Ducks teammates Ryan and Selanne to face each other

Players who skate alongside one another during the NHL season but represent different homelands during the Olympics tend to limit their conversations during the Games -- if they talk at all.

U.S. winger Bobby Ryan said Wednesday he had talked to Anaheim teammate Teemu Selanne on Tuesday for the first time since both arrived here, and they discussed the possibility that they would face each other in the semifinals.

“I would love to play Teemu,” Ryan said after Team USA defeated Switzerland, 2-0, to reach Friday’s semifinals but before Finland had secured its berth.

“We talked about the matchup and I told him I would see him there. I’m hoping it is because I’d like to take a few runs at him. And I’m sure if he could return the favor he would.”

Ryan got his wish -- about the matchup, at least. Finland eliminated the Czech Republic, 2-0, in the third of the day’s four quarterfinal matches to set up a noon Friday encounter with the U.S.

Team USA’s victory Wednesday reduced the Ducks’ Olympic contingent to seven after goaltender Jonas Hiller and defenseman Luca Sbisa were eliminated. Still playing, besides Team USA’s Ryan and defenseman Ryan Whitney, are Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Scott Niedermayer of Canada and Selanne and Saku Koivu of Finland.

Hiller finished the tournament with a 2.47 goals-against average and .918 save percentage in five games. Sbisa, acquired by the Ducks last summer in the Chris Pronger trade, started the season in the NHL but was sent to his junior team to gain seasoning and confidence. He played well here while averaging 17 minutes, three seconds’ ice time per game.

“I wasn’t happy about the fact that I had to go back to juniors. Absolutely no offense to their decision, it’s their decision,” said Sbisa, who was assigned by the Ducks to Lethbridge of the Western Hockey League. That team traded him to Portland of the WHL but he’s still the Ducks’ property.

“But after playing in Philly 40 games, my plan this summer was to stay here the whole time,” he added. “Now I had a taste again to play against real men. That’s where I want to play and kind of it’s bad to go back to juniors. But juniors is a really good league and I’m going to go back at a really important time for playoffs.”

Perry and Getzlaf were standouts in Canada’s 7-3 thumping of Russia. Perry scored twice and Getzlaf had a goal and two assists, their best game of the tournament. They’ve had a variety of left wings and that continued Wednesday, as at times they skated alongside Brenden] Morrow and at other times had Eric Staal there.

Perry acknowledged he and Getzlaf hadn’t been as productive as they had hoped.

“It’s a good game to get going. We’ve just got to keep continuing,” he said. “It took a little while to get going but I think we found our stride and hopefully we can keep it going.”

Niedermayer, paired mostly with Nashville’s Shea Weber, played 22:03 against Russia and took four shots. Kings defenseman Drew Doughty had no points in 22:33 for Canada and had a +1 plus/minus rating.

In Team USA’s victory, Kings defenseman Jack Johnson played 19:42 but took no shots. Kings teammate Dustin Brown, active on the physical side of things, had a +1 rating, and goalie Jonathan Quick was not in uniform. Ducks defenseman Ryan Whitney played only 6:01 and didn’t play at all in the third period.

Selanne and Koivu were blanked in Finland’s victory over the Czech Republic.

Kings center Michal Handzus didn’t score in Slovakia’s 4-3 quarterfinal upset of defending Olympic champion Sweden, but he has played well for the team that has pulled the biggest upset of the tournament.

“It’s awesome. We are dreaming,” he said. “We knew we had a good team. Obviously, we knew we had to play a certain way and we did today. Everybody play as a team. We battle for each other.

“It’s huge. It’s great for us and we just have to keep going.”

helene.elliott@latimes.com