When we will see new Country in top level?
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Zegras Zebra
Registered User
What about Spain? They are a country full of top level athletes, if hockey could get a small percentage of these athletes maybe they could get there in 15 years. I have no idea how they have performed in hockey so I could be completely off base.
The same could also go for Mexico, Ireland, and Brazil.
Does anyone know if the Netherlands, or Belgium have ever been in the Elite level? If not they would apply as well.
The same could also go for Mexico, Ireland, and Brazil.
Does anyone know if the Netherlands, or Belgium have ever been in the Elite level? If not they would apply as well.
Uncle Rotter
Registered User
Belgium was in ancient times. The Netherlands were in the 1980 Olympics and in the 1981 A pool. Alas, most of their players were Canadians.
I'm surprised no one mentioned Iceland yet. After all, they almost beat out the US for the world junior championship back in 1994.
I always wondered why Iceland weren't good at hockey. Then I went to Iceland and realized that nobody lives there.
MeHateHe
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- Dec 24, 2006
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None of the countries you mentioned have much in terms of viable infrastructure. Spain has a league, but it's very amateur and a lot of the clubs are offshoots of their football clubs with not a lot of thought given to ice hockey. Mexico's hockey seems to have been run by a couple of families for the past generation. But despite their size and proximity to the US, they have not developed a league of any description. Ireland has no infrastructure at all and very few players. They're not currently participating in IIHF play. Brazil? I don't think they have an ice program. They play inline and that's about it.
As someone with Dutch roots, I have a soft spot for Netherlands, but they are mired at the Div 1B/Div 2A bubble. Their top club, IIRC, is playing in the German second or third division. I am not sure that is a model that develops the sport at home.
It usually takes decades to take program out of a lower pool and develop into a country producing top-level players consistently enough to move to the elite pool and stay. The Swiss did it right, I think. Denmark is another good example. Hungary seems to be the next one, although that's yet to be seen. Italy is a prime example of going the wrong way: they had a domestic league full of Canadians and have fallen from being an elite pool regular to being nowhere. It's stunning, really, that they got no sustained improvement out of hosting in Torino.
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Conspiracy Theorist
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Zegras Zebra
Registered User
Thanks for the information. The countries I named I figured would not have much if any infrastructure which of course is the biggest hurdle in terms of developing a program in any sport, let alone hockey which most likely has larger infrastructure costs at an amateur level than any other team sport.
The reason I mentioned these countries is I feel they have the best ability to potentially build rinks for hockey if there was enough interest, and it would be possible to build an acceptable prospect base to draw from for a national team, as the countries I mentioned have a good history of famous athletes in other sports notably soccer. It would take decades as you mentioned for this to all happen but it is possible for one of these nations to build a solid hockey program for the future.
MeHateHe
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Okay, but the original question was who might be the next to make their first appearance at the elite world championships. Hence, my answer.
Zegras Zebra
Registered User
Realistically South Korea is the most likely as they will be pushing the most out of any non-elite nation to improve for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Other than them I can't see any real new nations competing for spots in the elite world championships anytime soon.
This is why I threw out some wildcard countries that are not remotely close to the elite level yet, as every nation besides South Korea that is close has been there before. I'm also not sure if South Korea can get there before they probably lose most of their funding after the Winter Olympics has ended.
Asiantuntija
C.Ronaldo > L.Messi
- Nov 4, 2016
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I don't know about this but Finland is going to be better than ever in five years. 90's babies >>>>> 80's babies.
And they have an NHL team New York IcelandersI'm surprised no one mentioned Iceland yet. After all, they almost beat out the US for the world junior championship back in 1994.
Only two of them were Canadian. Not sure where this myth came from or why it has to be brought up EVERY SINGLE TIME the 1936 Olympics are mentioned.
Sure, most of them played in Canada but I'm not sure why Canadians feel that gives them the right to claim them more than their home nation whose jersey they were wearing. It still says "Gold: Great Britain" in the record books whether you like it or not so maybe it's time to get over it?
teravaineSAROS
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- Jul 29, 2015
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bottomofthefoodchain
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Uncle Rotter
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Because only one player on the team learned his hockey in Britain. And he didn't even play after the 2nd game.
Pandaman11
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hansomreiste
Registered User
I was really hopeful about my country until recently. While we are nowhere near the top, we made some good strides in recent years at least on a local level as far as I can see. For example, in 2016-17, for the first time ever, a Turkish team made it to the second round in Continental Cup. Many rinks were built in big cities. For example, a rink was opened six or seven years ago back in my hometown (population ~250,000) and including me, there were lots of kids and young people willing to take up ice hockey. When I moved somewhere else, there were already several teams training and playing in that rink. Where my mom and siblings live, a town with population of 150.000, there are several rinks and I even saw some billboards a couple of years ago, saying stuff like "LET'S PLAY HOCKEY!" and such. My brother took ice skating & hockey from time to time when he was a kid but didn't far ahead for obvious reasons: it's too damn expensive for most families.
Aside from that, some universities in Turkey already have ice hockey team, the one I studied at being among them. We have junior leagues where many kids play hockey and train regularly. It all looked fine but for some reasons I don't know, everything started going downhill in last one or two years and we hit rock bottom at all age groups. Though I have a wild guess: it's the corruption and lack of competence in Turkish institutions which also ravaged our hockey federation. Our economy is also in the toilet and it's extremely difficult for people to support kids playing hockey. The equipment and ice is just too expensive. It's not like these kids will become hockey stars either... So most families kinda have to stop this hockey thing after a while and get kids to do something else.
If Turkey as a country looked somehow stabilized going forward, I'd keep my hopes and actually believe that we will have a major breakthrough in next 10 years. However, as things stand now, even the existence of our republic is in question, let alone ice hockey in the country. Though still, keep an eye on Turkey, I'd say. Just maybe we can turn things around.
Aside from that, some universities in Turkey already have ice hockey team, the one I studied at being among them. We have junior leagues where many kids play hockey and train regularly. It all looked fine but for some reasons I don't know, everything started going downhill in last one or two years and we hit rock bottom at all age groups. Though I have a wild guess: it's the corruption and lack of competence in Turkish institutions which also ravaged our hockey federation. Our economy is also in the toilet and it's extremely difficult for people to support kids playing hockey. The equipment and ice is just too expensive. It's not like these kids will become hockey stars either... So most families kinda have to stop this hockey thing after a while and get kids to do something else.
If Turkey as a country looked somehow stabilized going forward, I'd keep my hopes and actually believe that we will have a major breakthrough in next 10 years. However, as things stand now, even the existence of our republic is in question, let alone ice hockey in the country. Though still, keep an eye on Turkey, I'd say. Just maybe we can turn things around.
