Canada caps off a remarkable world hockey championship run by winning the Gold Medal on Sunday with a victory over the very tough and talented Finland team. Rick Nash scored 2 goals in Canada's remarkable 4-2 victory over Finland. His second of the game turned out to seal the deal. With just 1:06 left, Nash fought a Finnish defender off his back and scored what would turn out to be the winning goal. Canada did not lose a single game in the tournament, besting 9 different countries with a combined score of 41 - 21. Remarkably, this was Canada's least known hockey group ever sent to this tournament. It was also the youngest team ever assembled for the event.

Finland was looking to follow up on the country's only previous world championship in 1995, but - even though president Tarja Halonen was in the crowd - did not manage to do so.

Petri Kontiola and Anti Miettinen scored, while Kari Lehtonen finished with 14 saves in a losing cause.

Nash and Staal each got their fifth goals of the tournament on the power play to jumpstart Canada.

Nash tallied at 6:30 of the opening period, beating Lehtonen over the right pad with his shot.

Just over seven minutes later, Staal then took a deft backhand pass from Cammalleri and redirected the puck past the Finnish net minder.

Finland continued to get into penalty trouble, but Canada could not score early in the second despite having a 5-on-3 advantage for nearly two minutes.

Armstrong rendered the missed opportunity moot, making his first goal of the tournament a crucial one. The Pittsburgh Penguin snapped a shot from the left face-off circle under Lehtonen's glove.

Finland came out with force in the third, with Ward setting aside Mikko Koivu on a power play.

The Finns finally got on the board at the 11:08 mark when Kontiola took a pass from Ville Peltonen in the slot and beat Ward.

Canada had a number of defensive breakdowns in the third, and Finland drew within one with just over two minutes left, when Miettinen picked up a loose puck and deposited it into the back of the net.

Just 70 seconds later, however, Nash took a pass from Matthew Lombardi for his outstanding individual effort, beating Lehtonen with a backhand move with Pekka Saravo draped on his back.

Lombardi finished with 12 points (six goals, six assists) to lead all Canadian scorers.

Ward, Staal, Justin Williams and Mike Commodore have won gold one year after being part of a Stanley Cup team with Carolina.

Ward and Staal are the strongest contenders from that quartet to be invited to play for Canada's 2010 Olympic team and if so, would have a chance at accomplishing the rare "triple gold."

The tournament was also a rousing success for Steve Yzerman in his first outing as a general manager for Canada.

Russia takes bronze

Alexei Emelin, Sergei Zinoviev and Alexander Frolov scored earlier Sunday as Russia defeated Sweden 3-1 to capture the bronze medal.

The Russians were stunned 2-1 in overtime by Finland in Saturday's semifinal, their only loss during the two weeks of play.

Russia has won the tournament just once since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, in 1993.

Russians Alexei Morozov and Andrei Markov were named the tournament's top forward and defenceman, respectively, with Lehtonen selected as the best goaltender.

Canada will host the tournament for the first time in 2008. Games will be played in Halifax and Quebec City.

With files from the Canadian Press.

Just listen to the applause for this scrap. Gotta love the respect they give each other at the end of it.

Todd Fedoruk of the Philly Flyers was knocked out cold in a recent game in the NHL.  The cause of this knockout was a thunderous right hand by Colton Orr.  Due to Fedoruk's injury (looks like a mild concussion), NHL Top Disciplinarian Colin Campbell has stated that the NHL needs to examine the state of fighting in the game today.  Obviously, no one wants to see someone out cold on the ice, and sure, players are getting stronger and stronger each year; and yes, the equipment is getting better and players are more stable in their skates; but does this mean that fighting should be banned in the NHL?

I dont believe so.

There is rarely an NHL fight where one of the combatants has not volunteered to fight.  The players make the choice to fight, and its their decision.  I believe that fighting curbs the other dirty stick play in the game.  If there is no heavyweight to hold another player accountable, players would run wild with their sticks.  Slashes, Crosschecks, and Spears, Oh MY.

Heavyweights in the NHL are deterrents.  Take Georges Laraque of the Pittsburgh Penguins.  He's a great guy, good team player, great ambassador for the game (volunteer/charity work), and protector of the Next One, Sidney Crosby.  Players know when they pass through Mellon Arena that if they go after Crosby, they'd better be prepared to face Laraque.  Laraque is 6'4", 240lbs.  Would you be cross checking Crosby in the back?  Nope, didn't think so, and I wouldn't either.  This doesn't mean that you can't hit Sid, but if you're dirty about it, be ready to have your nose flattened.

Fights stop additional violence that occurs in the league.  I think seeing vicious high sticks, slashes and spears would bode much worse for the NHL's reputation than a few good dust ups, don't you?

Also, hell, I'm not afraid to say it, fights are fun to watch.  Here is a great Laraque fight from when he was on the Coyotes earlier this year (this is a cool video as Laraque was miked during this fight):

Some of you may know Sheck as our resident sports writer. I have been helping him out with a site of his own and he has been spending a lot of time getting it up and running. You guys should check out his site as well. http://www.mansmaxx.com/ He put this little vid up on his site. Such a good Hockey player deserves to be on 2 good Websites

So here it is. Alexander Ovechkin kicking azz.

A TEAR of a losing streak - this picture is one of only 6 goal celebrations in the Oilers last 8 games.  Since the trade of Ryan Smyth, the Mighty Oil have become the Mini Lube.  We are far removed from last years majestic run to the Stanley Cup Finals.

KLowe did the best he could this year.  I for one feel that Pronger-gate caused this teams guts to be ripped out and destroyed the long term plan for the future of the franchise. 

Luckily, Lowe has the where-with-all to make hard decisions.  If Ryan had signed, the Oiler fans would have been complaining when Smyth’s production dropped off in the third year of the contract.  We would have had a 35 year old grinder, who was past his prime.  Smyth’s rugged style of play is damaging to the body, and my guess is that his point output will fall off in the next 3 seasons.

Mark my words Oil fans, this trade, although painful now, was important for the future health of the team.