MILAN -- It was here in Italy, two hours away, 20 years ago, that the biggest game took place in the long rivalry between Team Sweden and Team Finland.

One team is happy to look back entering the Sweden-Finland preliminary round game at Santagiulia Arena on Friday (6:10 a.m. ET; Peacock, USA, ICI TOU.TV, CBC Gem, TSN, RDS) at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

The other, not so much.

Sweden defeated Finland 3-2 in the gold medal game at the 2006 Torino Olympics, with goalie Henrik Lundqvist making a huge save on forward Olli Jokinen in the final moments.

The Swedes on the current roster are well aware.

"They talk about it," Sweden coach Sam Hallam said after practice Thursday. "They know about it. They've seen all the clips. They've seen the goals. They've seen the last minute. It's a huge game. It's like Finland's world championship in '95. It's one of those games, one of the biggest games in Swedish hockey history."

Finland defeated Sweden 4-1 to win the 1995 IIHF World Championship in Stockholm. But the loss in Turin was bitter, even though the silver medal was the Finns' best finish in an Olympics involving NHL players.

"It was a heartbreaker," said Finland forward Mikko Rantanen, who was 9 years old then. "I remember I was at home with my family watching it, probably wearing a Finnish jersey and being emotional after we lost."

You must understand how important this rivalry is to each country -- and to the history of Olympics with NHL players.

"I think it's something that's been going on for longer than I can remember," Sweden defenseman Erik Karlsson said. "We grew up with a big rivalry between Finland and Sweden.

"I think that we have a lot of similarities, but obviously, we're very different people. And you know, over the years, you cross the paths with a lot of great players and coaches and philosophies, and we try to steal what we can from each other and adapt and move on. It's something that goes way beyond hockey as well, I think."

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