Putin Congratulates Canada on World Ice Hockey Title

(ATR) Canada successfully defended its world ice hockey title defeating Finland 2-0 in Moscow on Sunday night.

Connor McDavid, the number one pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, scored in the first period, establishing a lead Canada would not relinquish. Matt Duchene sealed the victory with an empty-net goal in the waning seconds of the game.

Canada are the first repeat champions of the annual tournament since Russia won in 2008 and 2009. Tournament host Russia won bronze after defeating an overachieving USA team 7-2.

Russian president Vladimir Putin congratulated the Canadian world champions, presenting the trophy along with International Ice Hockey Federation president Rene Fasel.

Putin arrived at the Ice Palace in Moscow during the third period to watch the final stages of the game.Fans showered Putin with chants of RUSH-IYA, RUSH-IYA as he stepped to a podium on the Moscow ice."I thank Canada for giving the world this brilliant, extraordinary sport. I also thank Finland’s team for their beautiful talented play," he added.

"I also congratulate our Russia team with their bronze medals," Putin continued. "I know that their fans hoped for a better outcome, but sport is sport, hockey is hockey, our men played with full commitment; they’ve shown themselves well and I congratulate them heartily."

Canada now has 26 world titles in the tournament’s history, second to only Russia, who have 27 combining the results of the former Soviet national team.

The 2017 IIHF world championship will be co-hosted by Paris and Cologne, Germany.

Four More Years for Fasel

IIHF chief Fasel was re-elected as president of the sport’s governing body for four more years, continuing his 22-year term. He ran unopposed at the federation's congress in Moscow last week.

The Swiss IOC member said there would be no major changes to the IIHF’s strategy, vowed to work to reduce concussions among players and reaffirmed his commitment to seeing NHL players continue to participate at the Olympics come PyeongChang 2018.

"The success of international ice hockey has been achieved thanks to consensus among stakeholders," Fasel said at his opening speech in Moscow. "Consent and finding compromises are important and our strategy won’t change in the new term."

Fasel also emphasized goals to continue to develop ice hockey in Asia and the women’s game."In Asia, we were given the golden opportunity to grow the game with the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Korea and the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in China," Fasel said.

Three new IIHF associate members – Indonesia, Nepal and the Philippines – were approved at the congress, growing the federation to 77 countries. In addition to accepting the three new members, the Qatar Ice Hockey Federation has been upgraded to full membership status.

Reported by Brian Pinelli

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