Sweden is overachieving, not choking.

[kp61c]

Since when it Russia the "main contender" though? I mean be serious here, Russia last won gold in 2011, and Canada handled them pretty easily in the 2015 and 2020 finals.

that was one of the best rosters in decades. By the way, in 2020 Russia was clearly a better team, that was a tough loss.

I’d be worried about the FSB if I were you.

i'm worried. the reality here is much much worse than you could ever imagine.

 

[NyQuil]

i don't know. i would feel like a cheat if my team won but the main contender was banned from participating.

Now you have some inkling of what it’s like when Russians brag about the performance of the Soviet Big Red Machine at the World Championships and Olympics.

I assume you feel absolutely awful about the fact that Canada couldn’t field any of their best players.

Do you in fact, feel like it was cheating?

 

[Peiskos]

that was one of the best rosters in decades. By the way, in 2020 Russia was clearly a better team, that was a tough loss.


i'm worried. the reality here is much much worse than you could ever imagine.

How was Russia clearly the better team in 2020? Canada clearly had better overall numbers, better team record, better goal differential, higher scoring, more points etc.

 

[kp61c]

Now you have some inkling of what it’s like when Russians brag about the performance of the Soviet Big Red Machine at the World Championships and Olympics.

I assume you feel absolutely awful about the fact that Canada couldn’t field any of their best players.

Do you in fact, feel like it was cheating?

sure, it would be disingenuous to say otherwise

How was Russia clearly the better team in 2020? Canada clearly had better overall numbers, better team record, better goal differential, higher scoring, more points etc.

View attachment 631386

i watched the final, the better team lost.

 

[Peiskos]

sure, it would be disingenuous to say otherwise


i watched the final, the better team lost.

If Russia were the better team they would have won. All stats show Canada was better team.

 

[NyQuil]

sure, it would be disingenuous to say otherwise

Well, you’re a rare specimen.

Every tournament in hockey seems to have some asterisk or another because they can’t collectively get their act together.

It gets tiresome because they are all flawed in some capacity, whether it’s player selection, time of year, where they are hosted, officiating, COVID, etc.

The Olympics 1998+ appeared to be the closest we could get and that fell apart too.

 

[OskarOskarius]

Since 2007 Sweden have played 15 medal games. We have lost 11 of them..
At junior level we produce quite a lot of good players but we can't really produce teams that wins the last game of the tournament.

Because of poor coaching eg selecting a team of 17/18 year olds at 175 cm and 70 kg to play mostly 19 year olds that grown in height and built some muscles. If you want to win select a competitive team not a rooster of potential draft picks that potentially may be good 1/2 years from now but athletically speaking are built like kids.

Sandelin-Pellikka is an excellent example of poor team selection. Totally lost and statistically the worst player in the team but quite possibly a future NHL player (with better physique, more balls and quicker decision making why not). Meanwhile they omitted dmen who average 1ppg because they don’t look pretty when they play and don’t have the potential upside.

 

[ZEBROA]

To asume it is mental would almost be racist. Swedes aint mentaly weaker then other nations that would be an absurd conclusion.

It must be a system or training problem. Maby size of rink too. The way they want Sweden to play is to complicated when the games get tougher. They almost never change system or gameplan after the talent on the roster.

We got a lot of depth players but fewer top players then many nations.

 

[Aaaaaaaaaaaaa]

This is an interesting topic.

The first thing I compared this discussion to is how some people will judge a player based on how many championships he has won, when in reality there are a lot of other factors. It isn't really fair. Consistent play matters. Is a player who gets 90 points a year for a decade a worse player because he never gets past the second round in playoffs? Isn't the team to blame as well? Yes, of course.

That said, we as fans know there are some players who just show up in the big games, at big moments. We also know there are some that don't.

Sweden doesn't seem to show up in those big moments as often as many other hockey nations. They play consistently great hockey but can't seem to win when it matters most as often as others. Not to say they never do, just not as often.

I'll be honest, I was never really that nervous yesterday. I felt like Canada would win that game from the moment it started until the OT goal. On the other hand, I never felt comfortable against the US, and I wouldn't have against Russia either. There are some teams and programs where losing isn't built into their DNA. Yes, Canada loses sometimes and so does the US and Russia, obviously. But some countries seem to accept the loss better. This speaks to something greater than a lack of ability, it is completely psychological, and I can't really explain it other than to say if you have even 1% disbelief in yourself at this level, it shows.

This has nothing to do with biology or culture. Canada is only like this for hockey. In almost every other sport, our favourites fail at important times. Just watch us in the Olympics. As soon as they say someone is ranked #1 in the world, I know it is only a matter of time until that person runs off the course and crashes into the bushes.

 

[SoupNazi]

Closed.

 

[Czechboy]

i don't know. i would feel like a cheat if my team won but the main contender was banned from participating.

I am being serious and not flaming.

Did Russia enjoy that gold and silver at the last two Olympics under a fake name and no anthem or flag?

Followup question... did Russia enjoy that gold with their KhL players while Canada and US could not send their AHL players?

As a Czech I would've celebrated a medal hard. Fully admit that but I repeatedly said it was not fair that the euros could use their domestic leagues (extraliga, khl, sel, liiga) but Canada and US couldn't use theirs (ahl).

Also, do you remember the tournaments where the entire Russian team couldn't go because of doping so they'd send a younger team? There was a U20 or U18 where they had to send a team an age group lower. Was that gold tainted too because Russia didn't send their best?

 

[Czechboy]

Well, you’re a rare specimen.

Every tournament in hockey seems to have some asterisk or another because they can’t collectively get their act together.

It gets tiresome because they are all flawed in some capacity, whether it’s player selection, time of year, where they are hosted, officiating, COVID, etc.

The Olympics 1998+ appeared to be the closest we could get and that fell apart too.

I agree ... 1998 was the true measure of who the best is