Finland's Ville Nieminen and Antero Niittymaki celebrate after defeating Canada 2-0 to extend Finland's undefeated record to 4-0 in the preliminary round.

Prelim round closes on Tuesday
By Phil Coffey | NHL.com
Feb. 20, 2006

TURINO, Italy - By the time the 2006 Winter Olympics rolled around, about the only folks who gave Team Finland a chance in the tournament were the players and coaches themselves.

Perhaps no team had a bigger bite taken out of it by injury than the Finns, who saw Calgary Flames goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff drop out to rest a chronic hip injury. His heir apparent, Atlanta's Kari Lehtonen, also was lost to injury. As were defensemen Ossi Vaananen of the Colorado Avalanche and Joni Pitkanen of the Philadelphia Flyers. Three forwards also dropped from the roster because of injury: Chicago's Tuomo Ruutu, Philadelphia's Sami Kapanen and Dallas' Antti Miettinen.

So, you might ask, how did the undefeated Finns (4-0) clinch the A pool of the preliminary round after a startling 2-0 shutout win over Team Canada?

"At the beginning of the Olympic Games, our approach to the tournament was complicated," Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Aki Berg said. "We had only a couple days to stay together. We felt confident to beat Canada. We are getting faster and faster every game. (But) it's still a long way to the podium. Now we're focused on Germany because it's a good chance to see our lines on the ice rink and try something new. I'm sure we don't want to lose this game. There's no reason to undervalue the Germans."

Tuesday marks the end of preliminary round play in the hockey tournament. At Torino Esposizioni, Latvia plays Kazakhstan (5:30 a.m. ET). Kazakhstan is 0-4 headed into the game and won't move up. Latvia needs to win the game and score 16 goals to even the goal-differential with the Americans in order to advance.

The Finns will play Germany (9:30 a.m. ET) in the second game at Torino Esposizioni. That amounts to a tune-up for the Finns, since the Germany won't be advancing. The third game at Torino Esposizioni (2:30 p.m. ET) sees Sweden play Slovakia. A Swedish win over the Slovaks and a Russian win over the Americans would tie the three teams atop the Group B standings with 4-1 records and force goal differential to determine the seeds.

At Palasport Tuesday, the Swiss and Italians kick off the three-game slate (6:30 a.m. ET) with the Swiss looking to win to remain the second seed in Group A. Canada plays the Czech Republic (10:30 a.m. ET) with both teams sporting 2-2 records, and both hoping a win and a Swiss loss could vault them into second place.

The American and Russians meet last at Palasport (2:30 p.m. ET). The game is important to the Russians, who want to keep pace with the Swedes and Slovaks, while the Americans are desperate to build some momentum for the medal round after successive 2-1 losses to the Slovaks and Swedes.

"There was not so much to train altogether before the Olympics," said Niklas Hagman of the Stars and Finland. "(Our) goalies and defensive lines are doing a fantastic job and we improve game after game. We played tremendously well against Canada and I'm not surprised about what we did."

Anyone who saw the 2004 World Cup of Hockey came away impressed with the talent and desire to excel shown by the Finns, who lost to Canada in that tournament's finale. This time around, Finland's injury situation is making its accomplishments all the more impressive.

The Finns have solved the time-and-space dilemma of the Olympic-sized ice rink more handily than other teams. That has proven to be a big part of the team's success.

"You can't compare this with the NHL," Florida Panthers captain Olli Jokinen said. "If you miss a hit over here, you're out of the play."

"Here you have the best players in the world," Niko Kapanen of the Stars said. "The best players, small tournament, tight schedule, big rink."

All of it fitting nicely with the Finns' plans for Torino.