WJC Semifinals PREVIEW: Sorting in the Semis

Semifinal Game 1: Sweden vs. Finland - 3pm

Do I even need to tell you why you should watch this?

It’s Finland vs. Sweden. It’s the most intense rivalry of the euro-sphere that doesn’t involve the Red Machine. Two neighbors who are otherwise perfect friends who have hyper-competitive play against one another. This is everything you could possibly ask for in a semifinal, with perhaps the sad understanding it will send one team to the Bronze Medal game.

For both sides, this can only be gut check time: Sweden had to put up with Latvia refusing to roll over and die, and a number of their faults, few as they were, began to crop up even as the Latvians got mostly steamrolled. Finland meanwhile, just…