Today at 3 a.m. ET, Finland's men's ice hockey team goes head-to-head with Austria live from the Bolshoy Ice Dome in Sochi, Russia for Group B 2014 Winter Olympics action. The game can be live streamed here.
Finland is coming off of winning the Bronze medal in the 2010 Vancouver Games while Austria enters the tournament for the first time since 2002.
Boston Bruins netminder Tuukka Rask will man the crease for Finland, and he knows the pressure is on considering the team also boasts Antti Niemi of the San Jose Sharks and Kari Lehtonen of the Dallas Stars, but is still excited for the experience.
"I'm sure it's going to be a great experience," Rask told the Bruins website. "I think every time you get to play with your countrymen, it's something special. I'm really looking forward to that. Hopefully we'll win some games too so it's not just a vacation."
Finland has a nice group of young talent mixed with seasoned veterans such as Teemu Selanne of the Anaheim Ducks, who has seven goals and 13 assists for 20 points.
Finland hits the ice with three players from the NHL that include Philadelphia Flyers forward Michael Raffl and New York Islanders teammates Thomas Vanek and Michael Grabner.
Vanek shared with the Islanders' website that he's honored to be a part of the Olympic Games in Sochi.
"It's an honor to play for your country, especially on a stage like this," Vanek told the site. "For us, it's fun to be there. We have a tough task ahead of us. It comes down to goaltending and we'll have to play smart, but we have some guys in the lineup that can make plays. Are we going to be huge underdogs? We will be, but we have to play smart."
Finland and Austria hit the ice against each other today to kickoff their journeys at the 2014 Olympic Games.
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