Hockey’s final four ready for semifinals Friday

Reporting from Vancouver, Canada — 

Defending Olympic hockey champion Sweden was sent home in the quarterfinals by emerging power Slovakia.

Russia, expected to score its way to a gold medal, was undone by its lack of passion and defense and was run out of town by Canada.

Few events in this tournament have gone according to form, starting with host Canada straining to beat Switzerland and stumbling against the U.S. in the first round, which sent the team to a qualifying game that stressed an entire nation.

But each of the four teams that will meet in the semifinals Friday has displayed one consistent trait through 10 pressure-packed days here.

For the U.S., which will face Finland today at noon, the buzzword has been teamwork.

Lacking the superstars of previous generations, this American team is 4-0 because of its role players, perseverance and lack of egos.

“The best part of our team is that we know we have to do it together as a team. It’s going to be different guys stepping up on different nights,” beefy forward Ryan Malone said Thursday. “No one guy is going to carry us.

“As long as we’re sticking to the plan and working hard we like our chances.”

The unlikely leading scorer on this young team is Brian Rafalski, a balding defenseman who is the oldest player on the team at 36. He ranks among the tournament scoring leaders with four goals and six points.

The most unlikely characteristic they’ve shown for a young team is boundless patience, as in their quarterfinal victory over Switzerland. Goaltender Jonas Hiller stopped them 42 times, but they never wavered.

“I think one of the strengths of our team is that we’re pretty resilient mentally. We don’t get frustrated easily,” defenseman Jack Johnson said. “I think we did a good job of sticking to our game and not falling into the frustration trap that Switzerland was setting up for us. We never got down on ourselves. We never got negative with each other.”

Finland, which won silver at the 2006 Turin Games, is all about mobility. It has speed up front in Teemu Selanne, the all-time leading scorer in Olympic play, and on the young top line of Minnesota’s Mikko Koivu, Detroit’s Valtteri Filppula and Carolina’s Tuomo Ruutu. Its defensemen are exceptionally good skaters, led by Philadelphia’s Kimmo Timonen and Vancouver’s Sami Salo. And in goal is Calgary’s Miikka Kiprusoff, who leads his brethren here with a .947 save percentage.

Koivu, younger brother of the Ducks’ Saku Koivu, said he’s expecting the U.S. to be physical against his team.

“It’s always kind of fun to play that game as well. It’s tough but it’s fair,” he said. “That’s the way it should be.”

The word for Slovakia, which faces Canada, would be surprise. Few observers thought it would be playing for a medal, but its skill and a defense led by the towering Zdeno Chara has been supported by world-class goaltending in Jaroslav Halak of the Montreal Canadiens. Former King Pavol Demitra and Chicago Blackhawks right wing Marian Hossa are tied with Canada’s Dany Heatley and Jonathan Toews for the scoring lead with seven points each.

But like everyone else here, Slovakia is claiming it’s not favored. “There is no question who the underdog is,” said Peter Bondra, the former NHL standout who is Team Slovakia’s general manager. “With all our hearts, that is how we will play and we will be ready for the game.”

Said defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky: “It’s for Canada the big pressure. For us nothing maybe. We’ll see what happens. You never know.”

Ah, Canada. Its buzzword has been pressure and its character built around how it survived a play-in game against Germany before thrashing Russia. The kind of physicality the Canadians exerted from the first second until the last against Russia will be crucial again Friday, center Sidney Crosby said.

“We want to come out the same way. We don’t want to feel it out. We want to use our speed, our size,” he said. “They’re disciplined. The stronger we are on defense and don’t take penalties it’s to our advantage.”

Ducks winger Corey Perry, who scored twice against Russia, said discipline will be the key for Canada.

“We know what they got. They’ve got a couple of the best goal scorers in the league in [ Marian] Gaborik and Hossa. They’ve got some speed and a big defense with Chara. They’re a team that’s going to play physical and we have to stay out of the penalty box,” he said.

“Everyone said Sweden was going to win, but in a tournament like this you get timely scoring, good goaltending and anything can happen.”

helene.elliott@latimes.com