Vancouver: Nordic rivals Sweden and Finland set the stage for a golden grudge match with efficient wins at the Olympic men's ice hockey tournament on Friday.
Olympic champions Sweden kept their unbeaten record intact with a 4-2 revenge win over Belarus and Finland pounded Germany 5-0 to set up a Group C showdown on Friday in a rematch of the 2006 Turin Winter Games gold medal final.
"It's always been a great rivalry, not only in hockey but all sports," Sweden captain Nicklas Lidstrom told reporters. "We've had some tough battles in the past.
"It's something that goes way back."
The past was also on Swedish minds on Friday as they avenged one of the biggest upsets in Olympic men's ice hockey.
Daniel Alfredsson scored two goals and Daniel Sedin and Johan Franzen added singles as the Olympic champions settled an old score against the Belarussians who dashed their gold medal dreams in spectacular style at the 2002 Winter Games.
One of the favourites at the Salt Lake Games, Sweden failed to return home with a medal after losing 4-3 in the quarter-finals to Belarus on a fluke goal that remains one of the strangest ever seen at the Olympics.
Memories of Salt Lake
Sweden built a 3-0 lead by the midway point of Friday's game, but memories of the Salt Lake Games came storming back when Dmitri Meleshko scored twice to pull Belarus within a goal with just over eight minutes remaining in regulation.
But Alfredsson's late goal ended any hope of Belarus pulling off another stunning upset.
Finland tuned up for their meeting with Swedes by rolling past Germany.
Tuomo Ruutu stabbed home a loose puck laying on the goal line for the first period's only goal and Kimmo Timonen added two second period powerplay tallies, the second set up by Teemu Selanne to make him the Olympic Games all-time leading scorer with 37 points (20 goals, 17 assists).
The Finnish Flash had been tied on top of the Winter Games' points list with Canadian Harry Watson, former Soviet Union great Valeri Kharlamov and Czechoslovakia's Vlastimil Bubnik.
In the day's other game, the Czech Republic got quickfire goals from Jaromir Jagr, David Krejci and Tomas Plekanec in the opening five minutes before coasting to a 5-2 victory over winless Latvia.
The Czechs jumped to the top of the Group B standings, setting up a Sunday clash with Russia in a rematch of the 1998 Nagano final.
The Russians, who sit second on four points after being upset by Slovakia, need a victory over the Czechs if they want to move directly to the last eight.
