Finland, Switzerland and Latvia name men's rosters for Turin
ZURICH (iihf.com) - Saku Koivu will chase Olympic glory with kid brother. Paul DiPietro will face his native country. Those are some of the highlights as Finland, Switzerland and Latvia announced their rosters for the 2006 Olympics early Thursday.
Finland: Team captain Saku Koivu is going to Turin with his nine year younger brother Mikko, as national team coach Erkka Westerlund nominated a squad that carries strong resemblance to the team that made it to the final game of the World Cup of Hockey 2004. No less than 20 players who today were nominated for Turin also represented Finland in the WCH-04, where the Finns lost 3-2 to Canada in the final game.
Saku Koivu
Although Saku & Mikko played together on that team 15 months ago, the selection of the younger Koivu was still somewhat of a surprise considering his ups-and-downs with the Minnesota Wild. Saku missed the 2002 tournament in Salt Lake City as he was recuperating from cancer.
The Finns will get stellar goaltending from Miikka Kiprusoff, the highly touted Kari Lehtonen and the vastly underrated Fredrik Norrena as defenseman Teppo Numminen and forwards Teemu Selanne and Sami Kapanen are on course to play in their fourth Olympic tournament.
Many experts predict that Turin-2006 will be the coming-out party for the 22-year old defenseman Joni Pitkanen (Philadelphia) who could use this tournament to establish himself as one of the best defensemen in the world. Ten players on the 2006-roster represented Finland in Salt Lake City-02, where the Finns lost a close quarter-final against eventual gold medalist Canada, 2-1.
Switzerland: National team coach Ralph Krueger likes the group of players he works with. Krueger has 14 Salt Lake City-02 returnees going to Turin, most of the countries that have named their 2006 Olympic rosters so far. From the group of 23 who got the nod today, 21 represented Suisse in the 2005 IIHF World Championship where they made it to the quarter-final, only to lose a close battle with Sweden, 2-1.
Former Canadian and Montreal Canadien Paul DiPietro, 35, (instrumental in the club's Stanley Cup victory in 1993) obtained his Swiss passport last year in time for the 2005 Worlds in Austria, but this will be the first time that the swift forward will play against his native country in a major competition.
Switzerland plays Canada in the third round of the men's tournament on February 18.
The Swiss will be tough to score on with Martin Gerber (Carolina) and David Aebischer (Colorado) backstopping the team, while Mark Streit (Montreal), Goran Bezina (Geneve-Servette) and Martin Steinegger (SC Bern) will provide defensive stability. Martin Pluss, who plays for Swedish champion Frolunda, is the most prolific forward.
Arturs Irbe
Latvia: Cult goaltender Arturs Irbe is back again with Team Latvia. He is going to his second consecutive Olympics at the age of 39 as Latvia will have the same three netminders as they had in Salt Lake City; Edgars Masalskis and Sergejs Naumovs are the others.
Latvia comes with the team where the players are spread in leagues in ten different countries. Karlis Skrastins (Colorado) and Sandis Ozolinsh (Anaheim) are the defensive stars. National team coach Leonid Beresnevs has a limited pool to choose from and 17 on the 2006 roster played for Latvia in the 2005 IIHF World Championships in Austria.
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