Ice Hockey World Cup: Les Bleus close to a victory against Finland

Far from being the favorite, the French team put on a very good performance this Sunday against the world's third-ranked nation.

The French ice hockey team long believed in a victory against Finland on Sunday at the World Championships before losing 4-3 after overtime.

Facing the world's third-ranked nation, the Blues were leading 3-1 with two minutes left in regulation time, thanks in particular to brothers Timothée and Kevin Bozon, but the Finns equalized in two minutes before scoring the decisive goal in extra time.

Beaten on Saturday by Latvia (4-1) in their opening match, France nevertheless achieved an interesting scoring operation, since extra time gave them a point while the counters of Austria and Slovenia, after two matches also, were stuck at 0. For their third match, on Tuesday, the Blues will face a mountain, Canada, the world's leading nation.

After a less than successful preparation (five defeats in six matches), Yorick Treille's men are aiming first and foremost to avoid finishing last in their Group A, which would mean relegation to the second tier of the world.

Group A

Sunday, May 11

Finland - France 4 - 3 ap

Latvia - Canada 1 - 7

Slovakia - Slovenia 3 - 1

Ranking: Pts JG Gp P Pp bp bc dif

1. Canada 6 2 2 0 0 0 11 1 10

2. Sweden 6 2 2 0 0 0 9 2 7

3. Finland 5 2 1 1 0 0 6 4 2

4. Latvia 3 2 1 0 1 0 5 8 -3

5. Slovakia 3 2 1 0 1 0 3 6 -3

6. France 1 2 0 0 1 1 4 8 -4