When a hockey game goes to 3-on-3, anything can happen. In the bronze medal game, Norway got one chance and buried it. In the gold medal game, both Finland and Switzerland hit the post before the game was over.

And yet, the biggest goals often end up being scored by the usual suspects, partly because coaches trust them in those moments, and partly because that's simply what great players do. Nobody on the Finnish bench was surprised that Konsta Helenius was the one to put an end to the game — and to start the gold medal celebrations.

“I love that guy and the kind of person he is. He’s such a happy, free spirit, and what he brings to the team, both on and off the ice, is amazing,” said Mikael Granlund.

“It couldn’t have happened to a better guy,” he added.

Helenius joined the team mid-tournament after his Buffalo Sabres got ousted from the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Coach Antti Pennanen found him a spot on the first line with Granlund and team captain Aleksander Barkov, and it worked.

“We had a deep team, and everyone found his role perfectly, and then, in overtime, we even found someone to score one,” said Jesse Puljujarvi, whose shot hit the post minutes earlier.

“Then Helenius showed up, and he played it exactly right. That was a perfect example of youthful confidence,” said Puljujarvi.


When Helenius recaps the sequence that led to the goal, he makes it sound almost self-evident. Easy, even.

“I got the puck and went deep, then saw an opening in the middle so I figured I’d move my feet. I think their defender screened the goalie nicely, and I think I even steamrolled over their player in the corner before I threw off my helmet and started the celebrations,” he said.

The coach did not see the deciding goal

The goal came so suddenly that Pennanen didn’t even see it.

“I was just focused on who I’d sent over the boards next, and then I saw the bench reaction,” he said.

Helenius’s mother had the opposite reaction. She did see the goal — and then passed out.

“I got up from between the seats pretty soon,” she told Finnish media.

As for Konsta Helenius, Pennanen used the same expression Granlund did.

“He’s cool, a free spirit who doesn’t stress about things too much,” Pennanen said.

“He’s so skilled, so fast, and he’s got a great hockey sense, and he showed that he wasn’t intimidated to play with two such great players. He’s got a great future ahead of him,” he added.

Helenius scored in all playoff games

Helenius was the last player added to the Finnish team, and it took him a few games to get going. When asked about his production during the tournament, he assured everyone he’d be there when the games mattered most.

Those were the words of a confident player.

“Well, maybe at times we had to pull him back a bit and tell him to take it easy,” said Granlund, who knows what it’s like to be that wunderkind. After all, he lacrosse-scored himself onto a stamp in the 2011 Worlds when he won his first of three gold medals.

Helenius backed it all up by scoring a goal against the Czechs in the quarterfinal, netting the game-winner in the semifinal against Canada, and then scoring the last goal of the tournament that made the arena DJ put Queen on the turntable.

“Now he can let loose and the feet can leave the ground a bit. He’s earned it,” Granlund said.