Morning Hovi Blog In Canada

As you can from the smiles on the faces of the Finnish women in the image to the left, things went pretty well for the Scandinavian nation against their arch-rivals. Finland and Sweden seem to encounter one another in most tournaments, and normally we see Finland and Sweden have pretty close battles. It's becoming more and more clear that the gap is widening between these two nations as Finland flexed their muscles in a 7-2 trouncing of the Swedish women at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics.

I'm not here to break down the game, though. Hovi Blog In Canada returns today because our favorite Finnish Olympian, Miss Venla Hovi, played a part in the Finnish victory last night. Venla's offensive skills have never been in question after witnessing her play in the Canada West Conference with the Manitoba Bisons, but she has really grown into a great international player with her home country.

Very early this morning, Venla got things started for the Finns with what has been reported as a gorgeous assist on Petra Nieminen's goal to make the game 1-0 in Finland's favor.

#FIN opened the scoring early in its quarter-final matchup against longtime rivals #SWE; Petra Nieminin notched it on assists from Venla Hovi and Jenni Hiirikoski.#PyeongChang2018#IceHockey pic.twitter.com/pxrEvqVsTg

— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) February 17, 2018

I'd like to post the highlight of her assist, but I haven't been able to find one. In fact, I haven't even been able to see the goal myself as every single video highlight package of this game online seems to not include Nieminen's goal. Yes, I'm a little disappointed with that, but we do know that Venla's efforts were rewarded with her assist today.

UPDATE: I now have the highlight as Venla causes the turnover that Nieminen puts in the back of the net!

Pehmeät kädet, pehmeämmät kädet, Petra Niemisen kädet. #Naisleijonat #PyeongChangFi #Olympialaiset pic.twitter.com/bsqZpoDGEh

— Eurosport Suomi (@EurosportSuomi) February 17, 2018

As it stands, Venla has recorded one goal and one assist in four games with Team Finland, and their victory today sets them up for a rematch with the Americans who they fell to in the preliminary round 3-1 in the opening game of the tournament for both teams. Not to be too much of a homer, but I'm hoping for a Finland-Canada gold medal final, so you know who I'm pulling for in that game.

Without looking to the future too much, though, congratulations to Venla Hovi! Your adopted home is cheering for you and we're proud of the success you're having and Team Finland is having!

Until next time, pitää tikkuja jäällä!