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How can Suomi be so good?

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BobDobolina said:
As it's been stated already, that's why you use the numbers for u20 players.

40k for Finland

43k for Sweden

86k for Russia

518k for Canada

307k for US
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Even then the numbers aren't directly comparable, since Sweden doesn't include recreational players (there's those in juniors as well) and Russia doesn't include players under the age of 10.
 
and will be the prohibitive favorites in Toronto/Montreal next year. It's going to take one hell of a well-coached team to take them on.

already looking forward to it.
 
Finland had the most talented team on paper going into this tournament, I know a lot of people called it for Finland at the outset (including myself). Canada was weak this year. USA had a strong team and underperformed a little. Thought it would be Finland - USA.
 
paragon said:
We actually had two really good lines back in 2006. Olli Jokinen was still in his prime and the second line was a threat also. The whole team was more than sum of its parts. We had shutout the opposition 5 times out of 8 and allowed just 8 goals the whole tournament. And unlike Sweden we had been absolutely dominant the whole tournament.

Can't blame the goalies for our tournament since they were great, but I always wonder how far we could have went had Kipper not refused to play in that tournament.
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I know. Peltonen had a strong tournament with the Jokinens (can't remember for sure if Jussi was on the same line though).

And the bolded part is what made me stick with Finland as my adopted international team. After cheering for Petri Ylönen, Tommy Salo and Jarmo Mÿllÿs (kids and goalies...) and a bit later falling in love with Saku Koivu and the Tupu, Hupu ja Lupu line. ;)

It's just that it looks like Finland will have more highly skilled players than ever up front in the coming years. It's not a knock to the past players, it's juste good news.
 
No matter how good your teamplay is, you always need a couple of stars to carry your team. Sometimes people forget that Finland has almost always had a couple of stars to carry them. For years it was guys like Selänne and Koivu (who was a star performer in international games). Things looked really worrying for us in the last Olympics but those guys were able to extend their careers and therefore help with the generation shift. Same goes for the juniors, you need a Teräväinen, Ristolainen, Laine or a Puljujärvi to carry the team.

You only need 20 guys to play in a high level to do well, and even of those, only 10-12 need to be really good (1st or 2nd line NHL material). The rest is good tactics, teamwork, commitment and smart team building. Even in the Olympic level it's better to have a couple of penaltykillers and grinders in your 3rd or 4th line to do some dirty work. Everyone should be aware of what their role in the team is. You don't want an NHL star whining about ice time in your 4th line.
 
As a Swede I must say that I am really proud of what Sweden and of course Finland has achieved. This finish team played their hearts out and the result was golden! :)
 
Cotton said:
So Hockey isn't Finland's #1 sport?

Common Finland, make the Hockey choice - the right choice. Join us Canadians as being the only Hockey nations.
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No matter the sport, Finland makes no distinction between professional, semi-professional, amateur and recreational players. They're all dumped into the same spreadsheet.

In reality, we don't have half the number of high-level footballers as we do hockey players.
 
Chimp said:
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.
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Another thing you have to consider in any Finland/Sweden vs Canada debate is Canada is divided into so many regions, it's hard to think of it as one program with the same issues. It feels like development in Ontario and the Golden Horseshoe has really boomed the last decade, churning out so many superstar talents, because the population has the money to put their kids through year round hockey skills schools, etc. Other areas like Quebec are declining because of demographic changes.
 
Is ice hockey more popular in Finland than Sweden? That may explain why they remain close (although if you look at players and not international tournament results then Sweden is way ahead, the Fins just seem to buy into a system more)
 
I was thinking it'd be great if Latvia could be like a mini Finland, but then I realize Toronto alone (just the city) has half a million more people than Latvia.
 
I can't decide if Finns are too stupid or too clever not to shout out loud the reason for everyone else
 
WarriorofTime said:
Is ice hockey more popular in Finland than Sweden?That may explain why they remain close (although if you look at players and not international tournament results then Sweden is way ahead, the Fins just seem to buy into a system more)
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Yes, I'd say by a fair margin.
 
DrunkPerrinFan said:
These competitions were stopped in 2010 when a russian competitor died and a finnish competitor ended up in a coma for two months. (both were disqualified because they had to be carried out. victory was awarded to a guy who left the sauna before these two)
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That's why, Finns wont quit until their opponent is done
 
Cotton said:
So Hockey isn't Finland's #1 sport?

Common Finland, make the Hockey choice - the right choice. Join us Canadians as being the only Hockey nations.
Click to expand...

Sure it is the most popular sport here, and it's not even close. Canada and Finland aren't alone with their preferences though as hockey is also the most popular sport in at least Belarus and Latvia. Then there's Slovakia and the Czech Republic where hockey is pretty much tied for the most popular sport.
 
Cotton said:
So Hockey isn't Finland's #1 sport?

Common Finland, make the Hockey choice - the right choice. Join us Canadians as being the only Hockey nations.
Click to expand...
I think it depends on how you define #1 sport. I think hockey is the #1 viewer sport. It's not even debatable. Hockey get's most tv viewers by a mile and it packs most people to the arenas. But if you define most popular by how many people actually play the game, it's not even close to being the most popular. That would probably be floorball or maybe football. Hockey is my favorite sport, by I haven't played hockey since I left school some 20 years ago, it just requires too much of an investment compared to other sports.
 
FiLe said:
To top it off, it was fifth consecutive title. If we somehow got all that dominance translated to women's hockey...
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That dominance is only due to absolutely no competition in ringette. It's too small of a sport.
 
Qurpiz said:
That dominance is only due to absolutely no competition in ringette. It's too small of a sport.
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Applies to pretty much to any women's sport. If you cant' make a living out of it, it's not that big of a deal. Just a step above boot-throwing or wife carrying world championships in prestige.
 
Chimp said:
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.
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It's not just the number of players that count though. Sure, big countries like Canada and USA have a surefire advantage because of sheer numbers, since the likelyness that a phenom comes around is much higher when you have 720,000 players than 60,000.

But there is a lot more to it, namely coaching, team mentality, chemistry, hard work, system, pride, heart, and sometimes, luck.

For exemple, I used to play flag-football in high school. I'm from a small subburb of Montreal and our high school didn't have much more than 700 students total. Yet, for 5 years we constantly torched bigger schools than us, beating schools from the Montreal and Laval regions that had double and sometime triple the number of students.

In 5 years we won 3 regional championships and the provincial championship once. Why? The few talented kids that showed up at camp were ready to work hard, together, and our coaches were all exceptional and had us play an amazing system.

So, it's not just about the number of skilled guys you can cram onto a 20-man roster...
 
This gets brought up often, but let's define it, would you guys agree with me these are the Hockey countries of the World where Hockey is #1 sport and no doubt about it?

Canada
Finland
Russia
Czech Republic
Slovakia
Latvia
Belarus
Sweden* (not sure but don't think so)

Right?
 
habsrule4eva3089 said:
This gets brought up often, but let's define it, would you guys agree with me these are the Hockey countries of the World where Hockey is #1 sport and no doubt about it?

Canada
Finland
Russia
Czech Republic
Slovakia
Latvia
Belarus
Sweden* (not sure but don't think so)

Right?
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Finland, Canada, Latvia and Belarus. Soccer is bigger in the others
 
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