The Finland-Sweden rivalry in hockey dates nearly a century. Finland’s first international game was an 8-1 loss against Sweden in January 1928. Finland’s first Olympic hockey experience was in 1952 in Oslo, Norway, where they lost 9-2 to Sweden during the tournament.

Finland’s population is just over 5.5 million, while Sweden has a population of over 10.5 million. It’s often referred to as a sibling rivalry when the two countries meet, and usually a cause of national celebration when Finland wins.

“It’s funny how it works out, the big finals and the big games that we’ve won have usually been against Finland,” Edmonton Oilers and Team Sweden defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. “The big memory, I know we had a 5-1 comeback (6-5 win) in Helsinki (2003 World Championship quarterfinal) with (Peter) Forsberg and those guys; (Mats) Sundin was on the team. The 2006 Turin Olympics also featured Sweden and Finland facing off in the final, a 3-2 win by Sweden.

“We’re connected as countries geographically, and it’s a big rivalry. You hate to lose against Finland, that’s just what it is.”

Sweden’s first Olympic hockey appearance was in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1920. Along with winning Olympic gold in 2006, Sweden won gold in 1994 (Lillehammer). Sweden has also won 11 World Championships, the most recent in 2018, and two World Junior Championships.

Finland won gold at the 2022 Beijing Olympics and has won four World Championships, the last coming on home ice in 2022. It has also won gold at the World Junior Championship five times.

“I think they are two good nations that are close to each other and have a lot of history,” Oilers and Team Sweden forward Viktor Arvidsson said. “It makes it more fun to play in those games. When we beat them in 2006, I think that was a big point in the rivalry. We had a lot of good players, and they had a lot of good players, and we came out on top. I think kind of sparked even more of a rivalry.”

Ekholm and Arvidsson were each named to Team Sweden for the 4 Nations Face-Off and Luukkonen was one of three goalies named to Team Finland, along with Juuse Saros of the Nashville Predators and Kevin Lankinen of the Vancouver Canucks.

Sweden open the tournament against Canada at Bell Centre on Feb. 12 (8 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS). Finland open against the United States at Bell Centre on Feb. 13 (8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ESPN, SN, TVAS).

“I feel like we have a really balanced team,” Luukkonen said. “I feel like that’s going to be our biggest thing. I don’t know how we’re going to play yet, but we have good goaltending, we have good defense, we have good forwards, and I feel like we have a good roster to build a good, balanced team and we’ll be able to play the style our coach wants us to play. That’s going to be a big thing for us.”

The early start for the game between Finland and Sweden will allow hockey fans in the two European countries to watch the game in prime time. The time difference between North America and Europe usually mean evening games in Canada and the United States are on well before sunrise in Finland and Sweden.

“My dad wakes up at crazy times to watch me anyway, he’s a different guy and he’s always been there for me,” Luukkonen said. “But I feel the game being shown in the evening back home is a big thing. There are not a lot of times when your friends can watch you play that is not in the middle of the night, so I feel this game is going to be extra important for everybody.”