Four Former Griffins Earn Olympic Hockey Medals

Not only did the former Griffins earn medals, they all played big roles for their respective squads.

In total, 15 former Griffins competed for various countries at the 2022 Mens Ice Hockey portion at the Olympiad in Beijing, but only four were lucky enough to score medals.

Two former Griffins, Harri Sateri and Valteri Filppula won the ultimate prize, gold medals, as the Finnish team skated to their first ever Olympic title, upsetting one of the heavy favorites, the Russians, Sunday afternoon in a 2-1 nail biter.

Sateri (showing off his hardware below) played five games in goal for the Flying Finns, ranking second in Goals Against Average with a 1.00 average. Sateri was fourth overall in Saves Average, blocking 96.21% of all shots fired at him.

Filppula (below), meanwhile, had two assists in six games for the Finland squad. Both players currently are on European squads, Filppula plays for Geneva in the Swiss league, while Sateri plays for Siberia in the Russian KHL.

Two other former Griffs earned bronze while skating for the Slovakian National team, which defeated Sweden, 4-0, late Saturday to earn their medal. Slovakia lost to Finland in the semi-finals.

Tomas Jurco had a goal and an assist in the Olympic tournament for the Slovaks. Jurco (bottom left), who had a couple of stints with the Detroit Red Wings in his career currently plays for Barys Nur-Sultan in the Russian KHL.

Goalie Patrik Rybar (below), meanwhile, led all goaltenders in the tournament with a 0.86 Goals Against Average and 96.58 Saves Average. Rybar currently plays for the Russian side, Dynamo Minsk.

Team USA, led by another former Griffins, Justin Abdelkader, finished fifth overall in the Olympic bracket, and notched a big 3-2 over rival Canada in pool play.