STOCKHOLM – There are few things that international hockey fans love more than a good rivalry game. And not all rivalries are simply based on geography or history.

Naturally, tilts between neighbouring hockey powers like Sweden and Finland, Canada and the United States, or the Czech Republic and Slovakia are always captivating.

The great historical rivalry between Canada and Russia has defined international hockey in so many ways. Particularly since the 1972 Summit Series, where Canada narrowly prevailed in Game Eight in Moscow on Paul Henderson’s last-minute goal, a game between Canada and the Russians or Soviets has always been a must-see for its speed, skill, and all-around intensity.

But sometimes fresh rivalries emerge out of circumstance. When you play another team repeatedly and it’s inevitably a hard-fought affair, fans on both sides will start to get excited about return engagements, regardless of where the national borders lie or what happened 40 years ago.

Here are two examples of “created rivalries” that have already played out at the 2012 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. Will there be more to come?

Canada-Switzerland

In the not-so-distant past, when Canada was about to face Switzerland, it typically provoked a round of guffaws from the Canadian fans and media, along with jokes about Heidi or The Swiss Family Robinson, and speculation about how badly the Swiss were going to lose.

In this case, perception has long been at odds with reality. While Canada has consistently gotten the better of Switzerland over the years, games between the two nations have been generally close since the early 1990s. In fact, in 13 World Championship meetings since 1991, Canada has only beaten the Swiss by three or more goals on four occasions.

The biggest turning point in the relationship came at the 2006 Olympics in Turin, where Martin Gerber’s 49-save performance and Paul DiPietro’s two goals gave Switzerland a stunning 2-0 victory over Canada’s best. It was the first such triumph at the Winter Games for the Swiss in 86 years.

Since then, everyone’s recognized that Canada-Switzerland is normally going to be a battle. That was the case at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, where Sidney Crosby’s shootout goal on Jonas Hiller earned Canada a 3-2 decision. At the 2010 Worlds, Switzerland prevailed 4-1, while it was 4-3 Canada in OT last year, and only a third-period Ryan Getzlaf goal gave Canada a 3-2 win in Helsinki on Wednesday.

Russia-Germany

Set aside the political enmity between these two nations in the 20th century, because that’s certainly not what’s driving the new Russia-Germany rivalry on the ice. While the Russians have long been masters of finesse and creativity, it’s Germany’s newfound ability to counter their rivals’ offensive explosiveness that has made for some interesting games.

Back in the Soviet era, the Russians were so far ahead of Germany with their conditioning and puck possession game that most encounters turned into laughers.

Whether it was the 1970s super-troika of Valeri Kharlamov, Vladimir Petrov and Boris Mikhailov or the 1980s “KLM Line” of Vladimir Krutov, Igor Larionov and Sergei Makarov, the Germans just had no way of stopping them, and the scoring punch of German stars like Gerd Trunschka and Erich Kühnhackl couldn’t keep pace.

As if things weren’t bad enough for the Germans at even strength, they’d get pounded by the Russian power play. They consistently took a ton of restraining fouls because that was the only way to slow down the Soviets.

The low point came at the 1973 World Championship in Moscow, where the hosts hammered West Germany 17-1 to open the tournament and then 18-2 eight days later.

But nowadays, with attention to solid defensive positioning, the Germans can skate with the Russians, and while they still don’t have big guns that can match the likes of Yevgeni Malkin or Pavel Datsyuk, they find a way to keep things close.

In 2010, Alexander Ovechkin’s third-period goal gave Russia a 3-2 win in Qualifying Round play. A super effort by Datsyuk with 1:50 left lifted the Russians to a 2-1 victory in the semi-finals.

Last year, the Germans scored their first victory ever over Russia with a grinding 2-0 shutout for goalie Dennis Endras. Russia returned the favour at this tournament, winning 2-0 as the goose egg went to Semyon Varlamov on Tuesday.

LUCAS AYKROYD