Success in international hockey isn’t the only reason why Finland was recently declared the world’s happiest country for the sixth consecutive year. But on the ice, these are surely the best of times.
 
Admittedly, it’ll be hard for Finland to ever top 2022 in men’s hockey. Not only did the Finns capture their first Olympic gold medal in Beijing in February, but coach Jukka Jalonen’s squad also won “double gold” on home ice in Tampere at the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in May.
 
In total, this Nordic nation has now won the Worlds four times, also including 1995, 2011, and 2019. Co-hosting the 2023 Worlds with Latvia (Riga), Finland has a unique chance to earn back-to-back world titles on home ice (Tampere).
 
So it’s a perfect time to spotlight some of the best Suomi moments from previous World Championship gold-medal runs.
 
Best Hat Trick
 
Quirkily, Finns love Donald Duck cartoons. That passion only increased when the “Tupu, Hupu, Lupu” line (inspired by the Finnish names for Donald’s nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie) of Ville Peltonen, Saku Koivu, and Jere Lehtinen paced Finland to its first Worlds gold medal in 1995.

In the 4-1 final victory over host Sweden, Peltonen scored a hat trick, including two goals 2:17 apart at the end of the second period, and added an assist at Stockholm’s Globen Arena. The 21-year-old left wing from HIFK – the legendary Helsinki franchise he’s coached for the last two seasons – cemented his place alongside Koivu and Lehtinen on the tournament all-star team.
 
Best Goal
 
Was there ever any doubt? It has to be Mikael Granlund’s stunning lacrosse-style goal to open the scoring in the 3-0 semi-final win over Russia in Bratislava in 2011.

IIHF.com reported: “Granlund beat defenders Dmitri Kalinin and Dmitri Kulikov behind the Russian net and scored using the famous “Mike Legg move”...The 19-year-old HIFK Helsinki forward picked the puck up on his stick blade while cutting around the net and wrapped it in high past [goalie Konstantin] Barulin’s blocker side.”
 
Today, the “Michigan” goal has become more widespread. In 2023 alone, Kent Johnson of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Nela Lopusanova of the Slovakian women’s national team created a buzz by pulling off the move. But in 2011, it was far more rare, and Granlund did it on a global stage.
 
Best Goalie Performance in a Game
 
Old-school Finnish fans get nostalgic when Jarmo Myllys’ 3-0 shutout over the Czechs in the 1995 semi-finals comes up. That was the ex-NHLer’s second straight playoff goose egg – he also blanked France 5-0 in the quarter-final.
 
But wait! We’re giving the “Best Goalie Performance in a Game” nod to Petri Vehanen as we revisit 2011’s 3-0 semi-final win over Russia. Then a starter with AK Bars Kazan, Vehanen coolly barred the door with 30 stops, including 17 in the third period as the star-studded Russians furiously tried to come back. Vehanen stopped Alexander Ovechkin seven times.

It paved the way for Finland’s 6-1 triumph over Sweden in the gold medal game. And it’s one more reason why Vehanen’s number 35 was retired by his original Finnish club Lukko Rauma in 2019.
 
Best Tournament by a Teen
 
Kaapo Kakko already had a magical 2019 going when he arrived in Kosice, Slovakia to make his World Championship debut. In January, the TPS Turku-trained 18-year-old had scored the late 3-2 winner to lift Finland to gold over the U.S. at the World Juniors in Vancouver.

Kakko – the 2019 Liiga rookie of the year – dazzled with six preliminary-round goals in Finland’s title run, including a hat trick in a 4-2 win over the host Slovaks.
 
Best Run by a Defenceman
 
Last year, Mikko Lehtonen became the only Finn ever named Best Defenceman at a Worlds that Finland won. The savvy Turku-born puck-mover led all blueliners in both assists (10) and points (12).

Lehtonen – also an Olympic all-star in Beijing – stepped up when it counted most. In the Tampere final, he assisted on both of Mikael Granlund’s power play goals in the 4-3 overtime victory over Canada.
 
Best Upset
 
Based on NHL merit alone, Russian superstars like Nikita Kucherov, Yevgeni Malkin, Alexander Ovechkin, and Andrei Vasilevski are tracking for the Hockey Hall of Fame.
 
So for a Finnish squad devoid of NHL superstars to upset Russia 1-0 in the 2019 semi-final surely qualifies as the best upset. It even outshone Finland’s 5-4 quarter-final win and 3-1 gold medal win over stacked Sweden and Canadian sides that year.

To pull off the semi-final miracle, Marko Anttila converted a rebound with under 10 minutes left in the third period to put Finland ahead. Goalie Kevin Lankinen was cool and collected with a 32-save shutout.
 
Best Pop Culture Tribute
 
If you read Tove Jansson’s Moomin books as a child or watched the recent Moominvalley animated series (voiced by stars like Tarin Egerton and Kate Winslet) with your kids, you’ve enjoyed the original inspiration behind Marko Antilla’s nickname.

The veteran forward, who stands 203 cm and 104 kg, is dubbed “Mörkö” (in English, “The Groke”). That large, ominous Jansson character freezes the ground wherever she shows up.
 
With his penchant for big playoff goals, Anttila – who owns an Olympic gold medal and two world titles – clearly knows how to freeze opposing goalies.
 
Best Overtime Winner
 
It’s not every day you score a golden goal on home to make your nation just the second in history to win both Olympic and World Championship gold in the same year.
 
Sakari Manninen had that pleasure in Tampere on 29 May 2022. The nifty Oulu-raised attacker scored on a lightning one-timer set up by Mikael Granlund on an overtime power play, breaking Canadian hearts and sending the Nokia Arena crowd of 11,487 into a frenzy.

By comparison, Sweden’s 4-0 triumph over the Czechs in the 2006 final in Riga was historically unprecedented but also far less dramatic. Truly, the 2023 Finns have a tough act to follow.