Red Wings Teammates Keep Radio Silence Amid IIHF World Championship
For now, Detroit Red Wings teammates Lucas Raymond and Olli Maatta are not communicating. There will be no exchanges, not even playful banter, until after the IIHF World Championship quarterfinal between Raymond’s Sweden and Maatta’s Finland concludes on Thursday.
“No, he will be in airplane mode,” Raymond told Swedish website Aftonbladet.se regarding his Detroit teammate Maatta. “I don’t think there will be much talk ahead, unfortunately. We can talk afterwards, if either of us feels like it.”
🚨Lucas Raymond starts the show for Sweden! 🇸🇪#SWESVK#MensWorlds @Trekronorse pic.twitter.com/J4nSSbXDwi
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 21, 2024
The rivalry between Sweden and Finland is one of the fiercest in international hockey, marked by intense competition and mutual respect. “You have grown up and seen many classic matches against Finland,” said Sweden’s Marcus Pettersson of the Pittsburgh Penguins to Aftonbladet. “There are many at home on the sofa in front of the TV who have lived through such things. There are probably many in our team who have met their players in the U16 national team and all the way up. It’s a rivalry and it’s going to be great fun.”
In recent history, the Finns narrowly defeated the Swedes 5-4 in overtime during a 2019 quarterfinal, a match Sweden was favored to win on their way to the world title. This year, Sweden is again the favorite, having finished the preliminary round with a perfect 7-0 record, earning all 21 points and entering the medal round as the top seed. Finland, on the other hand, finished fourth in their group.
Sweden stays undefeated in preliminary round play after a BIG win over Slovakia 👏 #MensWorlds @trekronorse @hockeyslovakia pic.twitter.com/tjtR5JZObd
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 22, 2024
The Sweden vs. Finland gold-medal match at the 2006 Winter Olympics saw Red Wings legend Nicklas Lidstrom score the decisive goal in a 3-2 victory. Red Wings players Henrik Zetterberg and Niklas Kronwall also scored in that game.
Raymond is one of 18 NHL players on the Swedish roster, contributing three goals in this tournament. Maatta, one of four NHL players with Finland, is participating in his third world championship in four years. Other Finnish players with ties to the Red Wings include goaltender Harri Sateri and defensemen Oliwer Kaski and Villi Saarijarvi, who all played for the AHL Grand Rapids Griffins.
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