In men’s Olympic hockey, Finland got off to a good start at the as Niklas Hagman scored two goals to beat Belarus 5-1.
Olli Jokinen opened up the scoring while Valterri Filppula, and Jarkko Ruutu also scored for Finland. Hagman scored his goals in the first and second periods to give his team a commanding lead.
The lone Belarus goal came from Sergei Kostitsyn in the second period when the Fins were ahead 2-1, but ran into trouble in the third period with many trips to the penalty box.
Mikko- Sakari Koivu of the Finish team had three assists while teammate goalie Mikka Kiprusoff was not busy facing only 12 shots on goal. Goaltender Vitaly Koval of Belarus had to face a dominant opponent, turning away 40 shots.
Finland scored two power- play goals in the first period while the Belorussians didn’t score on two attempts.