MONTREAL -- Sweden vs. Finland. Or vice versa. Consider it the other side of the pond's version of the U.S. vs. Canada, although the history seems to stretch back further.
"I mean, it's going to be a lot of fun," Sweden forward Filip Forsberg said. "Obviously, it's a rivalry that goes back to medieval times, pretty much."
While there may not be any tapestries or other ancient art on the Viking Age of hockey, the rivalry has definitely stood the test of time. The next chapter will be written when Sweden and Finland play at the 4 Nations Face-Off at Bell Centre on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN, TVAS).
It will be the second game of the tournament for each team. Sweden has one point from its 4-3 overtime loss to Canada on Wednesday. Finland plays the United States on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ESPN, SN, TVAS).
"Overall, I would say it's kind of a brotherly love and hate, where 'hate' is a strong word, so take it the right way. But you want to beat your brother, that's the way it is," Sweden coach Sam Hallam said on Thursday.
"We have tons of respect for the way they play the game, the character they have, that goes for hockey and life, too. Look at where they are on the map. They never back down, but it's a highlight, definitely."
Sweden will certainly be amped up to play Finland, but the team is already coming off an intense game against Canada, one in which the Swedes started slow but came back from two two-goal deficits to force overtime. Sweden was happy with how it played following the first 10-15 minutes.
"It's a good thing that we had Canada, probably the biggest atmosphere you can have in Canada is Canada. So hopefully that thing kind of settles down for us a little bit, and we can just go out and play like we did in the second or third and not have a first like we did last night," Sweden defenseman Mattias Ekholm said.
Sweden is looking to enter Saturday on an even keel.
"You can't start running around and taking stupid penalties, and then you're going to take on water, right? So, there's obviously a line that's, you're going to have to, hopefully, stay right on it or just underneath it," Ekholm said. "Don't cross it and take those penalties. It's a big rivalry, it's a big game. Both sides are going to be ready and hopefully it's a great game."
It's understandable that countries sharing a border have a rivalry, be it sports or otherwise. But just how intense, how passionate does it get between Finland and Sweden?
"It's a long story but if you say, 'Masken,' Carlsson to a Finn, you get them going," Hallam said, referring to Anders Carlsson, one of the top players in Swedish hockey history.
Carlsson scored some big goals against Finland, including the game-tying goal in the final round of the 1986 World Hockey Championships (Sweden won silver in the tournament, Finland finished fourth).
