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

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This is a very silly thread.

Can we have two threads: one about international hockey in Sochi so far - and another one for those, who are concerned about who is respecting who.

What other countries think about Finland is pointless. We execute our game plan and see, how far that leads us. We should not concern ourselves about what other countries think about that... respect or not, the results count.

Friday will be a perfect semi-final day: CAN-USA and FIN-SWE fighting for the glory.
 
I love being referred to as "North American". Makes me chuckle for some stupid reason, even though it's clearly true.

As for the OP - Finland scares the living **** out of me, nobody's underestimating you.
 
hitmen19 said:
because the finnish play the same system as the norways, Latvians, the swiss, always have. They are just the best at that system, and have the best goaltenders that allows them to do it more effectively.

until they start playing an attacking style, they will always be in that group[/QUOTE

facepalm. look at who have scored the most goals.

its about scoring, not about holding the puck in the corners.
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Finland is very well respected, everyone says they play the most "north american style" game of any european country (that's a compliment), everyone knows they have the best and deepest goalie talent of any country, they are always dangerous. Certainly nobody would make the mistake of equating Finland to the Swiss. Finland-Sweden is a huge rivalry game, close matchup even with some major injuries both ways, should be a fantastic game.
 
Of course people who know something about hockey does know that Finland is quite fine in hockey. I dont know where you got that kind of view that people put Finland in same kind of category than like for example Belarussia. And what do we care after all?

Finland has been quite consistant in best-of-best tournaments. Thing is that some people just look at rosters and think thats its, like games are played on paper. But to our good coaching and teamwork has also part in these games. And goaltending can make difference. But I agree that it is easy to just look rosters, I do it also usually.

And one thing is, that these "tiers" are still close to each others.. It aint like tier 1 team beats 99 times out of 100 tier 2 team and so on.

It is funny how people make fast assumptions. I mean look at the threads here which have been make during olympics. For example Team A (=slight underdog) beats Team B (slight favorite) -> instantly there is threads about "Is team A underrated?" "Is team B overrated?" "What is the problem with team B?" "What is the problem with Country B's ice hockey?" etc. etc.
 
Didn't North American media rank Finland among medal favorites prior the tournament?

The OP is like old joke where Scandinavians meet Jesus and get one question each.

Swedes, Danes and Norwegians ask about their existential dilemmas while Finn wants to know what Jesus thinks of Finland.
 
In all the talk of depth and missing players, I haven't seen Joni Pitkänen's name mentioned once. He'd have been a lock to make this team had he been healthy. I'm sorry if others have spoken of him, but I haven't seen or heard his name mentioned once, in the media or even on these boards.
 
Because Finland not should have won today. If it weren't for Rask this would have been ugly to watch.
 
I respect Finland more than Sweden because they always Medal. They have so many injuries and are still in the mix for gold. Also note Rinne as one of their injuries even though he's not there.
 
Finland is my favourite hockey country other than Canada. If we are eliminated, I'll be cheering for Suomi the entire way and I believe that they've got the talent do it.
 
I came into this olympics thinking top 3 were (no order): Canada, US, Sweden.
4/5 were probably Finland/Russia or vice versa.

So far, everything is proceeding as expected. They're also talented enough that they could feasibly "upset" any other country in the top 5. How is this a lack of respect?
 
They aren't "sexy" like Swedes with Karlsson et al.
But they are super, super hardworking, indefatigable on defence and a certain favourite.

I worked with a Finn in International Relations, she was razor-sharp wit/tongue, brilliant woman, a little cold at first but once you proved your intelligence she was a great ally for our department!
 
only people who thought finland would be a pushover are total idiots or completely ignorant to world hockey... probably the same people saying teams suck because they have X amount of khl'ers instead of nhl'ers.
 
Leafs87 said:
Because Finland not should have won today. If it weren't for Rask this would have been ugly to watch.
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We didn't watch the same game then. :laugh:

To OP: I don't care about the respect, it comes if it comes. Those who actually watch hockey knows whats our record in best on best tournaments. Casual fans who can't google or don't remember mean nothing to me. :laugh:
 
Finland is absolutely respected. Anyone who says that Finland doesn't have a chance at gold is delusional. Finland isn't the best team on paper, but that doesn't matter, since they've got a damn fine one and can play their roles to a tee. Finland is certainly a top 5 hockey nation, and once you're in that group, anything can happen, especially in a single game elimination tournament.
 
Toronto media's take on this has always been "never underestimate Finland." That's been the running story throughout these Olympics.

Definite top 4 in the world for me and they will definitely medal if Rask continues the stellar play.
 
The funny thing is, such a big fuss is made out of the fact that Finland is missing three or four of its top centres. Especially when it comes with a notion that Finland lacks depth and they have to make do with 2nd-rate replacements.

Now, Finland has Jarkko Immonen, Petri Kontiola and Jori Lehterä. There's something I'd like to point out: Each of these guys are the 1st line centers in their respective KHL teams. The KHL is not the NHL, but still, you can't be a complete chump to get the nod to lead the main scoring unit in the second best league of the world.

There are plenty of people for whom hockey does not exist outside the NHL so it's no wonder they don't consider anything outside the league as good as what's in it. However, if these three guys were to cross over, you'd no doubt see them play at least adequately in depth roles for most teams.

Now, if Finland had say, Shawn Horcoff, Derek Roy and Lars Eller in their lineup instead of Immonen, Kontiola and Lehterä, would people be making such a big number of the loss of Koivu, Filppula and Barkov? Not likely. They'd say it's a bummer, but would be far quicker to recognize that they do, in fact, have at least a fighting chance.

The bottom line: It is simply not true that Finland lacks depth. Because Immonen, Kontiola and Lehterä are exactly that. Depth options.
 
Let's be honest here, Finland simply does not have the talent depth of the top tier teams. In a short tournament they certainly are good enough to have a shot but let's not kid ourselves into thinking that over time Finland would consistently beat the Team Canadas and Team USes of the world.

Basically, over time possession wins out and the Finns don't have the horses to not be significantly outpossessed by the top teams.
 
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