HALIFAX -- Team Canada is rested and ready for its fight to the Finnish.
But Team Finland might not be able to make the same claim. They pounded out a penalty-filled, 3-2 comeback win over the Americans on Sunday and head into today's battle for top spot in Group F at the IIHF world hockey championship down two players.
Finland goalie Niklas Backstrom mixes it up with USA's Lee Stempniak Sunday.
Anssi Salmela is one of them and he's also down a pint of his own blood after fighting with Team USA's David Backes. Both players are automatically suspended for their next game. Olli Jokinen is also on the shelf for today's tilt after checking American defenceman Tim Gleason from behind in the first period.
"Obviously he's one of our top scorers, a dangerous guy who affects our power play," Finnish head coach Doug Shedden said of Jokinen. "So it will hurt."
The timing can't help either, given that the Finns didn't stop fighting the Americans until 7 p.m. local time on Sunday, 21 hours before they hit the ice at the Halifax Metro Centre against Canada today.
The Americans have to soothe their wounds too before playing Norway, so the clear winner was a rested Team Canada, who meet a depleted, tired Finnish foe today. Canada has won five times in regulation time while the Finns needed overtime in one of their games. The two undefeated outfits battle for the top seed in the qualifying round.
Head coach Ken Hitchcock, who enjoyed the feistiness of the Finland/USA game, wasn't taking anything for granted.
"We're going to have to earn it right to the end," he said.
-- Canwest News Service
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