In honour of this year's Finnish team finding themselves in the final four after a dreadfully mediocre round robin, here are some of the teams that started badly and ended up with the gold...
Canada - 1984 Canada Cup
Fourth place after the opening round, losing 4-2 to Sweden, 6-3 to USSR and tying USA 4-4, beating only the winless Germans and Czechs. Pulled off a dranatic 3-2 overtime win vs the unefeated Soviets and swept Sweden in the final.
Sweden - 1992 Worlds
Only one win in the opening round (1-2-2), losing to Germany, Finland and tying Italy 0-0. Swedes then recovered to beat Russia 2-0, Swiss 4-1 and Finland 5-2 for gold.
Russia - 1993 Worlds
Opening round losses to Sweden and Canada and a 2-2 tie with Italy, followed up by playoff wins vs Germany, Canada and Sweden.
Canada - 2002 Olympics
Nation panics after a dreadful loss to Sweden and a mediocre win over Germany, before Canada finds its stride vs Czechs (3-3), Finns (2-1), Belarus (7-1) and USA (5-2).
Czech Rep - 2010 Worlds
A weak Czech roster loses to Norway and Switzerland before Vokoun leads them to gold with shootout wins over Finland and Sweden, and a star-studded Russia (2-1) in the final.
Russia - 2011 Juniors
Russia's comeback kids look horrible in their opening two games against Canada (6-3)and Sweden (2-0) before winning the rest, including dramatic late wins over Finland in OT, Sweden in a shootout and a five-goal third-period rally vs Canada in the final.
Nice thing they managed get this far though
Speculation: Another year of this Bluc **** (The 2024-25 season thread)
