The Canadian men beat Sweden in Sunday’s final 3-0 to defend the gold medal they had won on home ice in Vancouver four years ago. Sweden skated off with the silver medal, while Finland, who defeated the United States 5-0 on Saturday, took bronze.

The Canadians got out to a first period lead 13 minutes into the contest, when Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Black Hawks tipped a pass from Jeff Carter between the legs of Swedish netminder Henrik Lundqvist.

Sidney Crosby, who scored the gold-medal-winning goal against the US in Vancouver in 2010, added to Canada’s lead in the second period, deking Lundqvist have being sent in all alone on a breakaway.

Crosby’s team-mate on the Pittsburgh Penguins put the Canadians truly in the driver’s seat in the third period, making it 3-0 with an unassisted marker. Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price recorded the shut-out.

While the Swedes had kept it close through the first two periods, the Canadians opened up a wide advantage in the third, and by the end of the game they had outshot the Swedes 36-24.

A decision by hockey’s world governing body, the IIHF, to assign three Canadian citizens and one Canadian resident to officiate the game had been criticized by some prior to the contest, however a clear result and lack of close calls during the game shielded the referees and linesmen from any real controversy.

This was the first time that Canada has won the gold medal in hockey outside of North America since 1952 in Oslo. It was also the first time that any team has defended its gold medal since the Soviet Union and Unified team won three consecutive Olympic tournaments between 1984 and 1992.