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Monday February 6, 2012

This is Michael Russo's 17th year covering the National Hockey League. He's covered the Minnesota Wild for the Star Tribune since 2005 following 10 years of covering the Florida Panthers for the Sun-Sentinel. Michael uses “Russo’s Rants” to feed a wide-ranging hockey-centric discussion with readers, and can be heard weekly on KFAN (100.3 FM) radio.

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Koivu, Backstrom, Miettinen, Havlat, Zidlicky named Olympians

Posted by: Michael Russo under Wild news Updated: December 30, 2009 - 2:57 PM

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The Wild will have five Olympians head to Vancouver in February.

Mikko Koivu, Niklas Backstrom and Antti Miettinen were named to Finland’s roster Wednesday, while Martin Havlat and Marek Zidlicky were named to the Czech Republic’s team.

“This was my goal at the start of the year,” said Miettinen, who was selected to play in the 2006 Winter Olympics but had to withdraw because of an injury. “I’ve always enjoyed my time representing my country in the World Championships, but this is a whole different thing. It’s the Olympics … in Vancouver. It’s going to be big for Finland. It’s a dream."
 
Koivu and Backstrom were part of the Finns’ 2006 silver-medal squad, but Koivu was a fourth-liner and Backstrom didn’t play in a game.
 
Havlat made the 2002 Czech team as a 20-year-old and even played some on a line with his idol, Jaromir Jagr. He missed the 2006 Games with a shoulder injury, while Zidlicky captured a bronze medal with the Czechs four years ago and led all defensemen in the tournament with four goals.
 
“Nobody’s expecting anything from us. I think it’s good. No pressure,” Havlat told me last month in a Hockey News Olympics magazine feature I wrote that will be on newsstands soon. “I think we can only surprise. Nobody expected us to win in ’98, and as [Dominik] Hasek showed, if you’ve got a hot goalie, you can win whatever you want.
 
“It’s going to be special, especially being in Canada. For the fans back home, you know everybody’s watching. This is what you dream of.”
 
 
 
The Canadian team will be named at 11 a.m.
 
The U.S. team will be named Jan. 1.
 
Wild won't have any Canadians, and don't have any Americans currently on the roster.

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