Nordic rivals Finland and Sweden meet tonight in the Semi-Finals of the IIHF World Championships, with a long-standing rivalry on the international scene - and a developing one in club hockey.

by Luke Fisher

COLOGNE – Since the launch of the Champions Hockey League in 2014, teams from the Liiga and SHL have met 51 times across three seasons. The Swedes hold a commanding edge over their neighbours, having won 31 of those, while teams from Finland have taken wins in only 18 (two games ended in a tie).

Notable encounters include Frolunda Gothenburg's comeback win over IFK Helsinki in the 2014-15 seaon en route to the Final, the Vaxjo Lakers' overtime win over SaiPa Lappeenranta in this season's Round of 16, and of course the 2015-16 Final, where Frolunda lifted the CHL trophy in Oulu after a 2-1 victory over Karpat. Both Lasse Kukkonen and Joel Lundqvist captained their respective sides in that game, and both will line up tomorrow for their respective countries, while Mikko Lehtonen is an SHL champion this year with HV71 Jonkoping but lines up for Finland, having also played in the CHL for TPS Turku three years ago.

"Every time you play Finland it's huge," said the Frolunda and Team Sweden captain. "But at the same time it's also a World Championship Semi-Final so you focus on that more than who you're playing. It's going to be a really big game and I'm excited for it." Finland beat the USA in the quarter-finals, they're a good team with a lot of energy, it'll be a tough game."

"It's going to be a good, tough game. The Swedes have a good time and it'll be a hard challenge," said the Turku-born defenceman. "Of course between Finland and Sweden it's a little competition all the time whenever teams from the two countries meet. I played in Sweden this year, and while that's not a big deal in this game it's Finland vs. Sweden – you always want to win!"

Sweden and Finland meet at 15:15 today in Cologne.