Sweden - Finland quick facts

Do you know:

1. Sweden and Finland have met 11 times in Olympic men's ice hockey. Sweden has won six times, Finland twice and there have been three draws

2. Sweden last met Finland at the Olympic Games in the preliminary round at Vancouver 2010. The Swedes shut out the Finns 3-0 with a pair of goals from Loui Eriksson and another from Nicklas Backstrom. Eriksson also had a pair of goals in Sweden's semifinal win over Finland at last year's world championship

3. Finland is the only team in the semifinals to have lost a game in the tournament, a 2-1 defeat by Canada in the preliminary round. No team that went undefeated in the preliminary round has gone on to win gold since NHL players started participating, at the Nagano 1998 Games
4. Finland got to the semifinals after a win over host nation Russia in the quarterfinals. Twenty-one-year old Mikael Granlund and 42-year-old Teemu Selanne had goals in the 3-1 win. Granlund was born three days after the conclusion of the 1992 Olympic Winter Games, where Selanne competed in his first Olympic Games
5. Finland has won a medal in four of the last five Olympic men's ice hockey tournaments.

6. If Finland fails to win the gold medal in Sochi, it joins Czechoslovakia and Switzerland as NOCs with most participations (16) without ever winning a gold medal.
   

7. Heading into the Sochi Games, Selanne was the career scoring leader at the Olympic Games with 37 points. His four points at Sochi 2014 give him a total of 41, well ahead of second-place scorers Czech Vlastimil Bubnik, Russian Valeri Kharlamov and Canadian Harry Watson
8. Finland has more non-NHL players on its roster than any team left in the tournament. Eleven players on the Finnish roster play in Russia's Kontinental Hockey League or other European leagues. Sweden is the only other team with a non-NHL player: Jimmie Ericsson, who plays in the Swedish Hockey League for Skellefteå
9. Finland has been the least penalised team at Sochi 2014, having taken nine minor penalties in four games. They have also had the worst penalty kill, having surrendered three goals on eight short-handed occasions
10. Goalkeeper Henrik Lundqvist has the highest save percentage of any goalkeeper left in the tournament, having stopped 94.85 % of shots he has faced.

Quote of the game:

Sami Vatanen (Finland) after the game vs Russia: We're playing Sweden? I didn't know. Are we really? Well, that will be a nice rivalry. I haven't watched any other games. I've just been focused on my own game and the team.

Players about the game:

SWEDEN

Jonathan Ericsson: We have to be tight in the middle. Whoever is going to own the middle of the rink is going to win the game, I think. Keeping them on the outside is going to be a key factor in the game."

On the rivalry between Sweden and Finland: "We always seem to play against each other in big tournaments, whether we meet in the finals or the semifinals it doesn't really matter. It's about pride."

Alexander Steen: "Very gritty, hard fought, good goaltending and they have been putting away their chances. For us it will be important to limit those chances, make sure we really take away their time and space, really frustrate them that way."

On the rivalry between Sweden and Finland: "It goes way back. There have been some real classic games between the two countries and not just hockey games, but all sorts of different sporting events. It is definitely a special feeling going up against the Finns."

Niklas Kronwall "Patience is obviously a huge key to the game. I think that has been the case in most of the games so far. You just have to stick to what you are doing and keep doing the same things over and over and over."

Daniel Alfredsson: "It's going to be awesome. I saw their third period vs Russia and they played disgustingly disciplined, tight defensively and waiting for chances. I don't know how their power play works but it will be a tight game and the first goal will be important. Their goalie Tuukka Rask is incredibly skilful, has gained a lot of experience in NHL and won the Stanley Cup. He, along with our Henrik Lundqvist are in my book the two best goalies in the tournament."

Henrik Lundqvist: Rask has been extremely good in the NHL the last few years, I have played against him a lot and he is really fast. It feels like they play very well as a team and he's a great goalie, so we will need a really good effort from everyone." On Finland having had tougher games than Sweden in the tournament: "We've had an easier journey, but on the other hand they have got used to tougher play so I don't know if that's an advantage to any team." 

FINLAND

Tuomo Ruutu: "We have good personnel. You come in here, it's funny, we haven't seen some guys for a couple of years and there are some new faces and you feel like you just talked to them yesterday. We really enjoy each other a lot. That's pretty much it, it feels like a family. We're a tight group, not just the players, but the whole management - coaches, officials and everybody like that. And that's the bottom line. You have to be like that if you want to go all the way."

Jori Lehtera: "It's always a big game, Finland against Sweden. Every year it's like the biggest game for us. It doesn't matter where you play, if you play against Sweden, you're always pumped up. It's the Finnish style of play, everybody knows the system, so it is pretty easy to put guys in. It doesn't matter if it's the NHL or KHL or whatever."

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