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Finland's status and reputation in the hockey world (merged)

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It's all a cycle. The Czech were dominant with Hasek and Jagr, even won Olympic Gold. Now, I'd likely rank them #6 in the World.

Look at Germany. They were the 8th best nation the early 2000's, now are likely behind countries like Danemark, Switzerland, Latvia and Slovenia. BUT they will come back strong, with Draisitl looking like a stud.

Likely, Canada will always be #1 and Russia #2 on paper. Those are two big countries that have hockey as a religion. USA and Sweden have been #3 and #4 for a while (again on paper) with the Czech, Finland and Slovakia (who are free falling) coming after.

Finland is saving face right now. This is a weak year for them (except in goal) yet they still managed to beat the Russians. They have a ton of injuries and didn't even have that good of a roster to begin with. They also won the WJCs. They have a TON of great young players coming in, so I see them moving up perhaps even above Sweden (on paper) pretty soon.

But Finland is proving that hockey is a team played on ice, not on paper.

But it's still a cycle.
 
Esko6 said:
I wrote something about this in an earlier thread:

There is an organization called "Nuori Suomi", Young Finland. Their aim is admirable, to make sure more kids play sports. They also want to make sure even the less skilled kids get to play. They had a long partnership with the Finnish hockey federation and the hockey bosses here followed their instructions, for example the maximum number of training games kids can play. The federation leader Kalervo Kummola even got an award from the organization.

When Finland won the WJC this year, Kummola stated that our junior programs had many awful years because of the "everyone plays and Nuori Suomi-mentality", he said that the hockey federation was to blame for not realizing that while Nuori Suomi had a great goal they were also holding back the most talented young players. Kummola stated that removing some of the Nuori Suomi guidelines had started in 2010 and that Finnish junior hockey was starting to revitalize.

Kummola is a very stubborn man, there has to be some truth behind it if he admits making a mistake.
Click to expand...

So in other words our communist politics creeped into the hockey system and the coaches were too afraid to give special attention to the best players, resulting in a loss of talent. Gotcha.
 
I just love Finland. You won't find a team who plays with more heart, soul, grit than the Finns IMO. That's why I always root for them after Canada.
 
The great thing about Finland is that there defense hasnt been as bad as people expected. I really hope they medal :handclap:
 
Look, Finland beat Russia today, but there this is still a 'top 5' situation. Not 'top 4'.
 
I've been more afraid of the Finnish team than the Russian team for years, because they always seem to play solid, team based hockey. Usually, I would prefer the Canadians to face the Americans or Swedes as well, even though the Finns may have less star power. This year, I think all four of the final four teams (assuming the Americans and Canadians win) could win it all, I wouldn't bet money on any one team right now.
 
Top goalie, top coaching, top team play.

On paper we are probably 5th or 6th best, but im glad these games are not played on paper.
 
Their trap is really boring and frustrating, but it's hockey... and that's fair, I suppose?

Now, the Canadian 2-1 win in OT doesn't look that bad, eh? Good for Finland. They're always my #2 team in international tournaments.
 
This is a Team game. Team is always stronger than individuals. Some of you had problems in believing this Team before tournament. Some important individuals were missing. But this team stands tall and fights. Have a faith fellow Finns!

Next, Swedes.
 
It's incredible how small country like Finland, with only ~60k active players can beat big countries like Canada, Sweden, Russia etc. While ago they just won World Junior Championship.

Their roster is "nothing special", still they fought like a true lions. Big hats off, congrats! :handclap:
 
More medals at the Olympics than anyone else since the NHL'er's started going over. The one year they didn't medal (2002) was attributable to Canada's usual mediocre performance in the Round-Robin, so Finland got matched up with them right off the bat. And it was the closest game Canada had during the playoff portion (2-1).

They always play a hard team game, have dependable smart players, and some good goaltending too. In short tournaments like this, that's a real big deal.

You could say that they're almost the opposite of Russia...
 
On paper? No chance.

However, we've proved many times that we play as a TEAM. We have great goaltending, great coaching and we play a great two-way game. Also, Barkov, Määttä, Granlund, Armia, Vatanen, Pulkkinen, Salomäki, Haula and so on are 4 years older. Hell, Markus Granlund is looking really good in Abbotsford Heat right now (leading AHL rookie scoring I think). Mikko, Filppula, J. Jokinen and Rask are still likely playing on a good level. I'd say Finnish hockey is in a good place right now. We should be even better in 4 years.
 
What do you make up the argument from?

Team on paper or actual performance?

Cause on paper I think Canada, Russia, USA, Sweden all produce more quality players, AINEC. Except goalies ofc, dont know what they do over there.

Actuall performance I would say Canada and USA is above the others right now and then russia finland and sweden battles for the other spots.

Why dont we just go back to the big 5 and we dont have to argue ;)
 
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