When it comes to Olympians, it looks like the Colorado Avalanche will soon have company when it comes to which team will have the most players in Italy next month. According to several sources, it appears Antero Niittymaki will be headed to the Olympics after all to represent Team Finland, upping the Flyers total to 11 players, the same as the Avalanche.
The interesting thing is, not only will Niittymaki be going to the Olympic Games, but it appears he may be the starter in net as well. [.continue.]

This situation has been really bizarre.
Initially Finland had Calgary Flames goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff starting. Atlanta Thrashers goaltender Kari Lehtonen was supposed to the backup. Here is where it gets interesting. Lehtonen and Nittymaki’s number last year in the AHL were pretty even. Except for the fact that Niittymaki won the Calder Cup and was selected MVP. Add in the fact that Lehtonen had not played a game this year because of injury when he was selected, makes me think something is up. Third goalie selected for Team Finland was Frederik Norrena, he plays in the Swedish Elite League. Is Norrena better than Niittymaki? I don’t know, but this next part I think proves it.

Both Calgary and Atlanta want their goaltenders not to play in the Olympics, they want the goaltenders to rest and more important not to injure themselves.

So who should start for Team Finland, well Norrena of course.
No? He isn’t good enough? Now Finland is possibly going to go with Boston’s Hannu Toivonen and/or Niittymaki. Toivonen right now has an ankle injury. So it appears that Niittymaki will not only go to the Olympics, but could start.

So why was Norrena going in the first place?
I smell some politics.