The Miracle in Espoo, known in

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

as Ihme Espoossa, was the

2019 IIHF Women's World Championship The 2019 IIHF Women's World Championship was an international Ice hockey tournament run by the International Ice Hockey Federation. It was contested in Espoo, Finland from 4 to 14 April 2019 at the Espoo Metro Areena. The United States won their ...

semifinal game played on 13 April 2019, at

Espoo Metro Areena Espoo Metro Areena (known from 1999 to January 2009 as LänsiAuto Areena, and from 2009 to October 2015 as Barona Areena) is an arena in the Tapiola District of Espoo, Finland. It is part of the '' Tapiolan Urheilupuisto'' (Tapiola Sports Park). ...

Espoo Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärvi ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, between

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

(10-time world champion) and hosts

(12-time bronze medalists). It is considered one of the biggest upsets in women's ice hockey history. The semifinal game determines the winner that will advance to the gold medal game, while the loser will play in the bronze medal game. Finland stunned Canada with a score of 4–2, winning their first semifinal game and advanced to the

gold medal game Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

for the first time in IIHF Women's World Championship history, while Canada will play for bronze.

Background

Since the first IIHF Women's World Championship in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

and the first women's tournament at the Winter Olympics in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, the American and Canadian national teams have dominated the competitions, winning every single gold medal. They have also won every single silver medal, except one: Sweden's historical run to the finals in the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

Game sheet

References

{{Reflist 2018–19 in Finnish ice hockey 2019 IIHF Women's World Ice Hockey Championships April 2019 sports events in Europe Canada women's national ice hockey team Canada–Finland sports relations Finland women's national ice hockey team Ice hockey games Women's ice hockey Sport in Espoo History of ice hockey