NAGANO, Japan -- They sang the Finnish national anthem, exchanged high fives and hugged each other with glee.

Sure, the Finland women's hockey team would have preferred to play for the Olympic championship. Yet the Finns hardly treated the bronze medals they received by beating China 4-1 Tuesday as mere consolation prizes.

"We're happy

Finland's Sanna Lankosaari beats Chinese goalie Hong Guo for her team's third goal during the second period of Tuesday's bronze medal game. (Reuters)

with the bronze, maybe just a little disappointed," forward Sari Krooks said. "I'll say this -- this is the highlight of my hockey career."

Perhaps some day the Finns will be able to compete with Canada and the United States for hockey supremacy. But in the inaugural Olympic women's hockey tournament, third place behind the two perennial hockey powers felt mighty good.

"OF COURSE I AM HAPPY. NOTHING tops an Olympic medal," said Riikka Nieminen, who had a goal and an assist.

Finland has finished third in all four Women's World Championships since 1990, and things were no different in Nagano. The Finns lost only twice -- to Canada and the United States, teams they have never beaten in international tournaments.

So, after being forced to once again play for third place, the Finns made the best of the situation against a team they defeated 6-1 just three days earlier in the final game of the preliminary round.

Trailing 1-0 after one period, Finland seemed to get a boost from injured star Tiia Reima, who sat out Saturday's game against China with a separated shoulder and watched the first 20 minutes of the bronze-medal game from the bench. Shortly after Reima skated onto the ice in the second period, Finland got goals by Sari Fisk, Johanna Ikonen and Sanna Lankosaari and took command.

"We knew if she was fighting out there, we all had to do the same," Nieminen said.

FISK SCORED IN THE SLOT AT 3:07 after taking a nice pass from Nieminen, who took the puck off the backboards. Ikonen put the Finns ahead for good at 7:08 with a slap shot from the left circle, and Lankosaari made it 3-1 three minutes later by converting a centering pass from Katja Rippi, who delivered the puck on the fly from the left side.

That pretty much doomed the Chinese to fourth place. China finished fourth behind Canada, the United States and Finland in the world championships in 1994 and 1997.

Nieminen scored into an empty net with eight seconds left. China managed only eight shots on goal, two in the third period.

"There are less than 100 women playing ice hockey in China," coach Zhang Zhinan said. "Of course, I am very happy the team got fourth place."

Reima re-injured her shoulder after being dropped to the ice by a check from Yang Xiuquing with 9:22 remaining. Reima immediately went to the dressing room and watched the final minutes in street clothes.

YANG WAS CALLED FOR INTERFERENCE, one of only four penalties called in the game -- all against China.

Yang put China ahead at 9:07 of the first period with a fine bit of skating and stickwork. Yang skated down the left side, whisked past defenseman Marja-Helena Palvila inside the blue line and got within 5 feet of the net before sliding a backhander past goalie Tuula Puputti.

NHL star Wayne Gretzky watched the final minutes of the period in an open space between the benches and nodded to the players as they left the ice.