Finland`s international golden era has just begun
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- Feb 23, 2014
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No you really can't argue that. But if you still gonna, you should bring some official Football Association sausages and Veikkausliiga team logo salmiacs to the place of arguement.
JackSlater
Registered User
- Apr 27, 2010
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This is true. Producing a few elite players is a far better indicator of future success at the top level than WJC success is. Of course the two things are correlated somewhat.
One thing I will say is that I think that more Canadians used to passively support Finland than they do now. This is the case for me anyway. One reason was touched on by therealdeal, but another is that it's harder to passively support a legitimate threat. Finland never really seemed like a threat to Canada (results or not) so it was easier to wish them well before. That is changing. Good for Finland.
Looks like a Golden generation not only for Suomi...BUT for USA too, especially with the strength they have down the middle now...like never before...
Still take a lot to knock Canada off their pedestal...although it did happen briefly with the Czechs circa the turn of the century...winning OG 1998, WC and World Jr's two times in a row...so it can be done...
Limekiller
Registered User
Not sure why that article failed to have any mention of Donskoi. Seems a rather serious oversight. (Though there may be some Sharks fan bias here as I get to see him play all the time and know how amazing he is.)
- Feb 23, 2014
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The names they dropped are all U23 and mostly U20. Donskoi at 24 I think is just a bit overaged to be featured among that group.
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The cheapest sports to play have the biggest participation numbers. It's not like basketball is the most popular sport in the US or soccer is the most popular sport in Canada either.
- Feb 23, 2014
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The defence is best we can do and 4/7 of them are U23.
At 8/23 I think we're being quite fair to the North Americans who also have 33 % U23 players among their three teams.
The defence is best we can do and 4/7 of them are U23.
Aw man, we came so close to having a perfect 5/7!
Floorball doesn't take talent away from hockey. It's a sport for people who are too unathletic or too poor to ever make it to the professional level in ice hockey.
That being said, Finland is clearly ahead of Switzerland in floorball. Teuvo Teräväinen was a great floorball player at the age of 15.
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According to canadasoccer.com, soccer is the largest participatory sport in Canada with almost a million registered rembers. Does this mean that soccer is challenging ice hockey for the spot of the most popular sport in Canada? No. Just like Finland having tons of registered football players doesn't mean that it's as popular as hockey here.
Finland has greatly improved over the last 10 years, but there is no evidence at all of a golden era on the doorstep. The Gold Medal performance against Canada last week shows that Finland still hasn't stepped up for the big one.
We shall see if 2 of the past 3 gold medals from the WJC will get Finland somewhere in the near future in regards to the WHC and WC/Olympics.
What is this myth that Russia would have played better than Finland in this years WCH final... Canada crushed Russia 6-1 last year shots were like 37-12 and now Russians come to moan about Finland's lack of offense ridiculous. Im confided that if this year's final wouldv been Russia vs Canada Canada would have clearly controlled the game puck possession shots totals etc. Even so that i admit this years Canada was 1-2 steps down in level of play compared to last year.
DoubleGold
X2
Just poor sportmanship, Tretyak even said that Russia plays more "beautifully" than Finland. The fact of the matter is that Russia lost to Finland AGAIN in the semifinals and on their own territory. The right team made it to the finals.
Hmmm...winning U18's, 2 outa the last 3 world juniors, going 9-0 at WC's, including a victory over RUS in semis, ( prior to their GMG loss ), and cranking out emerging stars like Barkov, Laine, Puljujarvi and Aho, doesn't constitute evidence to you? Man ur a hard sell...
For a nation of 5 million to pose such a serious threat to the historical hockey superpowers, with so many youngsters on their A-team already ( as witnessed by their World Cup roster ), seems very very special.
If this isn't a ' golden generation ' for Suomi, it'll do till the real thing comes along
Right now it is to early to tell if Laine is going to be as good as selänne or in the long run a bust etc. But Finland definitely are on the verge to a golden age, but we do not know yet.
I wouldnt take it personally. They obviously develope players to play "beutifully".....
To say that we play ' more beautifully' than our opponents, after a crushing defeat, on home ice no less, sounds like sour grapes. In hockey, they don't award the team which seems the most esthetically pleasing. Whether a goal looks pretty or ugly is immaterial. They all count, and whichever team scores most wins.
In the semis, Suomi scored 3 to Russia's 1, and last year, in the GMG, Canada scored 6 to Russia's 1...
THAT'S UGLY!
LaP
Registered User
You can't really compare soccer to hockey. Soccer is cheap. Hockey is not.
There's probably more kids playing organized soccer in leagues than hockey in the province of quebec. But i can tell you hockey is VASTLY more popular.
Yes hockey is more expensive, but you are speaking from a different point of view. That wasn't my point.
The original statement, which I replied was:
Hockey is by a large margin the most important sport in Finland. But in Sweden and Switzerland there is so many other sports that takes young talent from the hockey.
I was just pointing that there are other big and relevant sports also in Finland that takes away talent from hockey. Soccer is one big sport, floorball over 40 000 players, basketball, etc etc. So why say that in Sweden and Switzerland there are many other sports taking talent, when it is the same in Finland and propably in every country. That's not a valid argument here.
... and with low numerical population and low numbered pool of potential hockey players that can be even more relevant thing then with bigger countries with vast player bases.
In case of Finland it seems already that there aren't much room for radical improvements in a total amount of hockey players versus players of other team sports. Hockey players per capita ratio have it's 'natural limits' too, at least if we talk about top elite level international hockey. Improving players' quality is rational thing to do, that, luckily, Team Finland have already long tradition in history.
In case of Finland it seems already that there aren't much room for radical improvements in a total amount of hockey players versus players of other team sports. Hockey players per capita ratio have it's 'natural limits' too, at least if we talk about top elite level international hockey. Improving players' quality is rational thing to do, that, luckily, Team Finland have already long tradition in history.
http://www.eurohockey.com/article/4587-the-finnish-goalie-wonder.html
Article on Finnish goaltending posted today with quotes from Pekka Rinne, Joonas Korpisalo, and Karri Ramo....
Here's an excerpt:
Known for having one of the best glove hands in the game, Pekka credits playing Pesapallo (Finnish baseball) as a contributor to the quickness of his glove hand today in the National Hockey League. "I'm sure playing Finnish baseball helped a little bit," Rinne said. "I used to wear a baseball glove all the time, and I'm sure it improves your hand eye coordination. I always try and tell kids when I visit different hockey camps that they should play other sports too growing up. It's not going to hurt your hockey, it makes you a better athlete in the long run."
Article on Finnish goaltending posted today with quotes from Pekka Rinne, Joonas Korpisalo, and Karri Ramo....
Here's an excerpt:
Known for having one of the best glove hands in the game, Pekka credits playing Pesapallo (Finnish baseball) as a contributor to the quickness of his glove hand today in the National Hockey League. "I'm sure playing Finnish baseball helped a little bit," Rinne said. "I used to wear a baseball glove all the time, and I'm sure it improves your hand eye coordination. I always try and tell kids when I visit different hockey camps that they should play other sports too growing up. It's not going to hurt your hockey, it makes you a better athlete in the long run."
It's not that simple. Same kind of playing system can be used in small rink too. On narrow ice it's actually easier to trap and clog the middle. On larger ice the team on offense has more room to operate looking for a scoring chance if defending team is passive. On small ice it may look less passive because there's less room. If the defending team is passive (typically with weaker player material) in its own zone, it should not be that hard for team with elite players to break that defense and score.
It's actually ironic how many fans boast before every and each tournament how some Team Canada will destroy weaker opponents with its elite offense. If the players are so elite when compared to others, how can it be so difficult to penetrate some weak KHL/AHL level defense on ice? Do the elite players really need to be given odd man situations first before they can generate offense? To me it sounds like whining "we would destroy you if you'd just give us some A class scoring chances first".
It's a pretty stupid conclusion to say that NHL shouldn't use bigger ice because of defensive tactic seen in WHC and Olympics. NHL is an entertainment product which is supposed to generate maximum amount of revenue, and because of that NHL tries to use every possible way to ensure that all teams are as equal as possible. In international tournaments it's only about winning and teams are not even at all. It's a completely different thing.
It leads to fact that players with weaker material just can't use same tactic and aggressiveness on defense that Team Canada can. It's a bit same if some Atlantic division all stars team played against an AHL team. Using smaller ice wouldn't magically convert AHL players to something better, but they'd need more careful tactics if they'd want to win. That's independent of rink size.
