How can Suomi be so good?

[Nordic*]

How can Finland be so competitive every Olympics, WC and WJC - despite never having anywhere close to the individual talent of the other top nations?

The best players are in the NHL and the best players in this league are Canadians, Americans, Swedes and Russians.

Finland is at the same tier as Slovakia, Czech Republic etc. - yet they always outperform these teams and at the very least get the same results as the big-4.

Finns must simply have a much bigger heart when it comes to their national team - and manage to perform much better as a team than all the rest.

Player for player, the last 15 years, they haven't been close to the big-4 when it comes to individual players - yet they (almost) always get the results.

As a Swede, this impresses the heck out of me. We have had the players, but often underperform when it matters.

I mean, these last 15 years. How many Finns would've cracked the Canadian, Swedish, American and Russian national (Allstar) teams? Not many.

Impressive!

Click to read more...

 

[NyQuil]

I don't think I've ever seen a lazy Finnish team.

 

[Petri1981]

Well this year Finland actually had the most talented team

 

[NyQuil]

Well this year Finland actually had the most talented team

That's why they have Gold.

 

[aessi]

Well this year Finland actually had the most talented team

Forgetting about Canada?

 

[Tulipunaruusu*]

Finland has the most advanced playbooks in the world. Compare the success rather to the times when there is some absolute beginner coaching instead one of the top coaches in the hockey world running the show.

Is it just paid refereeing to see the puck control team advance with little help from the penalties also. Although I didn't see any reason why Russia would have won that game.

 

[rduck1]

Hockey would be a very different game if it was played on paper.

 

[NyQuil]

Forgetting about Canada?

It didn't take long for people to figure out that it wasn't Canada this year.

 

[Nordic*]

Well this year Finland actually had the most talented team

Yes, this year in the WJC:s, they might've. But as a whole, I meant.

 

[Crosbyfan]

Hockey would be a very different game if it was played on paper.

Skating would be useless. Probably go with a sport shoe with the type of soles depending on the thickness and hardness of the paper.

 

[LtnCastillo]

"We're a small country. We can never have the best players in the world. But we can have the best team in the world"

-Jukka Jalonen, coach of the world champion team 2011/coach of the world junior champion team 2016

 

[Chimpradamus]

Read it. It ain't hard to interpret.

Finland has 75.871 registered hockey players.

Canada has 721.504, US has 533.172, Czech Republic 109.103, Russia 99.172, Sweden 60.089, Germany 25.201 and Switzerland 23.000. Finland has enough players to perform well. They actually have more players than Sweden for example.

On a side note, Japan has double the amount of players than Slovakia.

 

[NyQuil]

A better question should be how Sweden can perform so well with so few players, or why Czech Republic can perform so badly.

I always wonder how many people play recreational hockey in those countries.

My understanding is that, in Sweden, it's very competitive in orientation.

 

[Raptor1990]

Read it. It ain't hard to interpret.

Finland has 75.000 registered hockey players.

Canada has 721.504, US has 533.172, Czech Republic 109.103, Russia 99.172, Sweden 60.089, Germany 25.201 and Switzerland 23.000.

Finland has enough players to perform well.

The most interesting is why is Russia so good at WJC`s when about 80% of their population lives in poverty...

 

[FinPanda]

We had awful defense and still managed to get the gold. Amazing team. So happy.

 

[Hzzz]

Read it. It ain't hard to interpret.

Finland has 75.871 registered hockey players.

Canada has 721.504, US has 533.172, Czech Republic 109.103, Russia 99.172, Sweden 60.089, Germany 25.201 and Switzerland 23.000.

Finland has enough players to perform well.

Those numbers are not very reliable. In Finland every "beer league player" is a registered player. I believe Russia and Sweden have more players than Finland.

 

[Chimpradamus]

I always wonder how many people play recreational hockey in those countries.

My understanding is that, in Sweden, it's very competitive in orientation.

You have the tourist divisions in Sweden as well, but sure, it's not like it is in Canada.

There was an interesting interview with Tommy Boustedt, the creater of the rehaul of the Swedish hockey program to practice hockey with a purpose. He said Canada has a huge problem reforming their hockey and improving it, as it's very easy in a small country to gather the entire organization and think it through, while a huge country like Canada could maybe only do this once every three years. He mentioned being a big country isn't always an advantage.

 

[Nordic*]

Read it. It ain't hard to interpret.

Finland has 75.871 registered hockey players.

Canada has 721.504, US has 533.172, Czech Republic 109.103, Russia 99.172, Sweden 60.089, Germany 25.201 and Switzerland 23.000. Finland has enough players to perform well. They actually have more players than Sweden for example.

On a side note, Japan has double the amount of players than Slovakia.

That's insane, didn't know that.

Regardless. Sweden has had much better players than Finland, and still do today, but when it comes to the national team(s), it's even Stephen most of the time.

 

[LemurFromTheId]

How can Finland be so competitive every Olympics, WC and WJC - despite never having anywhere close to the individual talent of the other top nations?

The best players are in the NHL and the best players in this league are Canadians, Americans, Swedes and Russians.

Finland is at the same tier as Slovakia, Czech Republic etc. - yet they always outperform these teams and at the very least get the same results as the big-4.

Finns must simply have a much bigger heart when it comes to their national team - and manage to perform much better as a team than all the rest.

Player for player, the last 15 years, they haven't been close to the big-4 when it comes to individual players - yet they (almost) always get the results.

As a Swede, this impresses the heck out of me. We have had the players, but often underperform when it matters.

I mean, these last 15 years. How many Finns would've cracked the Canadian, Swedish, American and Russian national (Allstar) teams? Not many.

Impressive!

It's mostly the coaching and team mentality. Finnish coaches are miles ahead of NHL coaches when it comes to modern tactics, and the players are used to this kind of style and they're willing and committed to play according to their role in the team. Also we're a small but proud hockey nation, which keeps our players extremely motivated to give everything they've got.

 

[Panopticon]

I'm impressed with these guys really. So many comeback victories shows great attitude. But talented crop this year as well. I think we're looking at an even brighter future in Finnish ice hockey. I think that's the key for Finnish teams, the right attitude. No divas. Team spirit.

Also love to see this tournament get more and more popular here in Finland. 10 years ago the same people that are now filling my Facebook stream with posts about the games weren't even aware the tournament was going on. And even a lot of hockey casuals are really into the tournament now.

 

[crowi]

It's a team game. Players buy into it also, on every competition level.

 

[FlutteringSaucer]

Best system/strategy coaches in the world. The "hockey theory" talk over here is so advanced among top coaches. Sweden took the first steps about 15 years ago and Finland has imo surpassed Sweden in the last few years.

The systems that are hot topics in NA today are yesterday's news over here.

 

[Phenomenon]

Read it. It ain't hard to interpret.

Finland has 75.871 registered hockey players.

Canada has 721.504, US has 533.172, Czech Republic 109.103, Russia 99.172, Sweden 60.089, Germany 25.201 and Switzerland 23.000. Finland has enough players to perform well. They actually have more players than Sweden for example.

On a side note, Japan has double the amount of players than Slovakia.

The number of indoor rinks in Russia does not look reliable.

 

[Nordic*]

It's mostly the coaching and team mentality. Finnish coaches are miles ahead of NHL coaches when it comes to modern tactics, and the players are used to this kind of style and they're willing and committed to play according to their role in the team. Also we're a small but proud hockey nation, which keeps our players extremely motivated to give everything they've got.

I'm jealous.

I mean, last season in the NHL, the best Finnish player (points) was Koivu. He was 95th in points.

Sweden had 10 players with more points despite having a "down-season".

Canada had 47.

USA had 21.

Russia had 6 (and a lot of their stars play in the KHL - and not due to being too bad to play in the NHL)


Sweden need to get all Finnish coaches and send our useless crap your way instead!

 

[Misleader]

Read it. It ain't hard to interpret.

Finland has 75.871 registered hockey players.

Canada has 721.504, US has 533.172, Czech Republic 109.103, Russia 99.172, Sweden 60.089, Germany 25.201 and Switzerland 23.000. Finland has enough players to perform well. They actually have more players than Sweden for example.

On a side note, Japan has double the amount of players than Slovakia.

You should check only junior players. I think Sweden has more junior players than Finland.