Michelle Karvinen, captain of the Finnish women’s national team, scored the eventual game-winning goal at 7:27 of the second period of Finland’s 2-1 victory over Switzerland in IIHF Women’s World Championship action on Monday.
The goal was Karvinen’s 61st point for Finland at the Women’s World Championship, breaking a three-way tie between Karvinen, Riika Salinen and Jenni Hiirikoski, both former captains of the Finnish national team and former teammates of Karvinen.
“It’s still unbelievable right now,” Karvinen said after the game. “I never thought I would get close to this record and I had no idea I was before we started this tournament. Obviously, I’m super honored but also I’ve played with a lot of players who are the reason I’m here, so it’s also a big thank-you to them.”
It wasn’t a pretty goal, with Karvinen creating traffic in front of Swiss goalie Saskia Mauer and having a rebound bounce in off her skate, but she and the Finns will take it.
“I remember one of the things I was taught as a kid was go to the net and good stuff will happen,” she said. “At first, I was like, ‘Aw, is that gonna be the record-breaker?’ But then again, you know, it’s hockey and those are the goals that you need and this was appropriate.
“We won the game because of that goal, so I’ll keep that for the rest of my career – go to the net and good things happen.”
After losing their first two games to the USA and Canada, Finland has now won two in a row against Czechia and Switzerland to finish the group stage with six points, which will give them the third seed and lock in a quarterfinal matchup with their old rivals from Sweden.
“I was just telling some of the girls that when I started, it was always Finland-Sweden (that was the biggest matchup in Europe). It’s been a bit of a break and now they’re back, and I hope we can get that feeling back. It’s always been special, both on the men’s side and the women’s side, to play Sweden so I’m really looking forward to it. It’s going to be a tough game and the best team can win.”
Having played most of her professional career in Sweden – first in Lulea and now with Frölunda – Karvinen is well familiar with the Swedish team. She’s now 35 years old but she still produces at better than a point per game in the SDHL and helped Frölunda win a title this season. Because of that, her name pops up in conversations about potential PWHL players.
“I’m definitely interested,” Karvinen said about the North American league. “I’m going to take a little time after the Worlds to make my decision about next season but I can only say good things about the league. For me, personally, it’s one of the few things I haven’t done, so we’ll see.”