Hockey in Denmark Growing: Where to Next?

[LastWordArmy]

Will Denmark become the next Switzerland, or the next Germany when we look at their growth on the international stage.

http://lastwordonsports.com/2015/04/08/whats-next-for-hockey-in-denmark/

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[Pominville Knows]

Although it looks good on the NHL front, with Ehlers and Björkstrand next, they really need to complement those players with solid players in various top-tier european league's. That they have not yet achieved.

 

[Slimmy]

Denmarks proximity to Sweden should not be understated. It will lend them faster progression than what we have seen from Switzerland. Hockey is gaining traction with increased popularity in media and among fans. Believe it won't take that long before they've caught up with Switzerland.

 

[Urbanskog]

The 2018 WHC in Denmark should be good for exposure.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Denmarks proximity to Sweden should not be understated. It will lend them faster progression than what we have seen from Switzerland. Hockey is gaining traction with increased popularity in media and among fans. Believe it won't take that long before they've caught up with Switzerland.

The importance of strong national championship should not be understated and Danish league is light years away from the NLA.

Furthermore, it just doesn't have potential to catch up since most of the teams play in villages. Sonderjyske won last 3 championships and wikipedia tells me they play in a town with population of 7,655. So yeah, huge growth potential.

 

[VictorLustig]

The importance of strong national championship should not be understated and Danish league is light years away from the NLA.

Furthermore, it just doesn't have potential to catch up since most of the teams play in villages. Sonderjyske won last 3 championships and wikipedia tells me they play in a town with population of 7,655. So yeah, huge growth potential.

So? Leksand is perhaps the team with the biggest fan base in Sweden and they have a population of 5934 according to Wikipedia.

 

[Slimmy]

The importance of strong national championship should not be understated and Danish league is light years away from the NLA.

Furthermore, it just doesn't have potential to catch up since most of the teams play in villages. Sonderjyske won last 3 championships and wikipedia tells me they play in a town with population of 7,655. So yeah, huge growth potential.

That was my point exactly. The proximity to Sweden gives danish players many options for development and a career. Malmö is just a short trip from Copenhagen.
A strong national league does not equal good junior player growth, i.e Germany.
There's plenty of swedish players plying on the national team today who developed in small "villages". Don't see that as a concern at all.

 

[SoundAndFury]

So? Leksand is perhaps the team with the biggest fan base in Sweden and they have a population of 5934 according to Wikipedia.

So just because there somehow is such a phenomenon in Sweden you are making a point you can get a league full of those? Legit.

That was my point exactly. The proximity to Sweden gives danish players many options for development and a career. Malmö is just a short trip from Copenhagen.
A strong national league does not equal good junior player growth, i.e Germany.
There's plenty of swedish players plying on the national team today who developed in small "villages". Don't see that as a concern at all.

The problem is not a player development but the number of players. Surely Danish prospects have good conditions to develop in Sweden but why would they pick hockey in the first place? What Lasse Lassen just did is a great example for that, he was the captain of a good hockey team and nevertheless he bolted to Australia when opportunity presented itself because that is that, Danish league, as it is right now, doesn't offer you anything.

 

[Slimmy]

The problem is not a player development but the number of players. Surely Danish prospects have good conditions to develop in Sweden but why would they pick hockey in the first place? What Lasse Lassen just did is a great example for that, he was the captain of a good hockey team and nevertheless he bolted to Australia when opportunity presented itself because that is that, Danish league, as it is right now, doesn't offer you anything.

With a lot of recent examples of danish success in the NHL and, as a consequence, media attention, there's bound to be more kids choosing hockey in Denmark. The difficulty is to keep kids playing and to be able to carve out a career in the sport. Take soccer as an example; Iceland shouldn't be anywhere near as successful as they are with their national team judging from their domestic league, climate and a population of 500,000 ca. Proximity to Scandinavia is def a factor there.

 

[ulvvf]

How do the danish lines look like with all the best? Something like this or what?

Bodker - Nielsen - Hansen
Ehlers - Eller - Bjorkstrand
Hardt - Regin - Hansen
Storm - Christensen -Jensen
Bjorkstrand

Larsen - Lauridsen
Jensen - Lauridsen
Kristensen - Bruggisser

There is not much beyond this players as far as I can see.

I do think danish hockey looks far more intresting then ever before, but the deep is not there yet. But hopefully it can grow.

Ehlers can be one of the best in the game.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Take soccer as an example; Iceland shouldn't be anywhere near as successful as they are with their national team judging from their domestic league, climate and a population of 500,000 ca. Proximity to Scandinavia is def a factor there.

What is this success you are talking about?

Also, I wasn't arguing that proximity to Scandinavia is not a factor. I was saying that the ceiling of how much Danish hockey can grow is about to be reached barring some major changes that won't happen. Thus "catching up with Switzerland" isn't going to happen either.

 

[Namejs]

What is this success you are talking about?

Also, I wasn't arguing that proximity to Scandinavia is not a factor. I was saying that the ceiling of how much Danish hockey can grow is about to be reached barring some major changes that won't happen. Thus "catching up with Switzerland" isn't going to happen either.

I definitely agree that the comparison with Switzerland is ridiculous and that only someone with a limited understanding of hockey in Europe could even make that comparison.

Both Switzerland and Germany have really good domestic leagues. NLB or DEL2 are about on par with the Danish league. Actually, they might even be slightly better than the Danish league. Anyway, the depth of the Danish hockey programme is incomparable to Switzerland or Germany.

The general interest in hockey in Denmark is not comparable to Switzerland and the population size is not even close to Germany.

The surge in the number of NHL players is a statistical outlier and it hasn't got anything to do with some explosion in the number of hockey players in Denmark. Yes, hockey in Denmark has improved, but there's no reason to assume that it will suddenly leapfrog countries like Latvia, Norway or Belarus.

 

[Slimmy]

I definitely agree that the comparison with Switzerland is ridiculous and that only someone with a limited understanding of hockey in Europe could even make that comparison.

Both Switzerland and Germany have really good domestic leagues. NLB or DEL2 are about on par with the Danish league. Actually, they might even be slightly better than the Danish league. Anyway, the depth of the Danish hockey programme is incomparable to Switzerland or Germany.

The general interest in hockey in Denmark is not comparable to Switzerland and the population size is not even close to Germany.

The surge in the number of NHL players is a statistical outlier and it hasn't got anything to do with some explosion in the number of hockey players in Denmark. Yes, hockey in Denmark has improved, but there's no reason to assume that it will suddenly leapfrog countries like Latvia, Norway or Belarus.

I made no such claim.
I was merely talking about the NT and success in international tournaments. Don't get how you got that ridiculous tripe from my post?

 

[Slimmy]

What is this success you are talking about?

Also, I wasn't arguing that proximity to Scandinavia is not a factor. I was saying that the ceiling of how much Danish hockey can grow is about to be reached barring some major changes that won't happen. Thus "catching up with Switzerland" isn't going to happen either.

The NHL success I'm talking about is the danish players who make a living there these days and the quality of said players.

What are these changes you see must take place and why would that be an impossibility? For Denmark to have continued success on the international stage on par with Switzerland, all it takes is a golden generation and a decade. Things could happen rather quickly.

 

[SoundAndFury]

The NHL success I'm talking about is the danish players who make a living there these days and the quality of said players.

Yes, I quoted part about Icelandic soccer to get exactly this answer, not about soccer in Iceland or anything

 

[Namejs]

I made no such claim.
I was merely talking about the NT and success in international tournaments. Don't get how you got that ridiculous tripe from my post?

I have no idea what you're talking about. I wasn't responding to you, unless your name is Brianne and you're the OP.

 

[Slimmy]

Yes, I quoted part about Icelandic soccer to get exactly this answer, not about soccer in Iceland or anything

Oh, sorry. My bad. Was a bit distracted by the SHL finals.

Well, if you have a look at the current standings for the Euro qualifiers, they seem to be doing quite well, as of late.

They almost clinched a spot to the World Champs in Brazil, losing to Croatia in the play-off with an aggregate score of 0-2.

I'd say that is rather impressive for a nation of that size.

 

[Slimmy]

I have no idea what you're talking about. I wasn't responding to you, unless your name is Brianne and you're the OP.

Except you were not replying to the OP. Instead you we're replying to a post which was quoting a post of mine. But alright.

 

[slovakiasnextone]

As has been already menioned, I think, in order to make the next step Denmark needs at least one of a strong core of players in top European leagues or a strong domestic league.

The chances of the latter seem nonexistent at the moment, and the former is not exactly currently happening either.

For the national team having all of its best players in the NHL is actually not really an advantage as Denmark has seen multiple times in the Olympics qualifications (they have been a bit luckier with the WC, but even there they can't count 100% of their best), where they struggle against teams of around their level, who might not produce as much NHL talent as Denmark, but who have plenty of their best players in Europe.

 

[Slimmy]

As has been already menioned, I think, in order to make the next step Denmark needs at least one of a strong core of players in top European leagues or a strong domestic league.

The chances of the latter seem nonexistent at the moment, and the former is not exactly currently happening either.

For the national team having all of its best players in the NHL is actually not really an advantage as Denmark has seen multiple times in the Olympics qualifications (they have been a bit luckier with the WC, but even there they can't count 100% of their best), where they struggle against teams of around their level, who might not produce as much NHL talent as Denmark, but who have plenty of their best players in Europe.

Some very good points. I'll concede that there are a lot of "if's". But the day where Denmark can field a team that could compete with Switzerland isn't that far off. The talent popping up from Denmark is no fluke and we see a lot of improvement on all levels. I'm positive that Denmark hosting the 2018 WHC will mean a lot in that regard.

 

[Bank]

It's always entertaining to watch foreigners discuss Danish hockey. It's always a different perspective.

 

[Franck]

The importance of strong national championship should not be understated and Danish league is light years away from the NLA.

Furthermore, it just doesn't have potential to catch up since most of the teams play in villages. Sonderjyske won last 3 championships and wikipedia tells me they play in a town with population of 7,655. So yeah, huge growth potential.

Sönderjyske represent the entire region of South Jutland, not just the town of Vojens. They have a population of about 250k to draw fans and youth players from.

The problem is not a player development but the number of players. Surely Danish prospects have good conditions to develop in Sweden but why would they pick hockey in the first place? What Lasse Lassen just did is a great example for that, he was the captain of a good hockey team and nevertheless he bolted to Australia when opportunity presented itself because that is that, Danish league, as it is right now, doesn't offer you anything.

Denmark doesn't need to have some huge number of players, all the depth in the world isn't going to get you anywhere if you don't produce any peak talent. Denmark have been really good at creating peak talent from their limited player pool. They've been producing about 1 promising prospect per year for the past decade, if they can increase that number to 2 or 3, which isn't unreasonable by any means, their national team would take a great leap forward.

Denmark has two really good youth programs in Herning and Rødovre and the development program as a whole has a nice symbiosis with the one in Sweden, where the most talented young players can go when they eventually out-grow the competition and the infrastructure in Denmark. If they could get another club or two to improve their youth set-up to the same level as those of Herning and Rødovre it would make a world of difference to their national team in the future.

The Danish league isn't great, but it doesn't need to be. The most talented Danish players will never play in it anyway. The important thing is that it offers the opportunity for ~200 players to make a living playing hockey full-time, because when a young athlete makes a decision whether he should dedicate himself to a sport that's the question he thinks about, not whether the domestic league is good or not.

As for Lasse Lassen, I think you're drawing too many conclusions from one players decision to take a break from hockey to finish his studies. You get NCAA players declining NHL opportunities each year because they want to finish off their degrees, does that mean the NHL doesn't have anything to offer? Hell, Ken Dryden took a year off from the dynasty Montreal Canadiens to finish his law degree.

 

[AstrophysicalJet]

I made no such claim.
I was merely talking about the NT and success in international tournaments. Don't get how you got that ridiculous tripe from my post?

Well soundandfury never has anything positive to say about Danish hockey

And Namejs will be sure to disagree if the discussion is about a country that is on par with Latvia, since no one should talk nicely about other countries not called Latvia - Like it somehow takes something away from Latvia.

Having said that, Denmark is NO WHERE NEAR Swiss conditions - They have a really good national league and a lot of depth and interest that we here in Denmark just do not have.

Because of our proximity to Sweden and because we have very good youth programs we are able to keep our position for years to come. But if the Danes do not start gaining more interest then it will be for nothing, the same goes for DIF who need to aknowledge how well Danish hockey is doing with the slim pickings they get.

However, Hockey IS growing in Denmark, the interest HAS grown, and media has shown ALOT of interest - So I do agree, that the seeds have been sown to one day be on par with the Swiss.

One thing is for sure though, DIU needs to get way more aggressive in using Danish success to market this beautiful game to new youngsters in the bigger cities.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Well soundandfury never has anything positive to say about Danish hockey

Not true! I love this goal



<3 <3 <3

Cry every time when I see it though. Such player, so ruined. What could have been..

Overall, I don't know when all this "Denmark hater" thing started. Just because I said Bjorkstrand will have tough transition to the NHL? Cmon.. As for this discussion, you basically confirmed everything I said.

 

[Namejs]

And Namejs will be sure to disagree if the discussion is about a country that is on par with Latvia, since no one should talk nicely about other countries not called Latvia - Like it somehow takes something away from Latvia.

It's called being objective. I put things bluntly and I don't care if it sounds negative.

The status of hockey in Denmark is incomparable to Switzerland or Germany. It's a fact. Calling Denmark the next Switzerland is wishful thinking that has no connection with reality. And it's got absolutely nothing to do with Latvia, I only mentioned Latvia because we are roughly on par as far as our national teams go.

In fact, Denmark has a significantly better domestic league when compared to the Latvian league, which is basically an amateur league with some semi-pro teams. So we're farther away from Switzerland/Germany than Denmark is.

Denmark has the population and the economy to *potentially* make a substantial improvement in their hockey programme. Latvia doesn't, and it's bound to be average for a very long time.