ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — Bill Peters said the players were looking forward to it. It was going to be a challenge, said the Team Canada head coach.
For a team that had steamrolled through the bulk of the round robin portion of the world hockey championship without breaking much of a sweat, it was going to be a first real test before the medal round.
Instead, Tuesday’s game against Finland turned out to be a much-needed wake-up call.
In a battle between the two undefeated nations, Canada ended its preliminary round schedule with a lopsided 4-0 loss to Finland.