2009 Women's Four Nations Cup Set to Begin Today in Finland

The 2009 Women's Four Nations Cup begins today, as the U.S. Women's National Team takes on host Finland. The event, based at the Sports Institute in Vierumaki, features the top four women's hockey teams in the world - the United States, Canada, Finland and Sweden - and is the last international women's hockey tournament prior to the start of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in February.

Team USA opens preliminary-round play tonight at 6:30 p.m. (11:30 a.m. EST) against Finland at Mikkeli Arena in Mikkeli, then will take on Sweden tomorrow night at 6:30 p.m. (11:30 a.m. EST) at Vierumaki Arena. The Americans will close out the first round on Friday (Nov. 6) evening against Canada in Vierumaki. Both the championship and third-place games will take place on Saturday (Nov. 7) in Tikkurila.

All four U.S. games of the tournament will be offered via live video webstream as part of U.S. College Hockey Online's Game of the Week with Brian Schulz calling the play-by-play. Links to the complimentary live webcasts can be found here.

NOTES: All four U.S. games are intended to be video webcast, however, if technical difficulties arise at any of the three sites of the tournament, a live audio webcast will be made available in place of the video ... Click here for the 2009-10 U.S. Women's National Team roster ... Coverage of the 2009-10 U.S. Women's National Team and the Qwest Tour, including ticket information, can be found on USAHockey.com and QwestTour.com, as well as on the U.S. Women's National Team's Facebook page and on the Qwest Tour Twitter page ... The U.S. National Under-18 Team is also in Finland for the 2009 Men's Under-18 Four Nations Cup, which runs from Nov. 4-8 on the western side of the country. Meanwhile, the U.S. National Under-17 Team is taking part in the 2009 Men's Under-17 Four Nations Cup in Slovakia.

2009 Women's Four Nations Cup Schedule
Vierumaki/Mikkeli/Tikkurila, Finland • Nov. 3-7

Date Opponent Location Time (Local/ET)
Tues., Nov. 3 Finland Mikkeli, Finland 6:30 p.m./11:30 a.m.
Wed., Nov. 4 Sweden Vierumaki, Finland 6:30 p.m./11:30 a.m.
Fri., Nov. 6 Canada Vierumaki, Finland 6:30 p.m./11:30 a.m.
Sat., Nov. 7 Third-Place Game Tikkurila, Finland 2 p.m./7 a.m.
Championship Game Tikkurila, Finland 6 p.m./11 a.m.