This is the second day of the men’s Olympic hockey competition in Sochi, Russia.
It’s a far busier day, with four games involving three Flyers -– Kimmo Timonen (Finland), Michael Raffl (Austria) and Andrej Meszaros (Slovakia).
Austria will be hard pressed to defeat Team Finland as Raffl and Timonen face each other head-to-head. Slovakia and Russia might be more evenly matched than expected.
Here’s what the Timonen had to say before heading to Russia.
Q: Kimmo, your situation is very different. Been there, done that. But you’ve been injured. Do you temper that with the excitement of going over?
Timonen: It’s been in the back of my mind. I got to get healthy first ... I wanted to get back in the lineup and get my skating legs back up to where they should be because it’s a bigger ice surface over there. I want to feel I am right in my head, too.
Q: It's the fifth Olympics for you. What feels different?
Timonen: The first is always the first and it was a while ago. We had seven defensemen go and now I am in the top pair. It’s different. It’s always a great honor to put that jersey on and now I know it’s my last time. Special meaning for me, for sure.
Q: What are your expectations?
Timonen: I want to play well. Win the gold. That’s the only way we should be going in there. I have a bronze and silver, but I am still missing the gold. We lost 2-1 in Turin to Sweden [for the gold]. It stayed with me for a while. Nothing you can do about it. I have a chance now and there’s really good countries and players. Everyone has a chance.
Q: Kimmo, how can the Olympics help you the rest of the season, career? Jakub Voracek thought it could really make a difference being his first time, but you’re an older veteran.
Timonen: I don’t know if it is going to help me. For someone like Jake, you make the team, it’s your first time over there and you play with confidence. It’s all about your confidence level. Jake going there his first time, he is really looking forward to it. He can build his confidence up from there coming back.
Q: Kimmo, five Olympics is rare. Your teammate, Teemu Selanne, this will be his sixth. How special will this be for you?
Timonen: My last year, it will be. You don’t want to go there if you are hurt. You won’t do well if you’re hurt. It’s a big ice surface, you have to skate a lot and it you are not 100 percent, at my age of almost 39, you can’t go over there playing half effort. That’s why I wanted a game or two [before] to make sure I am good to go.
Q: Will you get time to take a minute and take it all in, one last time?
Timonen: Every time you put the jersey on it’s a great honor, but this time it’s special. This time, it’s my last time and it’s going to feel special. It will be a tight schedule. You can only focus on games. It’s kind of sad, you don’t get to see all the events because of the tight schedule. You try to soak it in.