Ice hockey-Finland confident of having full roster available for US match

MILAN, Feb 6 - Finland women's ice hockey team are confident of having a full, or almost full roster available for Saturday's match with the United States, a Finnish spokesperson told Reuters, after their opening game at the Olympics was postponed due to stomach flu in the camp.

Thursday's Group A match with Canada was postponed hours before the players were set to hit the ice at the Milano Rho Arena, with 11 of Finland's 23-strong roster in isolation after four players came down with Norovirus.

"Nine players are still isolated," the spokesperson said on Friday.

"The rest will train today, or are allowed to train if they feel strong enough."

Finland had cancelled Wednesday's practice session after the outbreak, and only had 12 players available for Thursday morning's training as they prepared to face Canada before the Milano Cortina Games' organisers decided on the postponement.

Finland are following IOC guidelines, with players isolating for a minimum of 48 hours, but there have been no new cases within the last 24 hours and they say there is a good chance of having close to a full roster for the clash with the Americans.

The game with Canada was rescheduled for February 12. After the match with the U.S., who beat the Czech Republic 5-1 on Thursday, Finland will also face the Czechs on Sunday and Switzerland on Tuesday. All five sides in the group will advance to the quarter-finals. REUTERS