Brodeur backstops Canadians to World Cup championship

Joe Sakic, Scott Niedermayer and Shane Doan scored for Team Canada.
TORONTO (AP) -- The message board in Canada's dressing room spoke volumes: Practice canceled tomorrow. No one else to beat.
The next fight for these stars is with NHL owners, who are set to lock them out tonight.
Canada won the last top-level hockey game to be played in North America for quite a while Tuesday night, defeating Finland 3-2 in the World Cup final.
Now, players from both teams face the reality that they might not be back on NHL ice for a year or longer.
"It's disappointing, obviously, but that's the way it is right now," said Mario Lemieux, the player-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Joe Sakic, Scott Niedermayer and Shane Doan scored on Canada's first shot of each period, and Martin Brodeur shook off a wrist injury to make 27 saves as the host nation reclaimed the Cup after losing it in 1996.
The current collective bargaining agreement between the NHL and the players' association expires tonight at midnight.
Lockout on deck
With no negotiations scheduled before the deadline, a lockout is a virtual certainty. The bad news is expected to be delivered this afternoon after the NHL board of governors meets in New York.
"The business part of the game is going to enter everybody's life tomorrow," Brodeur said. "We're ready to go, and we believe in our people that they're going to lead us to try to solve this problem.
"When you're at the prime of your career, it's definitely hard to accept."
But Canada will always have this victory to savor.
"We'll worry about tomorrow tomorrow," said Sakic, who scored four goals in the tournament. "Tonight, we're going to celebrate."
Fans counted down the final seconds that could be the last ones played in North America by Lemieux and Finland's Teppo Numminen if the NHL lockout lasts a year or longer, as feared.
Canadian dominance
Canada clinched the tournament, formerly known as the Canada Cup, for the first time since 1991. The Canadians lost in 1996 to the United States, but rebounded to win the event for the fifth time. Canada has reached the final in all seven tournaments.
This marks four straight national championship wins for Canada, which was victorious at the 2002 Olympics and captured consecutive IIHF world titles.
Miikka Kiprusoff allowed just six goals in Finland's first five games. He withstood plenty of late pressure and kept it close, but his teammates couldn't get the equalizer in the biggest hockey game in the history of the small European nation.
Finland was in the finals of the eight-team tournament for the first time.
"We played here in Canada, in Toronto, and everybody could see that we were ready to fight," Finland coach Raimo Summanen said. "Five years ago, three years ago, two years ago, one year ago, this was a whole different mental approach for the team and I'm proud of that."