As we head into the medal matchups in the final games of the Olympics, we’re taking some time to revisit some of the top performances by Flyers players in tournaments past. The research found great success linked Finland and Philadelphia at Olympic games, which bodes well for our defenseman, Rasmus Ristolainen, as he prepares to battle for bronze against Slovakia. But let’s get into the meat of this.
Kimmo Timonen’s 2010 bronze medal: Finland versus Slovakia
The 2010 Olympics in Vancouver were very famous for how the gold medal match ended: Sidney Crosby’s golden goal, replayed every time Canada faces the United States in any competition until the end of time. It’s a great moment if you’re Canadian, but the bronze medal match was a thriller as well. Down 3-1 after two periods, Finland was on their way to a disappointing fourth place finish. Jaroslav Halak, Zdeno Chara, and Marian Hossa led the way for the Slovakians looking for their first ever medal in men’s hockey.
Timonen found himself busy– his 26:15 of ice time led all skaters for both sides, playing nearly half the third period alone– and was able to bank in the 3-2 goal off his teammate’s shoulder on the power play. Olli Jokinen of the New York Rangers went on to score two goals in two minutes shortly after to give Finland the lead. Timonen, sporting the “A” on his chest, would find the scoresheet one more time in this tournament with his second primary assist to future Flyer Valtteri Filppula on the empty-net goal to secure his country the bronze medal.
Timonen, five time Barry Ashbee Award winner as the best Flyer defenseman, represented Finland in five different Olympic games, medaling in four of them, with one silver. Slovakian hockey would finally medal for the first time 12 years later– a bronze in Beijing, where no active NHL players attended. Filppula, a Flyer for two seasons between these games, would captain Finland to their first gold medal here.
Petr Svoboda’s 1998 gold medal: Czech Republic versus Russia
The 1998 Olympics in Nagano was loaded with fun facts and trivia answers, from vandalism, to citizenships being revoked, to a gold medal winning goal– all loosely connected to Philadelphia Flyers in their own ways. These were the first games with NHL players, and they did not disappoint. While there were many high profile Flyers in Japan– John Leclair, Rod Brind’amour, Eric Lindros– none of them medaled in 1998 but Petr Svoboda.
Box scores are increasingly hard to come by for Olympic games the further you go back in time. Svoboda scoring the only goal of the game leaves no room for any interpretation that isn’t “Olympic winning goal”, and so he gets the glory, though prime Dominik Hasek may have had something to do with the win, beating Leclair, Lindros, and Sergei Fedorov’s Russia on his way to gold. Someone had to put the puck in the net, and Svoboda did, providing the Czech Republic with their first ever Olympic gold in men’s hockey.
The Flyers would trade Svoboda in late 1998 to Tampa Bay, where he made the first and only all-star game of his career the next season. Bobby Clarke, the Flyers’ general manager, was also the general manager for team Canada, and was criticized for his roster decisions, such as captaining Lindros over Wayne Gretzky. Canada would lose in a shootout to Svoboda’s Czechs in the semi final round.
Antero Niittymaki’s 2006 silver medal: Finland vs Sweden
This wasn’t so much about his gold medal game performance as it was his tournament as a whole. Niittymaki, goaltending Finland, was voted the most valuable player at the Olympics despite losing the final game. This appears to be a uniquely Flyers’ trait, with flashbacks of Ron Hextall’s Conn Smythe coming to mind. Niittymaki blanked Pavel Datsyuk’s Russia in the semi final with 21 saves to clinch at least a silver for his country. He also shutout Canada in group play and defeated the United States 4-3 in the quarterfinals. Canada was shutout three times in this Olympics, including by Switzerland, who turned right around and conceded three goals to Italy just days later.
Kimmo Timonen opened the scoring early in the gold medal game, joined again by Filppula later on, but in the end, Peter Forsberg and Mats Sundin would assist Nick Lidstrom’s winning goal in the third. Forsberg was a Flyer during the tournament, but did not make the same impact that Niittymaki left on the whole. In a season where he posted a pedestrian .895 as a rookie in the NHL, Finland’s goaltender dropped a .951 with three shutouts against the most elite collections of talent in the world.
Niittymaki would again wear the Suomi crest in 2010, but had left the Flyers by then and did not see any more playing time for the Finns. He played his final NHL game at just 30 years old before retiring due to recurring hip injuries. The Flyers hired him as a goaltender scout in 2013.
