Finland blanked Russia 4-0 in the Olympic men's ice hockey
semi-finals to set up a championship clash with Sweden, which
trounced the Czech Republic 7-3 earlier Friday.
Teemu Selanne, Finland's forward, expressed his awesome feeling
on reaching the final.
"We've played so well this tournament," he said. "Every player
has played their part. That's the bottom line. It's great to be in
the final, but we all know we have one game to go.
"We know we can be better. There is great chemistry in this team
and it's such a great feeling."
There will be a first-ever gold medal match between two
Scandinavian countries, which takes place on Sunday.
The Czechs and Russians will vie for a bronze medal on
Saturday.
Finland has met Sweden 10 times in the Olympics, winning two
games, losing five and tying three.
On facing Sweden, Finland's goalkeeper Antero Niittymaki said:
"I don't really know what I am feeling right now, but we have to
play great defense and hopefully get some power play goals."
"Good defending of the power play, that's the key."
Jere Lehtinen, also a forward, said: "We came here as underdogs,
but we did good team work, playing all four lines, playing hard and
skating hard. That's why we got here (into the final). It's going
to be a big game against Sweden."
With one goal in the first period and two goals in the second,
the Finns controlled the game while the Russians tried to start
something in vain. In the third period, Finland put in the last
shot, settling the match.
Sweden defeated the Czech Republic to advance to its first
Olympic final since 1994.
(Xinhua News Agency February 25, 2006)