U.S.-Olympic-hockey

USA fans show their support as their team has reached the Olympic semifinals.

(The Associated Press)

DETROIT – A few Detroit Red Wings will be feeling a bit patriotic Friday when they watch the Olympic hockey semifinals.

All expect to be entertained by what could be two tense and thrilling rivalry games.

Sweden meets Finland in a rematch of the 2006 gold medal game at 7:30 a.m. (NBC Sports Network). The U.S. and Canada square off in a rematch of the 2010 gold medal game at noon (NBC Sports Network, CBC).

“Canada-U.S. will be a great game and then you have the obvious long-running rivalry of Scandinavia with Sweden-Finland and a lot of history there,” forward Daniel Cleary said. “A good couple of games; pretty exciting.”

As for predictions, players naturally pick their own country. So how does a neutral party see things?

“I really like Team USA,” defenseman and Czech native Jakub Kindl said. “I think they’re big guys, they can skate and they can hit; they play heavy and they’re also very skilled. So I like U.S.”

Americans Drew Miller, Justin Abdelkader and Danny DeKeyser concur.

“I think U.S. wins,” Miller said. “I’m a little biased, but I think the four teams that are left are all good teams. In a single-game elimination it’s anyone’s tournament now.

“I think the U.S. has played hard and played well as a team. I’m not saying that the other teams haven’t, but I’ve been watching the Americans a little closer and I think they have pretty good depth and all-around good balance.”

Miller’s brother Ryan -- the goaltender for the Buffalo Sabres -- has appeared in one game and will back-up Jonathan Quick. The Red Wings’ Jimmy Howard, the third goalie for the U.S., hasn’t appeared in a game.

“They (U.S.) have played the best out of any team in the tournament, but they’re going to have a tough match against Canada,” Abdelkader said. “It’s going to be fun to watch.”

Who’s going to win?

“USA, of course,” Abdelkader said.

Said DeKeyser: “Looks like the U.S. has been the most impressive so far. But there’s so many good players on all the teams. If you make it to the semis or the finals you got a chance.”

Red Wings forward Joakim Andersson will be cheering for five of his teammates on Sweden – forwards Daniel Alfredsson and Gustav Nyquist, defensemen Niklas Kronwall and Jonathan Ericsson and backup goalie Jonas Gustavsson. Henrik Zetterberg withdrew on Friday due to a herniated disc.

“I think Sweden will win; they have the better players,” Andersson said. “I think they’re going to play their best games here when it counts.”

Beating the Finns would be especially sweet.

“The rivalry has been huge since back in the day in all different sports, but hockey especially,” Andersson said.

“It’s a lot of talk between the Swedes and Finns. They teach Swedish in (Finnish) school so we always say they’re the little brother, but they have a good team and we have a good team as well.”

Wait, Finland is Sweden’s little brother?

“That’s something we try to tell them but I don’t think they agree,” Andersson said.

Told of Andersson’s comment, Teemu Pulkkinen, the lone Finn in the Red Wings organization, said, “I don’t know about that. That’s just the Swedish guys (talking).”

Pulkkinen, who practiced with the Red Wings the past two days before being sent back to Grand Rapids, said Sweden-Finland is always a huge deal.

“It’s just a big battle,” Pulkkinen said. “It’s going to be tough game. Both teams are playing hard and both teams are playing really good defense.”

Red Wings assistant coach Tom Renney was Canada’s head coach at the 1994 Winter Olympics, the last tournament before NHL players began participating.

“With the best players and ultimately the best teams in the world playing, it just doesn’t get any better than this,” Renney said. “Where it ends up, who’s to say?

“It would come down to goaltending, I imagine, maybe a call here or a miss-call there. If I’m either of the North American teams I would certainly want NHL refereeing. But I think it’ll be a great day of hockey and certainly the whole idea behind these guys being at the Olympic Games in the first place is to sell the game globally and I think mission accomplished.”