Norway Finds the Rush That Made History
Noah Steen carried the puck into Canadian ice with time and space, a defenceman retreating before him. He looked once at Sander Hurrod on his flank, then chose the shot. 3:32 into sudden death, the puck was past Jet Greaves and Norway had a medal it had waited nearly a century to hold.
After Canada staged a late rally to tie it up, Steen scored the sudden-death winner at 3:32, racing in on a 2-on-1 rush with Sander Hurrod and zapping a glove-side wrister past Canadian goalie Jet Greaves. This was history all around as Norway played for the first time ever in a top-division IIHF World Championship medal game.
The bronze game in Zurich had turned on nerve. Norway led early, Emilio Petersen opening the scoring 6:44 into the first period after Greaves mishandled the puck behind his net. Solberg then earned his first goal of the tournament with a move at the blue line to beat Greaves, giving Norway a two-goal lead. Behind them, Henrik Haukeland made 44 saves in the victory, playing a near perfect game outside of Canada's quick rally.
That rally arrived late and fast. Canada was 2-0 down when it pulled Greaves; Robert Thomas scored from the slot to reduce the deficit with 1:16 remaining, then, with eight seconds to go, Macklin Celebrini and Ryan O'Reilly set up Thomas for his second to tie it at 2-2 and force overtime. Norway had been three minutes from bronze, then suddenly level. It answered inside four minutes of the extra period.
A Nation Without NHL Players Beats the Greatest
The scale of it read plainly against the opponent. The Norwegians sent the star-studded Team Canada roster, including Sidney Crosby, Macklin Celebrini, Mark Scheifele and John Tavares, home empty handed for the third straight World Championship. Norway carried no full-time NHL players. It picked up its first medal after 91 years as a member of the IIHF. The previous best result had been a fourth-place finish in 1951.
For Steen, the goal completed a tournament of quiet accumulation. The Orebro forward celebrated his seventh goal, tying him with Latvia's Rudolfs Balcers for the overall lead, by sliding on his knees as his teammates mobbed him. The two nations had already met in the round robin, where Canada won 6-5 in overtime . This time the margin fell the other way.
I'm so proud of this group, and that we've pulled this off together. We're worth this, and the feeling that we've earned this is a great feeling.
Steen said that after the game, still catching breath. He was a seventh-round pick, a player of the Swedish league and the AHL, now the author of the largest goal his country's hockey has known. One rush. One shot. A first line in a story that had none before.
