Denmark doesn't like hockey?

[PistolPete]

I saw A LOT of empty seats at a semi-final game. Quite surprising.

Hockey really not that popular in Denmark?

 

[Fatass]

Where is Denmrsk?
Is that one of those “Scaninavion” countries?

 

[koyvoo]

Where is Denmrsk?

Just south of Norwsy and Swedsn.

 

[PistolPete]

Where is Denmrsk?
Is that one of those “Scaninavion” countries?

It's out near Bjornland. Beautiful place.

 

[Fatass]

It's out near Bjornland. Beautiful place.

Where the “Vicwings” are from?

 

[NotAVacuumSalesman]

They DO now!

Next question.

 

[PistolPete]

Where the “Vicwings” are from?

Exactly! Led by their fearless leader.....uhhhh......Cnut!

 

[Fatass]

Exactly! Led by their fearless leader.....uhhhh......Cnut!

And they ride those little hoses, the “fioyords”!

 

[hypereconomist]

No, the Danes do not like hockey.

According to the Danish federal statistical agency, StatBank Denmark, hockey doesn't even crack the top 10 sports with the highest participation rate amongst its population. Soccer is the #1 most popular sport by a large margin. Internationally, they tend to do well in soccer, handball, badminton, and cycling.

The Danish populace has absolutely zero interest in hockey. Last year, they only had 5808 registered hockey players against a population of ~5.8M people. By comparison, Finland has roughly the same sized population, but 10x the number of registered hockey players. Even Latvia, a country with roughly one-third of Denmark's population, has close to twice as many registered hockey players.

Canada should be deeply embarrassed to have been upset by the Danes this week. At least when Canada was upset by Latvia at the WC in 2021, someone in Latvia cared.

 

[Son of Nogatco]

. Last year, they only had 5808 registered hockey players against a population of ~5.8M people.

that’s a shockingly low number.

Wonder if this win will give rise to a “miracle generation” like the 1980 US team that upset the Soviets (and Swedes)

edit: gold medal game was actually against Finland

 

[1989]

that’s a shockingly low number.

Wonder if this win will give rise to a “miracle generation” like the 1980 US team that upset the Soviets (and Swedes)

Canada losing is how the sport grows!

 

[KAWAIlllI]

I saw A LOT of empty seats at a semi-final game. Quite surprising.

Hockey really not that popular in Denmark?

There’s more ice hockey indoor rinks in Canada than registered danish hockey players

 

[BusQuets]

Denmark is not like other Nordic countries. it is more like central european country with no winter sport culture. The only sport they are good at are cycling and badminton. They like football but they suck at it like most of european countries.

 

[aonb]

Denmark is not like other Nordic countries. it is more like central european country with no winter sport culture. The only sport they are good at are cycling and badminton. They like football but they suck at it like most of european countries.

They are handball kings, won 4 straight WC titles

 

[Dofs]

Denmark is not like other Nordic countries. it is more like central european country with no winter sport culture. The only sport they are good at are cycling and badminton. They like football but they suck at it like most of european countries.

This logic isn't going to work here since hockey is actually very popular in central Europe.

 

[Elvs]

The quarterfinal against Canada was played in Herning, Denmark, and it seemed crowded to me

The semifinal against Switzerland was played in Stockholm, Sweden. The distance from Herning to there is roughly the same as between Boston and Charlotte or between Winnipeg and Chicago, and I'm guessing with no direct flight connections.

I would say people in Denmark care about hockey when their national team is performing well, but probably only hardcore fans are gonna bother to make a spontaneous trip from Herning to Stockholm on less than a two day's notice.

 

[hn777]

I saw A LOT of empty seats at a semi-final game. Quite surprising.

Hockey really not that popular in Denmark?

They were not playing the semifinal in Denmark.
You saw A LOT of empty seats in Sweden.

 

[Marras]

They are handball kings, won 4 straight WC titles

Plus won 2 of the 3 most recent olympics (finished 2nd in 2016 after France). We also got the best player in the world in Mathias Gidsel, plus top 15 players (world wide) at each position and unlike our hockey team, most of our top talent is still fairly young, so at this point Denmark remains one of the favorites for 2028 olympics. And in a sense, this is what Danish hockey is “up against”, in terms of becoming more popular when it comes to team sports.

Can always argue what the biggest issue/ challenge is, but IMO a good starting point is the (lacking) number of hockey rinks. By Danish “standards” several larger cities simply don’t have one, so for kids living in those areas, playing hockey is not an option, even if they wanted to.

And to an extent having fewer rinks simply puts a limit on the overall player number.

According to the latest IIHF player survey, we currently have 29 rinks in total (and that number has to include pratice rinks) and less than a 1.000 male juniors.

Don’t know how those numbers are calculated but, at least based on that survey Denmark has one of the smallest player bases(in terms of juniors) of any country in both the top-division and in the divsion 1.

The quarterfinal against Canada was played in Herning, Denmark, and it seemed crowded to me

The semifinal against Switzerland was played in Stockholm, Sweden. The distance from Herning to there is roughly the same as between Boston and Charlotte or between Winnipeg and Chicago, and I'm guessing with no direct flight connections.

I would say people in Denmark care about hockey when their national team is performing well, but probably only hardcore fans are gonna bother to make a spontaneous trip from Herning to Stockholm on less than a two day's notice.

On point.

Denmark’s games in the group stage were either sold out (same goes for the quarterfinal aginst Canada) or close to sold out. Had the semi finals been played in Herning like the group stage of say Malmø, the attandance would likely have looked at lot different.

 

[daver]

Yes, they don't like hocky, they actually have a dis"dane" for it.

I'll let myself out.

 

[EK47]

The quarterfinal against Canada was played in Herning, Denmark, and it seemed crowded to me

The semifinal against Switzerland was played in Stockholm, Sweden. The distance from Herning to there is roughly the same as between Boston and Charlotte or between Winnipeg and Chicago, and I'm guessing with no direct flight connections.

I would say people in Denmark care about hockey when their national team is performing well, but probably only hardcore fans are gonna bother to make a spontaneous trip from Herning to Stockholm on less than a two day's notice.

Both those are about 50% longer than the distance between Stockholm and Herning. There are a lot of flights from Copenhagen but I assume quite a large part of the danish hockey community is located in Herning, but a decent chunk of it has to be in Copenhagen since the metro has about 25% of the danish population..

 

[Lambo]

Denmark is a big Handball-Nation.Tjey won 4 WC Titles in row. And Football(Soccer) is very popular there. They ve almost always a decent NT there and o be able to reach PO in Major Tournaments(EC and WC). This is enough for a Country with 5,5 Inhabitans.

 

[overage]

National teams - wikipedia 9 year period!

Danmarks fodboldlandshold 809,806

Danmarks håndboldlandshold (herrer) 1,229,652


......

basically only two main sports


Danmarks ishockeylandshold (herrer) 15,061



Danmarks basketballlandshold (herrer) 5,058

 

[Anaheim4ever]

Denmark is more likely to win an Olympic gold in Ice Hockey than they are at winning a World Cup in Soccer.
So why don't they support Ice Hockey more if they are better at it than Soccer ?

 

[overage]

sv

Sveriges herrlandslag i ishockey

645,111

sv

Sveriges herrlandslag i fotboll

1,618,803

Sweden

sv

Sveriges herrlandslag i handboll

546,001

 

[FinPanda]

They are not a big hockey country, but they are a big sports country. I love Denmark.