A Konsta Helenius overtime goal 10:42 into the extra period helped Finland silence a raucous home ice hockey crowd to win their first world title in four years at the 2026 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Zurich, Switzerland on Sunday (31 May).
The party atmosphere had started hours earlier, in the neighbouring official fan zone where ticket-holders for the evening game had gathered to watch Norway shock Canada in the bronze-medal final. It continued when currently injured Swiss national team players Kevin Fiala, Jonas Siegenthaler, and Andrea Glauser rang the ceremonial game-starting cowbell.
And it never stopped – that is, until Helenius found the net off assists from Anton Lundell and Mikko Lehtonen, the ZSC Lions player playing on his home club rink. The Finnish bench piled onto the ice in celebration while the crowd solemnly began piling out of the stands to leave.
There was no scoring in the first, or at least no legal scoring, anyway. Lundell did put the puck in the net for the visitors at 13:55 but it was quickly ruled out for a high stick, as Lundell played the puck above the crossbar.
Leonardo Genoni in the Swiss goal stood tall and stopped 14 shots in the opening frame.
If the first period was overwhelmingly in Finland’s favour, the second saw the ice tilted the other way. Justus Annunen was tested multiple times but, despite the continued vocal support from fans in the stands cheering the hosts on, Switzerland were unable to find a way past him – including on a five-on-three power play to start the second.
So the teams headed into the third still scoreless – and that way they remained. Both teams continued to have looks on goal, but remarkably each had only had one shot by the halfway point of the final period of regulation time.
Swiss captain Roman Josi came close with around seven minutes left in the period. The defenceman drove in down the right in a 4-on-4 situation but Annunen was able to stop the chance with his pads before getting his glove over the loose puck to freeze it. Pius Suter then had a one-on-one chance against Annunen shortly after, but once more the Finnish goalie was up to the task.
Genoni then came up big to stop Mikael Granlund with 62 seconds remaining on the clock. The time wound down to zero, sending the game to overtime still deadlocked at 0–0 – and guaranteeing that the gold-medal game would be the lowest-scoring game of the entire tournament.
Jesse Puljujärvi rang the inside of the far post with an attempt from the right of the goal barely 40 seconds into the added period, but could only watch as the puck rebounded out to safety instead of settling in the net.
But it was not to matter, as Helenius’ goal sealed the deal for the Finns. For the Swiss, it was a devastating third consecutive defeat in the final.
Player reactions to final
“Third time we’re right there, one goal again and we just couldn’t manage to score it, just very frustrating,” New Jersey Devils forward and Swiss alternate captain Nico Hischier told media afterwards. He also paid tribute to the sold-out crowd.
“Obviously it’s great, they were behind us every game. It just sucks we didn’t finish the job for them, for all of Switzerland. We’ve been so close so many times.”
Finland captain Aleksander Barkov, meanwhile, was able to celebrate lifting the trophy after a difficult year. Until the World Championship, the Florida Panthers forward had not played since lifting the 2025 Stanley Cup with his NHL team due to injury, also missing the 2026 Olympics.
“Unreal. I can’t describe it,” he told the IIHF after Finland’s locker-room celebrations. “It was unbelievable to bring that trophy in the room and celebrate with the team.
“Our goalie (Annunen) was unbelievable, special player Konsta Helenius, he was special, he scored the [winning] goal. But I think everyone (made a difference), we had a big kill there, 5-on-3 in the second period.
“Every little thing we did on the ice was towards winning this.”
2026 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship player awards
Most Valuable Player: Roman Josi (SUI)
Tournament Directorate Best Goalkeeper: Henrik Haukeland (NOR)
Tournament Directorate Best Defenceman: Roman Josi (SUI)
Tournament Directorate Best Forward: Macklin Celebrini (CAN)
Media All-Star Team: Leonardo Genoni (SUI), Roman Josi (SUI), Henri Jokiharju (FIN), Macklin Celebrini (CAN), Sven Andrighetto (SUI), Aleksander Barkov (FIN)
read more: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/mens-iihf-ice-hockey-world-championship-2026-switzerland-finland-gold
