Sami Salo - International Play

International Play

Salo made his international debut with the Finnish national team at the 2001 World Championships in Germany. He recorded an international career-high nine points in nine games, second among tournament defencemen to Finnish teammate Petteri Nummelin. Finland advanced to the gold medal game, where they lost 3–2 to the Czech Republic, earning silver.

On December 13, 2001, Salo was selected to the Finnish national team for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, along with Senators teammate Jani Hurme. He appeared in four games without registering a point as Finland was defeated by the gold-medal winning Canadians in the quarterfinal by a 2–1 score.

In Salo's next World Championships appearance in 2004, he recorded three assists in seven games. Finland failed to medal, losing their quarterfinal to Canada. Salo assisted on the go-ahead goal in the third period before Canada tied up the score and won 5–4 in overtime. Several months later, at the 2004 World Cup, Salo helped Finland to the final, notching three assists in seven games. For his third straight national team appearance, however, Finland was eliminated by Canada, losing the championship game 3–2.

He made his second Olympics appearance at the 2006 Games in Turin. He recorded four points in six games before suffering a tournament-ending shoulder injury in a collision with teammate Ville Peltonen during a line change in front of the team bench. The injury kept him from playing in the semifinal and gold medal game, where Finland won the silver medal in a 3–2 loss to Sweden. Despite missing two games, Salo ranked second among team defencemen, behind Kimmo Timonen, with a goal and four points in six games. Four years later, Salo competed once again for Finland at the 2010 Winter Olympics in his NHL hometown Vancouver. He recorded two points in six games, while leading all Finnish players in ice time. He scored his lone goal during the bronze medal game, opening the score against Slovakia in a 5–3 win.