The Finns are coming off a silver medal performance at the 2006 Turin Games and had to face some stiff competition in Canada and Russia to get there. Here is how their roster shakes out for Vancouver.
Get To Know An Olympic Roster: Finland
Goaltenders
Nicklas Backstrom, Antero Nittymaki, Miikka Kiprusoff
The Finns strength in these Olympic games is going to come from the goaltending. Flames' goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff will most likely be the starter for Finland after his statements a few weeks ago about the situation. He heads to Vancouver with no prior Olympic experience as he was not apart of the 2006 roster. Antero Nittymaki was the MVP of those Turin games after going 5-1 with a 1.34 GAA. Backstrom was also apart of the 2006 Finnish roster but never made it into a game.
Defensemen
Four of the eight defenders on this year's roster -- Kimmo Timonen, Toni Lydman, Sami Salo and Lasse Kukkonen -- were also apart of the 2006 roster. Sami Lepisto is a part of the Phoenix Coyotes and currently has 5 points in 35 games with the Coyotes. Joni Pitkanen is a six season veteran who is currently playing for the Carolina Hurricanes and Janne Niskala is playing for Frolunda in Sweden. These defenders were apart of a team that allowed only eight goals in eight games in 2006 and are looking to shut down some potent offenses in Canada and Russia.
Forwards
Valtteri Fippula, Niklas Hagman, Jarkko Immonen, Olli Jokinen, Niko Kapanen, Mikko Koivu, Saku Koivu, Jere Lehtinen, Antti Miettinen, Ville Peltonen, Jarkko Ruutu, Tuumo Ruutu, Teemu Selanne
The forwards that Finland will be rolling out are not of the constant scoring variety that one might see with the Canadian or Russian lineups, but more of a balanced lineup. The biggest scoring threats will come from Olli Jokinen, Saku Koivu and Teemu Selanne. In 59 career Olympic games, those three players have combined for a total of 37 goals and 37 assists. Fippula, Mikko Koivu and Lehtinen are also solid players to round out the scoring for the Finns. The addition to the lineup of Jarkko Ruutu is slightly puzzling just due to the nature of Ruutu’s game being more geared toward agitating and fighting as compared to being a dangerous scoring threat.
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