Finns like their chances

Host nation thinks it has solid shot in talent-laden field

TAMPERE, Finland (AP) -- Home ice. A dozen excellent NHLers, including Saku Koivu and Teemu Selanne playing on the same line. Good coaches, among them former NHL great Jari Kurri.

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All of which makes Finland the favorite to become the first host nation in 17 years to win ice hockey's world championships.

The 16-team tournament starts Saturday in three Finnish cities: Helsinki, Tampere and Turku. The gold-medal game is May 11 in the capital, Helsinki.

On paper, perhaps no other team appears to be as strong as Finland. Even players like six-time Olympian Raimo Helminen, who has played a world-record 330 games for the Nordic country, and Ville Nieminen of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who scored twice in an exhibition win against archrival Sweden Sunday, didn't make head coach Hannu Aravirta's roster.

In hockey-crazy Finland, the experts are talking about a team nearly as good as the one that beat Wayne Gretzky's Canada in the 1998 Olympic bronze-medal game in Nagano, Japan.

"I've never played on a better national team, but the loss still hurts," said Selanne, referring to the '98 Olympic semifinals which Finland lost 7-4 to Russia after the game had been tied 3-3 well into the third period. "I still think we had the best team in that tournament."

The last host nation to win the worlds was the Soviet Union, which prevailed in Moscow in 1986.

Selanne, the San Jose Sharks' leading scorer who became a free agent Monday, believes many host nations have failed to win the championship on home ice because they were too fired up.

"It's unnecessary to add that extra pressure," said Selanne, the top scorer ahead of Koivu in the 1998 Olympics. "In this tournament, we'll go out and play humbly and try to get extra energy from the crowd. Everybody knows how good our team is. We don't have to brag."

Other likely contenders in the 67th IIHF World Championships include Canada, the Czech Republic, Russia, Slovakia and Sweden.

Phoenix Coyotes goalie Sean Burke, who led the Canadians to their last world title in 1997 in Finland, is back for his fifth championship. Ryan Smyth and Eric Brewer, both of the Edmonton Oilers and members of the Canadian team that won last year's Olympic final against the United States, have also committed. So has 2002 NHL rookie of the year Dany Heatley of the Atlanta Thrashers. Canada lost in the quarterfinals the last two years.

The Czechs won three straight finals from 1999 and will be looking to improve last year's disappointing sixth-place finish in Sweden with a team that includes the NHL's goal-scoring leader Milan Hejduk of the Colorado Avalanche and veterans Robert Reichel of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Martin Rucinsky of the St. Louis Blues.

Russia has one of the youngest teams, led by 20-year-old Ilya Kovalchuk of Atlanta. New head coach Vladimir Plyushev said early on he would select fit and motivated players in lieu of veterans, regardless of the stats they put up in the NHL or the Russian league.

Ziggy Palffy, who set up the game-winner for Slovakia in last year's 4-3 final win over Russia in Goteborg, Sweden, will be back for his fourth worlds.

"Of course, it would be wonderful to repeat last year," the Los Angeles Kings' forward said. "But I ask the fans to not fly in the clouds and not to expect victories one after the other."

Nicklas Lidstrom turned down an invitation to play for Sweden after the Detroit Red Wings were eliminated in the playoffs.

But his teammate Henrik Zetterberg, one of the NHL's best rookies this season, and Peter Forsberg decided to play. Forsberg, who led the NHL in scoring this season, said "yes" when the Colorado Avalanche lost in the playoffs.

He's likely to miss the preliminary-round opener against Latvia.

"I can be in Turku on Monday as it looks now," Forsberg said.

The Swedes are still hoping that Mats Sundin will joint the squad. The Toronto Maple Leafs captain played on Sweden's last three world champion teams in 1991, '92 and '98. Twelve years ago, he scored the game-winner in Turku against the Soviets.

The United States, seventh last year, will again have a team lacking true NHL star power and no members of its silver-medal winning squad from Salt Lake will be on the ice.

Contrary to other tournaments, the Americans did get an exhibition game before the tournament this time, losing 4-2 Wednesday to the Finns after a surprisingly strong performance on the big international ice surface.

 

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