2010 IIHF World Championship Final

The Final was the gold medal match at the 2010 IIHF World Championship. The match was played in Lanxess Arena in Cologne on 23 May. The Czech Republic defeated the favored Russian team 2–1.

Background
The final was the first game between Russia and the Czech Republic in the history of the tournament, although the predecessors of both these nations, the USSR and Czechoslovakia, had met several times in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.

It was Russia's third consecutive finals appearance, and the Czech Republic's first appearance since 2006.[1]

Road to the final
For more details on this topic, see 2010 IIHF World Championship

Venue
The Lanxess Arena in Cologne was determined to host the finalists of the tournament. Prevously at the tournemnt, the venue hosted the both semi-finals, and the Bronze medal match. In the final, the attendance was 19,132.

Summary
The match began with a goal after just 20 seconds, scored by Jakub Klepiš from a pass by Jaromír Jágr. The goal was seemingly the result of a defensive mistake which led to a Czech offensive possession with Russian defensemen out of position. For the remainder of the period the Russians held almost complete possession of the puck, and veteran Sergei Fedorov hit the post after an odd man rush. Very late in the period the Russians put the puck in the net on a power play, but it was determined to be after the clock had run out and was ruled as no goal. There was some brief confusion however, as the buzzer sounds after the clock on the scoreboard runs out.[2]

In the second period Russia pressed once again but the Czech Republic slowed the game down and forced Russia to regroup, resulting in an error in the Russian defensive zone when Alexander Ovechkin collided with team-mate Fedorov. This led to a 3-on-2 rush for the Czechs and Karel Rachůnek centered the puck while Tomáš Rolinek crashed the net. The puck was redirected off Rolinek's skates, and it was ruled a good goal because there was no kicking motion visible.[3]

The third period began with more Russian pressure, including a close chance off the post by Evgeni Malkin, but at the midway point of the period Russian Alexei Emelin was given a five minute major and thrown out of the game for clipping Jaromír Jágr, who did not return for the remainder of the game. This was followed by more penalty trouble for both teams. In the final minutes after pulling goaltender Semyon Varlamov, Pavel Datsyuk buried a goal on a 5-on-3 with 35 seconds left, bringing Russia within one goal of the Czechs. Under pressure the Czech goalie Tomáš Vokoun managed to stave off the final Russian assault and the Czechs held on to win the game 2–1.[4]

Aftermath
The president of the Czech Republic Václav Klaus handed out the gold medals alongside IIHF president René Fasel. It was the sixth title for the Czech Republic, and first after 2005.