Few stories created as much of a furor internationally as goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff's assertion that he would play for Finland in the Olympics only if he were guaranteed the job as a starter. Kiprusoff's statement led to speculation he would be passed over for a place on the team because of Finland's great depth in goal, and the Finns did well enough without him in 2006, thank you very much.
Turns out the Kiprusoff caper was a story about nothing.
Kiprusoff was named to the Olympic team, along with the Minnesota Wild's Niklas Backstrom. The hero of Finland's silver-medal-winning 2006 team, Antero Niittymaki of the Tampa Bay Lightning, goes as the No. 3 man, ahead of Nashville Predators sophomore Pekka Rinne.
The Finns, Czechs and Russians are the only countries to win medals twice in the NHL's Olympic era. Finland also won bronze in 1998, by defeating Canada in Nagano. According to centre Olli Jokinen, there is only one more step to climb on the Olympic ladder - gold - and they're not prepared to concede it to anyone.
"We got the silver medal last time, so there is only one goal - to win," Jokinen said. "We feel like every other country going into a tournament like that - it's a short two-week sprint. I think we have a chance."
Jokinen was asked: Who does he see as the team to beat?
"It's pretty much the same countries. Russia, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Slovakia is going to be strong, U.S. - there are six or seven countries who can win that tournament. It shows the competition gets harder every year. The U.S., they have a lot of good young players. Team Canada could put together three or four teams that could battle for the gold.
"Sweden is always good in tournaments like that. Russia's been dominating the last couple of years. Finland somehow always finds a way to be there, same with Czech Republic."
Jokinen says this will be the last hurrah for many of Finland's longest-serving players, including captain Saku Koivu and his fellow Anaheim Duck, Teemu Selanne. As a result, the urgency to win is there. "We feel like, for a lot of our guys, it's going to be the last time we're going to play together," Jokinen, the Calgary Flames' centre, said.