Canada's Loss to Finland at IIHF Worlds is a Complete Choke Job

Finland pulled off the big upset over Canada at the IIHF World Championships Sunday afternoon, beating the hockey superpower 3-1 to claim the gold medal. When you look at the NHL talent on the Canadians' roster compared to that of Finland's, this game should have been a lopsided one. But these games weren't played on paper.

Finland used their structured defensive style of play to edge out Canada, but despite their composed performance, there is no doubt that this was choke job by Canada. With a roster featuring names like Mark Stone, Matt Murray and Jonathan Marchessault, Canada should have wiped the floor against a Finnish lineup that was so humble by comparison.

Imagine having a team that combined scored 357 goals in the NHL last season facing off against a team that had zero and seeing the team with zero goals winning. Well, that is the exact scenario that played out in Slovakia during this year's title game.

The hockey world collectively was thinking along with Finland goaltender Kevin Lankinen when it came to how the underdogs could have won this game. All told, anything less than a championship for Canada is a failure, and this tournament was just that.

After leading 1-0, Canada allowed three straight goals, choking away their lead and a chance at using their plethora of NHL talent to beat an amateur team for gold. It's strange, but it's true. Team Canada simply got exposed on the big stage.