USA-Sweden Burgeoning Rivalry

[Pavel Buchnevich]

2022 U18 Worlds Final
2023 U18 Worlds Final
2024 U20 Worlds Final

Has this rivalry finally arrived?

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[TheBeastCoast]

I mean I think that is just the same age group following itself through the different tournaments. Obviously there was a genuine hate between those two groups. Takes more then one age group to create a real rivalry though.

 

[TLEH]

Think it has more to do with these specific players hating each other than a Sweden-USA rivalry.

 

[Czechboy]

If it remains a big 4.. I expect them all to hate each other soon. Should make for great entertainment to be honest.

 

[Mattb124]

People are so quick to use the word “hate” these days. A sign of the times I suppose.

There is definitely a burgeoning rivalry amongst these age groups between Sweden and the U.S.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

 

[JimXVX]

Yet another reason why the continued lack of any true best on best senior competition sucks - this tasty rivalry between these particular players will dissipate as they leave junior hockey and potentially never face each other again.

 

[biturbo19]

I mean I think that is just the same age group following itself through the different tournaments. Obviously there was a genuine hate between those two groups. Takes more then one age group to create a real rivalry though.

Yeah. A lot of these things are just cyclical. Particular waves of players come up through as a particular strong age group, have their clashes...and then move on. It takes a lot more than that to sustain a true rivalry.

It's also potentially a partial byproduct of leaving out a pretty big "rivalry" team. That, along with shuffling the pools around weird as a result, creates some heightened intensity. As well as Finland being kinda bad right now. A lot of factors contributing to a sort of cyclical, probably temporary heightening of intensity between two particular teams.

 

[ijuka]

canada-usa and finland-sweden are the two real rivalries for these teams