Finns face chance of a lifetime

Originally published on IIHF.com in 2006

By Lucas Aykroyd

For Finland, winning the 2006 Olympic gold medal in hockey would be the equivalent of Canada’s 1972 triumph over the Soviet Union in the Summit Series or the USA’s 1980 “Miracle on Ice” win over the Russians.

It would be a unique, defining moment in the nation’s sports history. While the Finns have excelled in individual Olympic events such as ski jumping, cross-country skiing, or long-distance running, they have never risen to global dominance in team sports like soccer or basketball. Their greatest moments in international hockey include winning silver at the 1988 Olympics, capturing the 1995 IIHF World Championship, earning bronze at the 1998 Olympics, and becoming finalists in the 2004 World Cup.

But this would be bigger. And facing Sweden just ups the ante. These two Scandinavian neighbors basically enjoy friendly relations in day-to-day life, but they have a bitter rivalry in sports.

“For Finns, it’s probably the biggest game ever, not just because we’re playing the gold medal game in the Olympics but also because we all know the importance of playing against Sweden,” said Finnish captain Saku Koivu after practicing at Turin’s Palasport Olympico on Saturday. “It’s not only for the players but also the people back in Finland. There’ll be a lot of emotions involved. It’s a dream come true. You don’t have a chance like this too often. It does make it bigger when you face Sweden. We feel that they always think that they’re better than us. We’ve played against them so often for so many years, and I think every country has their opponent that they really want to beat. For us, it’s Sweden.”

The long, intertwined history rife with social, geographical, and linguistic debate is frankly beyond what most hockey players from either nation consider when they lace up skates and go to battle.

But the Swedes still recall how Finland denied them World Championship gold on home ice in 1995, and the Finns were even more humiliated when they led Tre Kronor 5-1 in the quarter-finals in 2003 and wound up losing 6-5. The other World Championship final meeting between the two countries was in 1998, a defensive two-game affair where Tre Kronor finally prevailed on a Johan Tornberg slapshot from the point.

Although Sweden holds the edge in the rivalry, the Finns have narrowed the gap enough in recent years that when asked about the big brother-little brother dynamic between the Nordic nations, Finnish Head Coach Erkka Westerlund can quip: “Who is big brother?”

The Finns were clearly loose and relaxed during their final on-ice session prior to Sunday’s gold medal game,which kicks off at 14:00 Turin time. And why not? They’ve been the most consistent defensive team and the swiftest skaters in the tournament. With a nothing-to-lose attitude, they’ve prospered against ostensibly superior opponents like the Czechs, Canadians, Americans and Russians.

“There were a lot of doubts before the tournament because of injuries and guys missing out,” said Koivu, who leads the tournament with 11 points. “We had some key guys not coming here. A lot of people were saying: ‘They don’t want to play for our country. This team is not going to go far.’ Obviously it kind of made us push harder. When we talked about this tournament, before Game One, it was about how we have to play to be successful. I think we’ve showed that when you have 20-odd guys playing hard together, a lot of things can happen.”

Teemu Selanne, in addition to being tied for second place in the scoring derby, has undoubtedly done his share to keep things upbeat around Suomi’s dressing room. Consider these puckish responses to reporters’ questions.

On the Sweden-Finland rivalry: “I think [the Swedes] have a little bit more of a rivalry with Norway as a country, but they are not here.”

On why the Finns have succeeded while other teams have struggled: “I think maybe we work harder in the summer!”

Of course, the 35-year-old Helsinki-born winger isn’t here to fool around. He knows exactly what’s at stake on Sunday. He received some 60 text messages on his phone from friends and supporters after the Finns beat Russia 4-0 to advance to the finals. Selanne is well aware that this could be his last chance to win a major title in international hockey or even the NHL, and it’s the same for a teammate like Teppo Numminen, with whom Selanne first played in the late 1980’s.

Although the Finnish Flash has more than 1,000 NHL points and millions of dollars in the bank, he’s willing to do whatever it takes to win at the Olympic Games.

“I think it’s very important to have guys who accept their roles, whatever they are,” Selanne said. “I know there are guys who are used to playing more on their own teams, but here, a guy’s ice time might not be as much as he’s used to getting. That’s like what happens with Canada and the USA. They have so many first-liners, and if you have your minutes cut from 20 to 15, it’s huge. That’s like seven shifts. It’s not so easy to adjust. But this team we have here, we accept that.”

And what about the notable absentees, like goalies Miikka Kiprusoff and Kari Lehtonen or defenseman Joni Pitkanen?

“I think Kiprusoff was the biggest guy who couldn’t come, but [Antero] Niittymaki has shown that he’s the man–he can do it,” said Selanne. “Obviously the goalie department is very good for us right now. There are still guys like [Hannu] Toivonen and [Vesa] Toskala and [Jussi] Markkanen who aren’t here, but they are playing in the NHL all the time. I think that shows we have a lot of good goalies. But the thing is, if somebody feels that he’s not ready to put this jersey on for some reason, he shouldn’t come. He has to be honest. It’s tough, of course, when you lose a guy like [Miikka Kiprusoff] but hey, you want guys who want to come here and love to do this. Otherwise, it doesn’t work. You have to come because you want to come.”

So now, beyond the goaltending duel between Niittymaki and Henrik Lundqvist, it may come down to how Finland’s top line with Selanne, Saku Koivu, and Jere Lehtinen stacks up against the Swedish trio of Mats Sundin, Peter Forsberg, and Fredrik Modin.

“We have to play really solid against those guys,” Selanne said. “They have great skills. Maybe they are not the fastest guys, but they are so dangerous. They see the game so well. We have to make sure they don’t have too much extra time and room. But I’m not going to think too much about Sweden. The only thing we want to do is be ready and play our best tomorrow. I really believe it should be enough.”

In fact, it might be enough to change Finnish sports history forever.