WJC: Whats wrong with Sweden?

[Svedu]

I think one challenge for them in these tournaments is that they often lack adversity in the earlier games.

For whatever reason, it seems like every year they blow through the round robin and QFs no problem (they've played for a medal now in 17 of the last 19 tournaments), so when the intensity picks up in the medal rounds, they aren't really battle tested.

This year was another example. They spent a total of like 3 mins trailing in their first 5 games, and were even starting to toy with Latvia when they up 3-0 and thought the game was over (which very nearly cost them).

Then they ran into real adversity vs Finland and weren't battle tested enough to weather it.

Since 2007:
6 4th place
3 bronze
6 silver
1 gold

17 wins 2 losses in QFs
11 wins 22 losses in SFs and medal games.

Brutal.

That says it all, didn't even know that. They seem to lose both finals and bronze games. 12 losses against 4 wins means they are likely to lose 2/3 of all medal games. And them winning a final? 16% chance. That is actually insane.

 

[Statsy]

I think it’s obvious their problem this year was goaltending

I don't think there's much arguing that that was their undoing this time around. Thelin had a BRUTAL Semi and Rimpanen has been money all tournament.

 

[gitchiemanitou]

Finnish mentality and team systems are highly tuned to competing against their Swedish bro's. Additionally this year's squad is physically talented, overall disciplined & sporting a hot goalie.

 

[Slimmy]

It’s tough to compare. The US has an inherent advantage at the U18’s as they have their team together for TWO YEARS, leading up to that tournament. Canada dominates Hlinka/Gretzky just because we send our best team, whereas the other countries don’t necessarily do that for a non-IIHF tournament.


Can you explain what this means?

I believe the english term is "milktoast". Bland. Vanilla. Middle of the road.

 

[Svedu]

It’s tough to compare. The US has an inherent advantage at the U18’s as they have their team together for TWO YEARS, leading up to that tournament. Canada dominates Hlinka/Gretzky just because we send our best team, whereas the other countries don’t necessarily do that for a non-IIHF tournament.


Can you explain what this means?

Yeah what Slimmy said. It's average, nothing fancy, nothing bad. Mellanmjölk in literal terms means mid-milk. They have milk with 3 % fat, 1,5% fat, and 0,5% fat. So it's like you want it to taste milk and not water, but still concerned or think anbout the fat percentage.
Mellanmjölk is 1,5 %.

Lol, I can't describe it more detailed than that hehe.

 

[Hallonbroder]

For what’s its worth, the Swedish hockey federation is less concerned about gold medals in teenager tournaments than the real ones, which is, in a way, fair.

They care about producing players that get NHL contracts (they have a veeery good deal with the NHL together with the SHL and HA, which other countries are very jealous about) since they get lots of money for that every year, for every player signed. That money goes down into the system which feeds the grassroots.

They also care about widening the interest of the sport and gaining more players. Winning does of course help, but as long as people tune in and watch us win the round robin in said kid tourneys, that’s “great”. At the men’s level, the stakes goes up waaay higher.

I don’t fully agree with them, but it’s good for you to get some contexts.

And no, it still doesn’t answer the weird question about why we lose so many big games on this level

 

[Svedu]

For what’s its worth, the Swedish hockey federation is less concerned about gold medals in teenager tournaments than the real ones, which is, in a way, fair.

They care about producing players that get NHL contracts (they have a veeery good deal with the NHL together with the SHL and HA, which other countries are very jealous about) since they get lots of money for that every year, for every player signed. That money goes down into the system which feeds the grassroots.

They also care about widening the interest of the sport and gaining more players. Winning does of course help, but as long as people tune in and watch us win the round robin in said kid tourneys, that’s “great”. At the men’s level, the stakes goes up waaay higher.

I don’t fully agree with them, but it’s good for you to get some contexts.

And no, it still doesn’t answer the weird question about why we lose so many big games on this level

But... That's a somewhat questionable argument. Sweden hasn't been anymore successful amongst men these last years than any of the other big nations to be fair.
Compared to Finland? You have been better at u18 perhaps but neither in u20 nor at senior level.

 

[Hallonbroder]

But... That's a somewhat questionable argument. Sweden hasn't been anymore successful amongst men these last years than any of the other big nations to be fair.
Compared to Finland? You have been better at u18 perhaps but neither in u20 nor at senior level.

It’s not an argument, it’s fact regarding the federations thinking process

 

[eojsmada]

To be fair, these tournaments basically allow for the teams whose goalies get hot, to be in the final game. Happens a great deal, but the final game ends up being a 50/50. The two best goaltenders, throughout the tournament, ended up being in the gold medal game.

 

[Eye of Ra]

I've heard that if you compare finns to swedes in companies some say swedes are better at "Rulla tummarna och ta en fikarast och surra massa irrelevant nonsens", while finns are a bit more straight forward and not as big on small talk like their neighbors. Regarding winning this could actually be a cultural thing? Like getting things done?
You know, those things swedes sometimes call mellanmjök? It's like "Det måste hela tiden vara lite god stämning", ingen vill vara "boven" och slopa skitsnacket och prata allvar och våga vara kontroversiell. This is a very cultural swedish thing for me. Att försöka ducka. "Det löser sig, något eller någon annan lär lösa det". Am i totally wrong here?


Well, he did win with Djurgården back in the days. Never coached the nationals. I get your point though. But he was a bit like Rönnberg as coach. "Hårdnackad" compared to others.
Grönborg also lite hårdare but I'm not a big fan of his. He got clearly outcoached by Jalonen plenty of times. Won once but often had the very best players arriving to play the WC's. Also lost with them a couple of times, bit too many imho. When compared to other nations rosters in those WC's.

Grönborg won 2 wc golds. Only failed once, 2019. You are confusing him with Garpenlöv.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Are there any Swedish coaches that have the emotional swings of @Eye of Ra that can coach the WJC team?

They need a bigger personality. Even if it doesn’t work, they need someone to inject some life into the players. They may need to be pushed in that way, and it could bring out the best in them.

They seem to play great until they hit some adversity in elimination games, and then they just go away quietly.

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

What's wrong with Sweden?

The unbearable pressure of living up to @Eye of Ra 's boundless optimism.

 

[Czechboy]

I feel like the czechs have lost the last dozen round robin encounters to Sweden. Meanwhile, we are 2 for 2 in playoffs against them.. semis a few years ago with Kulich and bronze yesterday. I could be missing some games but it is wild how good they are in round robins and how they struggle in playoff games.

But, to the point, I think it's a brilliant program with amazing players. Maybe just bad luck?

 

[theslatcher]

I feel like the czechs have lost the last dozen round robin encounters to Sweden. Meanwhile, we are 2 for 2 in playoffs against them.. semis a few years ago with Kulich and bronze yesterday. I could be missing some games but it is wild how good they are in round robins and how they struggle in playoff games.

But, to the point, I think it's a brilliant program with amazing players. Maybe just bad luck?

You might want to check out what happened just last year haha.

Sweden & Czechia have gone against eachother the past 4 tournaments in the playoffs, btw. Which is a little weird, before this streak they last met eachother in the early aughts I want to say.

 

[Czechboy]

You might want to check out what happened just last year haha.

Sweden & Czechia have gone against eachother the past 4 tournaments in the playoffs, btw. Which is a little weird, before this streak they last met eachother in the early aughts I want to say.

So we are 2-2 in playoffs the last four years? And 0 and 2000 in round robin?

I won't lie.. would be nice to not play Sweden for a few years lol