BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Finland and Sweden may not have been considered the teams to beat at the IIHF World Hockey Championship.
But they proved to be the most consistent throughout the tournament and cruised past their playoffs opponents to set up an all Scandinavian clash for the world trophy today.
Gone is the powerful Canada team led by captain Rick Nash that played arguably the best hockey at the worlds.
Russia, the most successful nation in the worlds with 25 titles, had a lethal offensive duo of Alex Ovechkin and Ilya Kovalchuk at its disposal but Finland was not impressed and beat the Russians twice — prevailing 3-2 in a penalty shootout in the group stage, and blanking them 3-0 in the semis.
Sweden rebounded from a stunning 5-4 loss to Norway in its opening game to comprehensively beat defending champion Czech Republic 5-2 in the semis despite the presence of major Czech stars Jaromir Jagr and Patrik Elias.
Sunday’s game will be the fourth final between the longstanding rivals at the worlds. Sweden, which is chasing its ninth world title and first since 2006, won in 1992 and 1998, while Finland beat Sweden in 1995 to claim its lone title.
“It’s a huge challenge for us,” Finland captain Mikko Koivu said. “It’s a great team we’ll play against but that’s the way it should be.”
“We have to play our game and make sure we’re ready to go mentally and physically,” Koivu said. “Just trying to keep it together, and obviously discipline all the way from start to the end.”
“They’re probably our biggest rivals historically,” Swedish captain Rickard Wallin said.
“We know that if you want to win the world championship final you have to play your best game, it’s just gonna come down to that,” Wallin said.
Finland coach Jukka Jalonen likes the pressure on his team..
“We’re very happy to be among the best two teams in the world,” Jalonen said. “There’s always pressure when you play this kind of games but it’s a positive pressure. We haven’t won our dream so far, so we have to get ready for the Sweden game.”
Both teams know they have to play their best in the final.
“We can be only better, it has been a great effort,” Finnish forward Tuomo Ruutu said. “I think the last game will be our best game, that’s for sure. We just have to play hard, and enjoy it.”
Swedish coach Par Marts still can see room for improvement
“We have to play better, that’s for sure,” Marts said. “We have to score more goals on power plays. We have a good team and we’re gonna get better. We’re not there yet.”
Both teams are known for their team work but still have stars that could make the difference.
Sweden’s Patrik Berglun and Finland’s Jarkko Immonen are the joint leading scorers in the tournament with eight goals, while Swedish goalie Viktor Fasth and his Finnish counterpart Petri Vehanen are leading the goaltending statistics.
But Finland has another ace in hand — the 19-year-old Mikael Granlund who scored the goal of the tournament when he lifted the puck on his stick behind the goal and carried it around the net to stun Russian goalie Konstantin Barulin and the spectators in Bratislava’s Orange in the semifinals.
“He’s an unbelievable player,” Jalonen said. “Nobody can expect what he’s to do next. He can do almost anything with the puck.”
The 2011 championship, which was hosted by Slovakia for the first time, is the last one to use a format of four-team preliminary round groups with 12 countries advancing to a qualifying round before the quarter-finals lineup is determined.
The qualifying round proved unpopular with fans who could not be sure where their team would play. It will be replaced by a new structure that calls for 16 nations playing in two groups of eight to decide which teams progress to the quarter-finals.
Finland and Sweden will co-host the worlds in 2012 and ’13.