Friday, February 15, 2002
Swedes eager to launch their torpedo
By BRUCE GARRIOCH -- Ottawa Sun
SALT LAKE CITY -- Mats Sundin isn't sure how he's going to beat goaltender Curtis Joseph.
But there'll be no mercy for a teammate.
After all, this is about bragging rights.
"I haven't quite figured that out yet, but I've been thinking about it," said the Swedish captain on the eve of today's big showdown against Team Canada in the much-anticipated opener of the Winter Olympics tournament.
With Colorado's Peter Forsberg out of the lineup, all eyes will be on the Toronto Maple Leafs captain, as he's expected to lead this team to gold with the first test coming against coach Pat Quinn's Canadian squad.
While this game won't mean anything once the medal round starts next week, this will set the tone for down the road, when the competition becomes stiff for the gold medal. Both teams are determined to win tonight.
"(Curtis) is great, but he's not impossible to beat," said Sundin of his Leafs teammate. "The most important thing is that we've got a good team here, even without Peter Forsberg, and we know that this is a short tournament. We have to be strong.
"I look at the talent we've got on this team and we've got a lot of players who can get the job done for us. We've got guys who have been playing well in the NHL this year. Guys like Daniel Alfredsson, Kim Johnsson and Markus Naslund. As for Nik Lidstrom, he's always good."
Sundin will play a key role in coach Hardy Nilsson's difficult-to-understand "Torpedo" system. The Swedes practised in units of four yesterday, led by what was called an offensive defenceman.
Fred Olausson led the attack for Sundin's unit, with Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson and Ulf Dahlen. The next unit was comprised of Kim Johnsson with Niklas Sundstrom, Michael Nylander and Markus Naslund.
Under the plan of attack, a blueliner will act in a defensive role and, judging by the work in practice yesterday, Lidstrom could be appointed to those duties. Nobody is quite sure how this is going to work, but it should be fun to watch.
"We're going to try to have offence," said Alfredsson. "The defenceman is going to be involved in the offence all the time. He and the centre are going to be working together a lot. We've done it in tournaments and we've had success with it. It should be fun to play."
Though the Swedes are like everybody else, they do have a small advantage: Their team was together for a workout late Wednesday and got an extra day of practice on the Canadians. That won't mean much on the puck is dropped.
"It feels good to start against the favourites. That way it becomes serious business right away," said Sundin. "Maybe we have a little advantage over the Canadians since we've had two practices going into the game and them just one.
"We have a great team, but there are five or six teams that could win this. Of course, it's a a pity that it (Olympics) is being played during the NHL season, but that's the way it is."
2002 Games Men's Hockey Coverage
