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Is Finland a Top 3 Hockey Nation

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You guys do realize that Finland is population-wise the same size as the state of Minnesota and as close to Slovenia as it is to Sweden. This to the people nagging about the lack of NHL superstars. The future looks to be pretty bright as well with Finland finally starting to produce quality NHL talent (potentially at least, so far).

I don't really know what else they have to do to be considered a legit threat in these best of best tournaments but i suppose the underdog situation suits us just fine. I also don't understand why people think they're "aiming for the bronze" or something. Of course the goal is to go for the gold. Just because you fall short in semis tho does not mean you should give up at least going for a medal, that is loser mentality IMO.
 
pld459666 said:
Since NO OTHER COUNTRY HAS DONE THIS.

I'd say 6 medals in the last 8 Olympics CLEARLY cements them as a top three Hockey Nation.

No gold medals and that's a shame, but 6 medals in the last 8

that's quite an accomplishment.
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1988 games in Calgary - Finland Silver
1992 games in Albertville - Finland - No Medal
1994 games in Lillehammer - Finland Bronze
1998 games in Nagano - Finland Bronze
2002 games in Salt Lake Finland - No Medal
2006 games in Turin - Finland Silver
2010 games in Vancouver - Finland Bronze
2014 games in Sochi - Finland Bronze

While Canada and Sweden have more Gold Medals during that time, Since 1988 no nation has more Medals in Mens Ice Hockey. Not even the Canadians.

to say that they are anything LESS than a top 3 Hockey Nation is not looking at what they have been able to accomplish during a very long period of time.
 
montreal canadiens said:
In my opinion they are 4th...they beat the Americans in the bronze medal game, but that is too small of a sample size to rank one above the other.

Realistically speaking, does anyone here believe Finland could beat either one of Canada, Sweden or the USA in a 7 game series?
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Yes, they could conceivably beat all of them in a 7-game series. Canada had very little offense to show for it in this tournament - they did the best job of hunkering back on defense and keeping opponents away from their net. But with their low offensive output, it is very possible that Finland could beat them in a 7-game tournament much the same way they beat the USA in the Bronze game.

Finland could also certainly beat Sweden in 7 games without Henrik Sedin, Zetterberg and Backstrom being available, and with Rask in net (he missed the semis against Sweden). The Finns specialize in snuffing out teams that have weak offenses, and the depleted Swedish team that played Canada in the Gold Medal game had not even a hint or suggestion of offense to compete with. Easy win for Finland.

The USA was easily the most overrated team in the tournament, given the fact that even the NBC crew acknowledged that Russia decidedly outplayed the USA in their game, and that only a suspicious call by an American referee allowed the USA to survive to reach a shootout. In the 11th round, after T.J. Oshie took 7 consecutive turns, they eaked out a win, but I certainly think that Finland could consistently dominate the USA the way they did in the Bronze game.

One game tournaments can give a misleading result in more than one way. In the Russia-Finland game, mention was made of the 1979 Challenge Cup in which Coach Bill played. In that 3-game series, the NHL All-Stars, full of Hall of Famers, beat the Soviets decisively, 4-2 in Game 1. The party line was that the NHL would win the remaining games in a romp. Instead, the Soviets achieved total domination in the next 2 games, thumping the NHL All-Stars 6-0 in the final rubber match. Check it out on YouTube.

The point is, head-to-head competition is a very good indicator of success, regardless of the duration of the tournament.
 
Perhaps the best goaltending nation over the last 15 years or so. People tend to rank Russia poorly for their results (and who can blame them really) but they produce so much talent but lack cohesiveness and drafting Russians is full of risks. Who wants a prima donna flight risk?

On sheer talent and the ability to put it out regularly and in all positions Id say Finland is 5th.
 
I love it how the Americans are the reasonable ones and that the Canadians (not all or most Canadians) come off as the dumb and arrogant ones in this thread. Interesting.
 
I don't think so. As far as pure talent pool goes, I consider USA and Russia fairly ahead, no matter the results of a couple of games in a 2 weeks tournament.
 
My top 3:
Canada
Sweden
Russia

Finland is close but I cant see them knocking off any of the top 3 until they develop some unreal offensive talent presently
 
They're not better than Sweden and they're not better than a motivated USA or Russian squad.

Their best falls somewhere between 80-90% of the elite teams, but when everyone is playing "good" hockey the Finns fall behind.

Goaltending's the only place where I'd give them the edge over the rest of the world, and is often one of the only reasons why they fare as well as they do internationally.
 
More like Russia is close, but I can't see them knocking off any of the top 5 (yes I went there) until they learn to play as a team and understand that there's a defensive side to the game as well.

As they say offence wins games, defence wins championships. Neither is worth a damn if you don't have teamwork. Russia never has it, which is why they're on the outside looking in at #6 spot, at best.

edit: our edge isn't in goaltending alone, it's in team work and more importantly in coaching.
 
Well, my 2 cents. If we look Fin progress from 88`Calgary.. i`d say fins are solid 3rd.

If we look NHL`ers / pure top end players produced by Fins i`d say 4th or fifth (Can,USA, SWE and RUS goes over i guess).

If we look teams on paper, fifth.

If we look dedication, take notice on population of CAN, USA, SWE and RUS, with little over 5 000 000 fins, definitely at least third, specially on goalies.

If we look what they do on ice practically on every tournament, definitely third.

Always under estimated, 90% of the time on podium.

But do keep underestimating fins, it fits just fine. :laugh:
 
Samcanadian said:
They're not better than Sweden and they're not better than a motivated USA or Russian squad.

Their best falls somewhere between 80-90% of the elite teams, but when everyone is playing "good" hockey the Finns fall behind.

Goaltending's the only place where I'd give them the edge over the rest of the world, and is often one of the only reasons why they fare as well as they do internationally.
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Russian squad doesn't even stand a chance nowdays. Russia is actually the most easiest opponent out of big 6 countries for Finland. we are their achilles heel. we always manage to piss off their star players. motivated USA squad can provide a challenge tho.
 
Samcanadian said:
They're not better than Sweden and they're not better than a motivated USA or Russian squad.
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You are claiming that Russians were not motivated in their Olympic home tournament quarter finals where whole Russian nation were expecting easy gold medal? Seriously? Get outta here! :laugh:

Did you watch Bronze game? They definitely were motivated! Until 3-0 that is :laugh:
 
Looking at the results they are. They might not have the best individual talent or depth but they are surely a top 3 as a team. And since hockey is a team game and results is what matters they are a top 3 team.
 
Cawz said:
The last 3 times I checked, the results were tied 19-19-, 21-21 and 30-30. So I guess it’s debatable since the results are pretty evenly split.
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I'd suggest checking where all the "yes" posters are from/located, because I expect a very regional bias based on literally every incarnation of this discussion over the past few years. Most people from Finland will say yes, most people outside Finland will say no. Finns will feel disrespected, it'll be everyone else's problem, and we'll be left shrugging our shoulders and saying "oh well, whatever".
 
Ohashi_Jouzu said:
I'd suggest checking where all the "yes" posters are from/located, because I expect a very regional bias based on literally every incarnation of this discussion over the past few years. Most people from Finland will say yes, most people outside Finland will say no. Finns will feel disrespected, the rest will shrug their shoulders and say "oh well".
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i suggest you read some of the comments in here and you will notice that there are also smart North-Americans who voted "yes" cuz they understand the facts. results that cannot be denied by any neutral hockey fan :handclap:
 
Finland has some whacky per capita stats.

They're a pretty good hockey country per capita, but they're an even better Formula 1 racing country.
 
TheFeistyFinn said:
i suggest you read some of the comments in here and you will notice that there are also smart North-Americans who voted "yes" cuz they understand the facts. results that cannot be denied by any neutral hockey fan :handclap:
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And I suggest you learn the difference between "some" and "most", and stop considering Finnish fans to be "neutral" when it comes to discussing Team Finland. We all know better. It doesn't get much more neutral than a non-European fan of a team that isn't affected by the ranking in any way putting an "order" to the European teams. And most still put at least Sweden ahead of Finland.
 
Ohashi_Jouzu said:
I'd suggest checking where all the "yes" posters are from/located, because I expect a very regional bias based on literally every incarnation of this discussion over the past few years. Most people from Finland will say yes, most people outside Finland will say no. Finns will feel disrespected, it'll be everyone else's problem, and we'll be left shrugging our shoulders and saying "oh well, whatever".
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Ha, and its 52-52 now.

Yeah, I was going to make a 3rd option to filter out the Finn’s opinions, but I figured someone would complain about that so I just left it as is.
 
Ohashi_Jouzu said:
And most still put at least Sweden ahead of Finland.
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And just what is this all about? I've yet to see any Finnish guy saying anything else than both Canada and Sweden being ahead of us. No matter what kind of measuring stick you are using, there isn't any kind of argument to be made for Finland being ahead of either, or even at the same level. There is plenty to be made for Finland being ahead of both Russia and USA.
 
Jusca said:
You guys do realize that Finland is population-wise the same size as the state of Minnesota and as close to Slovenia as it is to Sweden. This to the people nagging about the lack of NHL superstars. The future looks to be pretty bright as well with Finland finally starting to produce quality NHL talent (potentially at least, so far).

I don't really know what else they have to do to be considered a legit threat in these best of best tournaments but i suppose the underdog situation suits us just fine. I also don't understand why people think they're "aiming for the bronze" or something. Of course the goal is to go for the gold. Just because you fall short in semis tho does not mean you should give up at least going for a medal, that is loser mentality IMO.
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win one
 
Canada is locked in at number 1. US, Finland and Sweden are all interchangeable at 2-3-4. After that it drops off, Czechs, Russia, etc.
 
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