Sweden and Finland renew their long-running, tense hockey rivalry at the 4 Nations Face-Off

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Sweden and Finland renew their long-running, tense hockey rivalry at the 4 Nations Face-Off

2025-02-15 06:08 Last Updated At：06:21

MONTREAL (AP) — If Sam Hallam wants to rile up a Finn of a certain age about Swedish hockey, he'll just bring up Anders “Masken” Carlsson. For a younger generation, it's Mats Sundin.

It works the other way around to Swedes if someone mentions Finland's Saku Koivu. And people will keep doing it, too, because the intense rivalry between the two Nordic nations separated by one sea has been passed down by generations at the Olympics, the world championships and now at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

“It’s a brotherly kind of love-and-hate relationship going back for a long time,” said Hallam, who's coaching Sweden at the NHL-run tournament. “You want to beat your brother. That’s the way it is. We have tons of respect for the way they play the game, the character they have. That goes for hockey and that goes for life, too. Look at where they are on the map, and they never back down.”

Still, they can't even agree on which brothers.

“I think you if ask them, they say they’re the big brother, and if you ask us, we’re the big brother,” Sweden captain Victor Hedman said.

Finland's Erik Haula said this week, “I think I heard Hedman say that they’re the big brother, but I guess we’ll find out.”

Gustav Nyquist pointed out that the hatred dates to when his country of Sweden and Finland were formed. Their long, shared histories are more complex than those of the United States and Canada — longtime allies away from the sports world. It's peacetime now, except for on the ice when the puck drops for a game pitting Tre Kronor against Suomi.

“It’s more personal, I feel, maybe because with the games through the years in the past, as well, against them, there’s been multiple tight games,” Finland defenseman Esa Lindell said. "And obviously I would say because they’re the country next to us. That adds up (to) extra tension against them.”

There have been plenty of big, tense moments over the years, and never were the stakes higher than at the gold-medal game at the 2006 Olympics. Sweden beat Finland 3-2 in a thriller after Nicklas Lidstrom scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and Henrik Lundqvist made the most important save of his career on Olli Jokinen with 25 seconds left.

“I remember that game,” Sweden goaltender Samuel Ersson said. “And it feels like when we play each other, the whole country, they stop and you want to watch those games.”

And the players want to take part in them. Hallam thinks the rivalry builds because by age 20, Swedes and Finns have already faced off in some form or fashion 20 to 25 times.

Sweden's Elias Lindholm still thinks about losing to Finland in the the 2014 world junior championship final on home ice in Malmo. But he also agrees with rivals from Finland about how the dislike is contained on a sheet of ice between the boards and glass.

“You cross paths with a lot of Finns: Huge respect for them, but there’s always something there when we played against each other that had a little extra,” Lindholm said Friday. “You’re going to be competitive out there, and when the game is over, you can all enjoy and you can have a beer or whatever and be friends. But when it’s game time, it’s no friends.”

The 4 Nations Face-Off is a unique event that does not have the history or tradition of the Olympics and is more a celebration of the return of elite competition with the NHL's best players. But with those players' return to the Games on the horizon in Milan, the tournament has value as a show of superiority a year away from that major test.

Finland is the defending Olympic champion, and Hedman acknowledged that the Finns' success from 2022 in Beijing and at recent world championships have evened things out against Sweden.

“I don’t feel like they’ve bullied us or anything like that,” Lindell said. “I feel like lately I think we’ve played very well against them.”

Saturday afternoon is the next chance for Sweden and Finland to add another chapter to their storied rivalry.

“It’s history,” Sweden defenseman Rasmus Dahlin said. “It’s something that means a lot to the Swedish nation. It’s a must-win.”

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL

Justin Rose steals the Masters show and builds 3-shot lead over Scottie Scheffler

2025-04-11 07:47 Last Updated At：07:52

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Justin Rose managed to steal the attention away from Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy in the Masters by matching his personal best at Augusta National with a 7-under 65 for a three-shot lead Thursday in the first major of the year.

Scheffler did his part in his bid to win a third Masters green jacket in four years, playing a bogey-free round of 68.

McIlroy, so desperate to win this major and complete the career Grand Slam, was right there with him until the end. He took a pair of double bogeys late in the afternoon with careless mistakes and had to settle for a 72. It was the seventh straight time he failed to break 70 in the opening round of the Masters.

Rose burst out of the gates with three straight birdies. He added three more around the turn. He was headed for a round nearly 10 shots better than the field average until a poor tee shot into the trees led to his only bogey at the final hole.

No matter. This was a reminder to Rose that his good golf is still very good.

“I'm 44. Golf is not going to get easier for me in the next five, 10 years, whatever it's going to be,” Rose said. “So your opportunity is less going forward. So you have to make the most of it.”

Rose set one Masters record: The fifth time he has had at least a share of the 18-hole lead, breaking the mark held by Jack Nicklaus. The glaring difference, of course, is Nicklaus has six of those green jackets.

It also was the eighth time Rose has had at least a share of the lead after any round at Augusta National, something only five others have done. All are Masters champions.

“I feel like I've played well enough to win this tournament,” said Rose, whose best chance was a playoff loss to Sergio Garcia in 2017. “I just feel like I don't have the jacket to prove it. ... But you've got to be playing the golf to keep creating those opportunities, and the only way to do that is to get your name on the leaderboard. I definitely don't shy away from it.”

Scheffler was 3 under at the turn, including one birdie on the par-5 eighth in which his ball was deep in a divot hole short of the green. He managed to get that out some 20 feet left of the pin and used the slope to bring it back to 15 feet and made the putt.

He was rarely under stress.

“I struggled for what felt like two pars today,” Scheffler said “But other than that, the golf course was in front of me most of the day, kept the ball in play, did a lot of really good things out there.”

Corey Conners of Canada birdied his last two holes for a 68, and they were joined Ludvig Aberg, the super Swede who was runner-up to Scheffler in his Masters debut a year ago.

U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau and Tyrrell Hatton carried the LIV Golf flag, both at 69. DeChambeau had seven birdies in his up-and-down day, a show of his scoring power.

“Making some bogeys for me probably frees me up a little bit and says, you know what? Just go out and play some golf,” DeChambeau said.

The roars came early, along with a few shockers.

Fred Couples, who wondered a month ago if at 65 with a creaky back he would still be welcomed to play, became only the second player that age to break par. Couples holed out from the fairway on the 14th with a 6-iron hybrid on his way to a 71. Tom Watson was also 65 — by 28 days he is still the oldest — when he shot 71 in 2015.

The horror show belonged to Nick Dunlap, a 21-year-old who last year won on the PGA Tour as an amateur. This must have felt like amateur hour when he made double bogey on the final hole for a 90. It was the highest score since Ben Crenshaw shot 91 in 2015 at ag 63.

Hideki Matsuyama might have caught the worst break when his approach into the par-5 13th hit the pin and caromed into the tributary of Rae's Creek. The wildest day belonged to Nicolai Hojgaard — one eagle, five birdies, four pars, five bogeys and three double bogeys. Do the math and that comes out to 76.

“It's mentally draining playing a round like this,” Hojgaard said.

And then there was McIlroy, chipping into the water from behind the 15th green for double bogey, and then going long on the 17th and compounding that mistake with a three-putt for another double bogey.

Far more blissful on a warm spring day was Rose, who at one point had it going so well that he felt like a pitcher throwing a no-hitter.

He pitched to 6 feet for birdie on the par-5 eighth. He hit wedge to the ninth and used the slope to set up a 5-foot birdie, giving him a career-low 31 on the front nine. That was followed by a 12-foot birdie putt.

“That's when the day felt a bit different. That’s when I felt I was doing something potentially more on the special side,” Rose said.

And then he really began to pull away from the field with a smart pitch away from the water to set up a 10-foot birdie on the 15th, followed by a 20-foot birdie on the par-3 16th. The pins on the final two holes allowed for birdies and Rose was thinking super special. He got par-bogey instead that didn't ruin his mood.

The average score was 73.6. Only six players broke 70, and 20 others broke par.

“Overall, great day," Rose said.. “I played a lot of golf here at Augusta National. So to come away with my equal best score is certainly an achievement for me.”

Still three days away is an achievement that so far has eluded him.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf