U.S. Men's Hockey Team Loses Bronze To Finland

By Steve Mullis

Published February 22, 2014 at 12:04 PM CST

Finland's Teemu Selanne celebrates after scoring his team's fourth goal during the men's ice hockey bronze-medal game U.S. vs. Finland at the Bolshoy Ice Dome during the Sochi Winter Olympics on Saturday.

A 43-year-old, six-time Olympian helped lead Finland to a bronze-medal win over the U.S. men's hockey team on Saturday.

Teemu Selanne scored two of Finland's five goals, shutting out the U.S. team 5-0.

Team USA had hoped to overcome Friday's crushing loss to Canada, which, if won, would have made the U.S. a contender for the gold. Despite playing great hockey the entire tournament, things seemed to fall apart against Canada and later, Finland.

Finland used its excellent passing abilities to control much of the game, says NPR's Robert Smith, reporting in Sochi. The Finns' first two goals came early in the second period, when Selanne and teammate Jussi Jokinen scored just 11 seconds apart. They scored three more times in the third period against a clearly battered U.S. team.

Finland has won four medals in the last five Olympics, more than any other nation in the NHL era.

The gold-medal match between Canada and Sweden will take place on Sunday.