With potential war apparently being averted in the Middle East, the United Nations has turned its attention north, where tempers are quickly rising between two Scandinavian countries - Finland and Sweden.

The snowy hillsides between the two countries have been filled with bloodshed for many centuries due to the constant repression of the Swedish folk by Finland's militant communist dictator, Mikko Makkala (see article in Issue 86 for details). A brief calming period highlighted the New Year thanks to a treaty signed by the nations on Dec. 31, but another war between the neighboring territories now seems inevitable. Any hope the United Nations had for ending this stalemate peacefully might have been destroyed because of recent developments that took place during the Winter Olympics in Nagano.

Swedish morale is currently at a low not seen since the days following the ruthless Finnish attack at Lake Vanern 13 years ago thanks to Team Finland's ousting last week of the gold medal favorites, Team Sweden, in men's ice hockey by the score of 2-1.

Schedule makers shuttered after realizing how the pairings worked out for the Olympic quarterfinal round. Sweden and Finland, longtime rivals on and off the ice, would be facing off against each other early in the tournament. No one really had time to think things through, meaning the two teams would be playing each other on emotion alone. Never a good idea.

Luckily, with added security in place, cooler heads prevailed when the game got underway. And what a game it was. With the pressure of two nations resting squarely on the shoulders of the men on the ice, the game turned out to be an epic battle -- and one of the best games of the Olympics. The pressure to score was obviously overwhelming because the game remained scoreless for two periods. Sweden's Tommy Salo and Finland's Jarmo Myllys stood tall between the pipes as their teammates played outstanding defense in front of them. The Finns stifled Sweden's forwards in their own zone with methodical forechecking that only Team Vowel could produce. Despite having trouble getting out of their own zone a lot of the time, Sweden matched Finland's defensive coverage with a smothering blanket of their own.

But the scoreless tie would be broken in the third. As the Finnish saying goes, "Thank God we have Teemu Selanne, the all powerful and mighty, on our side."

Selanne put the first nail in the defending Olympic champ's coffin less than five minutes into the third. Selanne and linemate Saku Koivu skated in on a two-on-one against Salo. Selanne looked off Koivu and fired a shot that beat Salo on the short side to give the Finns the lead. Selanne added another goal later in the period on a pass from Koivu that put the game away.

Sweden's Peter Forsberg scored with 12 seconds left to make things interesting, but not even "Mr. Magic" Kent Nilsson could have saved the men in the yellow jerseys on this night.

The loss to Finland was tough for Team Sweden. But the off-ice events that led up to the game were even tougher. The day before Sweden took on Finland the team learned that Ulf Samuelsson was disqualified from the Olympics. A Swedish newspaper announced that Samuelsson is the holder of a Swedish and an American passport. Now, having two passports isn't a crime, but by Swedish law any citizen who obtains a passport from another country must forfeit their Swedish citizenship.

The news stunned the entire team and drove Samuelsson to tears at a press conference following the announcement. No one knew Samuelsson had two passports and it wasn't until sportswriter Janne Bengstsson divulged the information that action was taken.

All of Sweden was outraged at the reporter. Rumors swirled concerning a possible payoff by the Finnish Mafia to report the minor infraction right before the crucial game. And the entire hockey community was stunned that a man named Ulf Samuelsson could be considered anything but a Swede. There are plenty of other players in the Olympics that had two passports, including Brett Hull, but because of a silly Swedish rule Samuelsson was embarrassed and shamed. There is no reason why Samuelsson should have been put through that situation. Sure, almost every NHL player would love to take a free shot at the New York Ranger defenseman, but they also know that he's a great guy and a Swede through and through. Even Don Cherry, who has never had a kind word to say about a hockey player from outside of North America, supported Samuelsson. The flamboyant CBC commentator wondered how someone with two passports could be disqualified from the Olympics while someone who tested positive for marijuana could keep a gold medal (Canadian snowboarder Ross Rebagliati).

Samuelsson had played in all three of Team Sweden's Olympic games before the disqualification. The Czech Republic tried to make Sweden forfeit their two wins with Samuelsson in the lineup, but their wish wasn't granted. If Sweden was forced to forfeit, Belarus would have gone to the quarterfinal round and Sweden would have gone home.

What was supposed to be a pleasurable defense of Team Sweden's gold medal in 1994 turned into a nightmare. It seemed like every country was against the Swedes - even their own. First Team Sweden gets hosed by a stupid little rule that knocks one of their top defensemen out of the games for doing nothing wrong. Then their archenemy gets to rub it into their faces by eliminating them from medal contention. It just wasn't right. Finland knows it. Sweden knows it. Anyone who is knows anything about hockey knows it. As we like to say around the offices of LCS Hockey: Sweden got the shaft.

With all of the turmoil, it was not that big of a surprise Finland knocked off Sweden. Unfortunate, considering LCS Hockey picked Sweden to win it all, but not surprising. That's not to say Finland didn't deserve to win that game or wasn't the better team, but there's no doubt that Samuelsson's disqualification really rattled the squad.

There's no time for the Swedes to dwell on what happened in Nagano. Sweden's battle to clear its name and reestablish itself as the true power in international ice hockey will begin immediately. Be prepared Salt Lake City - a mob of angry Swedes will infiltrate the Olympic Games in 2002. They'll be mad, they'll be coming off of a military victory over the Finns and they won't be satisfied unless they strike gold again.

[ issues | web extra | stats | nhl archive | home | chat | mailing list | about us | search | comments ]

1998 © Copyright LCS Hockey All Rights Reserved