HOCKEY Sweden captures the gold

They held off Finland for a 3-2 victory in the final game.
TURIN, Italy (AP) -- Sweden's trio of hockey stars somehow found each other amid the joyous flag-waving and flower-tossing by their Olympic teammates, and shared one final hug. This was the last time Peter Forsberg, Mats Sundin and Nicklas Lidstrom would be together, and they knew it.
That they combined for the winning goal only begins to illustrate what they have meant to their country, their team, their sport.
Sweden's three most accomplished players came through in its biggest game, with Lidstrom scoring the game-winner 10 seconds into the third period on assists by Sundin and Forsberg in a 3-2 victory Sunday over rival Finland for the men's hockey gold medal.
"I think this generation of players, we are getting older, and this is probably our last chance, so it's great," said Sundin, the Toronto Maple Leafs' captain.
"That was a great goal by three great guys," teammate Daniel Sedin said. "It was a good fit for it to come down to that."
Came a long way
Especially when it seemed a week ago the Swedes had no chance for this. They were beaten badly by Russia, 5-0, then lost to Slovakia 3-0 -- after coach Bengt-Ake Gustafsson suggested a loss might gain a more favorable quarterfinal matchup against Switzerland.
But, unlike their 2002 loss to Belarus in one of the Olympics' biggest upsets, the Swedes got better as the tournament went along. They peaked for the gold medal game against Finland, which had a 27-5 scoring advantage while winning its first seven games in Turin.
As usual, though, the Swedes got the best of their Nordic next-door neighbors, just as they have in winning seven world championships to Finland's one. Finland has long had an inferiority complex when it comes to Sweden, which is nearly twice as large in population and, two centuries ago, controlled Finland.
"The silver medal is never going to turn into gold, even when it's 100 years old," Teemu Selanne said. "I think a while later, it'll be a little less disappointing, but I thought we deserved better than this."
The game winner came so quickly, Finland goalie Antero Niittymaki almost didn't react.
Forsberg, playing despite a severe groin injury that kept him out of the Philadelphia Flyers' last eight games, grabbed the puck following the faceoff and fed ahead to Sundin.
Forsberg has now figured in the two biggest goals in Swedish history. He won the 1994 Olympics gold with the final goal of a shootout against Canada -- a moment recreated in a Swedish postage stamp.