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Far away from the hard-hitting, frenzied excitement of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, there
was another hotly contested hockey championship being vied for in Finland this spring.
The 1997 World Hockey Championships were played in Turkey and Finland and featured some
of the NHLs finest players. Saku Koivu, Owen Nolan, Mark Recchi and Keith Primeau were
just some of the great NHL players who participated in this annual international grudge
match for world-wide hockey supremacy.
Twelve countries from around the world (U.S.A, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Czech
Republic, Germany, France, Slovakia, Russia, Latvia and Italy) competed for the
championship title from April 26th to May 16th.
Team Sweden, the only club to go undefeated in the preliminary round (4-0-1), advanced
to the final round to meet the always powerful Team Canada. Boasting, the likes of
superstars Rob Blake and Keith Primeau, among others, Canada was looking to ease at least
some of the sting from last summers shocking defeat in the World Cup. Ironically, it was
Sweden that Canada defeated in a thrilling over-time semi-final in the World Cup to advance to play U.S.A. in the finals.
This year's Canadian club was selected by three of the most respected general managers
in the NHL. The Philadelphia Flyers' Bob Clarke was joined by Bob Gainey of the Dallas
Stars and Pierre Gauthier of the Ottawa Senators to select the club. These same three men
will also manage the team Canada will send to Nagano, Japan for the 1998 Winter Olympic
Games. Team U.S.A. was managed by another top NHL executive, New York Islanders' General
Manager, Mike Milbury.
Backstopped by the goaltending of Tommy Salo of the New York Islanders, Sweden took a
one game lead on Canada in the best-of-three final round. But goaltender Sean Burke of the
recently relocated Carolina Hurricanes and Owen Nolan of the San Jose Sharks led Canada to
two straight victories to cap a stirring comeback that allowed them to capture the
championship two games to one.
A significant aspect of the tournament each year is the insurance which is placed by
BWD for the protection of the players, the NHL clubs and the National Federations.
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