Canada's Rick Nash was voted the Most Valuable Player at the
world ice hockey championship after leading his team to a record
24th world title with a 4-2 win over Finland on Sunday.
The Columbus Blue Jackets left wing scored two goals in the
final to finish the championship with six goals. He was also named
to the tournament's All-Star team.
Hosts Russia, who beat Sweden 3-1 in a consolation game for
third place earlier on Sunday, supplied three players to the
All-Star team - defenceman Andrei Markov, forwards Evgeni Malkin
and Alexei Morozov.
Morozov finished as the tournament's top goalscorer with eight
goals despite missing his team's last two games with a knee
injury.
Finland goaltender Kari Lehtonen and defenceman Petteri
Nummelin, who was playing in his 13th world championship, rounded
out the six-man team.
Nash scored a pair of goals as Canada returned to ice hockey's
summit.
The victory capped a perfect championship for the Canadians, who
muscled their way through the tournament with a 100 percent record
of 9-0.
Canada collected their third gold medal in five years to go one
better than the 23 world titles won by Russia and the former-Soviet
Union.
Earlier, Russia beat Sweden 3-1 in the bronze medal game but the
victory provided little consolation for the hosts who had expected
to end a 14-year gold medal drought on home ice.
(China Daily via Agencies May 15, 2007)