CALGARY -- Olli Jokinen is an old pro at this by now.

So when reporters started asking him about Finland's chances in men's hockey at the 2010 Olympics, the Calgary Flames center immediately assumed the underdog stance.

"Our goal is to go out there and surprise everyone again," said Jokinen, 31, one of two Flames, along with goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff, named Wednesday to the Finnish roster for the Vancouver Winter Games.

"Usually, we're ranked eighth, 10th place, but we always come home with the medal."

Finland's recent Olympic track record is impressive -- four medals in the past six Games, including silver in 1988 at Calgary, bronze in 1994 at Lillehammer, bronze again in 1998 at Nagano, and most recently, an agonizing second-place finish at Torino in 2006.

After going a perfect 5-0 in the preliminary round, the Finns edged the Americans, 4-3, in a quarterfinal and blanked the powerful Russians, 4-0, in the semis, but came up just short in the gold-medal game, losing 3-2 to the Swedes.

Vancouver will be the third Olympics for Jokinen, an 11-year NHL veteran from Kuopio who tallied 6 goals and 8 points in Finland's eight games during the 2006 tournament, including an assist in the final.

Kiprusoff, 33, will be making his first Olympic appearance, after being named Wednesday as part of his country's three-man goalie group alongside Niklas Backstrom of the Minnesota Wild and Antero Niittymaki of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Kiprusoff, the former Vezina Trophy winner who'd begged off the 2006 Games with an ongoing hip injury, did not talk about his Olympic selection Wednesday morning, but had previously said in late November that he wasn't interested in Vancouver unless he was Finland's starting goaltender.

Heading into Wednesday's games, Kiprusoff was seventh among NHL netminders in goals-against average (2.22) and third across the league in save percentage (.927).

"I think he's the best goalie in the league right now, and he's giving us a chance to win every night over here," said Jokinen, who has 27 points, including just 7 goals, after the Flames' first 38 games this season. "Going into Olympics, once you get in the quarterfinals, it's one game at a time where anything can happen, and our country feels very confident and comfortable having him in net."

Jokinen says the 2010 Games will be bittersweet in a way, because he and a group of his counterparts -- the likes of Teemu Selanne, the Koivu and Ruutu brothers, Jere Lehtinen, Kimmo Timonen and Sami Salo, to name a few -- will likely make Vancouver their last hurrah.

"For a lot of our players, these Olympics are going to be our last time together, you know?" said Jokinen, who added that he and his fellow Olympians knew they were heading to Vancouver "a few weeks ago."

"We pretty much have had the same team since the 2002 Olympics," added Jokinen. "We had a good run in the 2004 World Cup (making the final against Canada), a good run in 2006 Olympics, and this is probably going to be our last journey together. We want to win, like every other country."

With experience, skill, and goal-scoring ability, Jokinen warns -- again -- not to underestimate the Finns.

"Everybody knows each other (on the roster). Finland plays every tournament a certain way, and our goaltending is probably one of the best in the tournament," said Jokinen, the former King, Islander, Panther and Coyote.

"In our mind, we have a solid four lines. We have good leaders in that group, and like I said earlier, if you play a best-of-seven series, you probably wouldn't give our country much of a chance to win, you know, but in a one-game situation, anything can happen.

"And with the goaltending we have, we believe we can beat any team."