performance. Then the nearly sold out Hartwall Areena crowd exploded into cheers as the pyrotechnicians showed their handiwork and the teams walked into the rink.

And everything was ready for the game to begin. Sweden won the opening draw and the home crowd showed their worst.

The tempo was quick from the start. Sweden got the first try at a goal, but their efforts were canceled by the post before thirty seconds were played. Finland quickly turned the tables and Sweden's goaltender Patrik Jansson had his hands full. First Mikko Kohonen and then Tero Tiitu had a go at it.

Finland's hard work finally paid off, and the crowd burst into celebration for the first time at 5.19. Mika Kohonen swatted the ball from the air past Jansson and made it 1–0.

Just a minute after that, Mikael Järvi single-handedly created and scored the 2–0 goal. Great interception and a quick shot surprised Sweden's defense. Two-goal lead with 6.15 played, the crowd truly got what they had come to see.

Sweden tried to recover from the early shock and pressured the Finns tightly, but great defensive play by Finland took away all shooting lanes. Henri Toivoniemi in goal for Finland didn't have much to worry about in the first 20 minutes.

Overall an extremely physical period ended with Finland on top 2–0.

As the smoke still cleared from the pre-game show, the atmosphere had cooled off a little bit to start the second period. It was only after Tero Tiitu's near-breakaway four minutes in that got the crowd going again.

Finland created the first real scoring chance at the seven-minute mark, when Mikko Kohonen found himself open in front of the goal. However, the bouncing ball was too much to handle and the score stayed intact.

Sweden got their train rolling shortly after that, as Kim Nilsson finally found some space between the Finnish defense. Toivoniemi's reaction save was a tad bit too late, and the game was 2–1 at 27.39.

Fifteen minutes in the second period, Finland added to their lead. After numerous whacks at the ball, Mika Kohonen connected for his second and Finland's third goal at 34.55. Finland had the chance to score again moments later on the first power play opportunity of the night, but Sweden had the best of chances during that two-minute time-period.

In the middle frame the match turned more into a ball-possession game, and the goaltenders played a huge role. Finland refused to let go of their two-goal lead, and the period came to a close with Sweden still trailing 3–1.

The third period had only gone on for two and a half minutes, when Finland again gave the home crowd more honey. 4–1 from Rickie Hyvärinen's stick almost seemed like a big enough lead to hold till the end.

Mikko Kohonen disagreed. Under three minutes after Hyvärinen's goal, Kohonen was once again left alone with Patrik Jansson, and this time he made it count. A slick backhander gave the Finns a commanding 5–1 lead.

Henri Toivoniemi was the busier of the goaltenders in the final period, but did a fine job keeping the Swedes off the scoresheet. He was credited with 16 saves in the game.

Sweden finally found the net on the power play at 52.34. Rasmus Sundstedt blasted a long shot past Toivoniemi to make it 5–2 and give his team some life.

Energized from the goal, Sweden piled on the pressure. But with the Finnish defense playing at its best, the goals were hard to come by. The final push started at 57.16, when Sweden used their timeout and pulled their goaltender.

However, the three-goal gap was too much even for Sweden, and their efforts fell in vain. Lassi Vänttinen's empty net goal at 58.43 sealed the deal for Finland 6–2, and the crowd of 13 276 witnessed their homeland heroes being declared as the World Champions of floorball in 2010.

Author: Sami Lehtiö