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Ice hockey: Selanne sets Olympic scoring record
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Feb 19, 2010
Vancouver (AFP) - Teemu Selanne became the all-time points leader in Olympic hockey history, collecting an assist on Finland's third goal Friday as the 2006 silver medallists trounced Germany 5-0.
The Finnish Flash assisted on Kimmo Timonen's second goal of the game for his Olympic-record 37th point, surpassing the previous mark held by Russian legend Valeri Kharlamov, Czechoslovakia's Vlastimil Bubnik and Canada's Harry 'Moose' Watson.
"It is a big honour," said Selanne, who is playing with a plastic face mask to protect a broken jaw.
"But it is one of those situations where you really enjoy it more when your career is done and over."
Finland joined Sweden and the Czech Republic in the win column Friday as all three medallists from four years ago at the Turin Games won their preliminary round matches.
Gold medal winners Sweden beat Belarus 4-2 and the bronze medalists Czechs cruised past Latvia 5-2.
Selanne, who turns 40 in July, has a silver medal from Turin and bronze at the 1998 Nagano Olympics and would like nothing better than to end his Olympic career with a gold.
Selanne helped set up Timonen's goal on the powerplay late in the second for his 17th assist to go with 20 career goals. His wife and children were among the crowd at Canada Hockey Place to witness the event.
"If somebody had told me 30 years ago what's going to happen I would say you're crazy," Selanne said. "I played a long time with a lot of good players and that is what makes it all happen."
Selanne's teammate on the Anaheim Ducks Saku Koivu made sure he retrieved the historic puck from the referee and gave it to Selanne.
"Teemu has been the same for Finnish hockey as Jari Kurri," said defenceman Sami Salo who got the other assist on the Timonen goal. "He's a stable guy and the numbers he has put up are unbelievable."
Heading into the tournament Selanne needed two points to break the record. He tied it on Wednesday, getting another assist in a 5-1 Finland victory over Belarus.
When he was growing up in Finland, Selanne got a chance to see Kharlamov's Red Army team.
"When I was a young boy we were always in the rink when the Red Army would come to our city," Selanne said. "I was a big fan of those guys. I watched Kharlamov and (Boris) Mikhailov and those guys."
Selanne has had his share of injuries in his career but the past two NHL seasons have been especially gruesome.
He is playing with the face mask to protect the jaw he broke in mid-January when he was hit by a deflected puck.
The incident happened as he was still recovering from a badly broken left hand a month earlier that required surgery.
At the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Selanne lost three teeth when he took a stick to the mouth but didn't miss a game.
In the earlier game, Jaromir Jagr, David Krejci and Tomas Plekanec scored in the opening period to power the Czech Republic over Latvia.
Tomas Kaberle, with his first goal of the tournament, and Patrik Elias also scored for the Czechs who moved to 2-0 in Group B of the preliminary round. Defenceman Marek Zidlicky finished with three assists.
In the first Olympic meeting between the two countries, the Czechs jumped out to 4-0 lead before Latvia came storming back with two goals late in the second period.
The win moves the Czechs into first place in Group B with six points, just ahead of the Russians who have five.
The Czechs and Russians square off on Super Sunday in a trio of marquee showdowns that also includes Canada against the USA and Sweden versus Finland.
Daniel Alfredsson scored two goals and Daniel Sedin finished with a goal and an assist as defending champion Sweden beat Belarus.
He added his second with just 11 seconds left in the game, taking a pass from Sedin's twin brother Henrik.
Belarus kept the game close thanks to a pair of goals by Dmitri Meleshko.
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