Why is Finland underrated year in year out

[Brun0]

nah, even this year Finland was bullying Team Sweden in wjc if you look at the game.

 

[abo9]

They're not underated. It's not "a few 2nd and 3rd" finishes. They've won a few gold, but they've more often finished 5th or worse.

I'm not really sure why they're typically so bad, and then manage to turn out a gold medal team every once in a whlie, but that's how they've been this last 10 years.

I'd be curious who was on their Gold medal teams, seems like there was an influx of excellent young Finns (guys like Aho, Barkov, Laine, Poolparty as a prospect, etc.) and maybe they were all on the same team?

I'd be curious to see how they'd fare in the Olympics if NHLers could return, if those 3 gold medals were led by some really good players that'd probably enough to compete well.

 

[Machinehead]

Who underrates them?

 

[karhukissa]

Atleast i'm tired of this FI vs SWE thing, both are doing great job with their player development and per capita are probably doing the best job at the moment.

There are a lot of things what we can learn from Swedes and vice versa. We have our unique strenghts and weaknesses. Sweden set the standard for player development in the Europe and we followed and are getting close. We maybe never get the same depth, but both of us can get a team which on a good day can win anyone on a best vs best tournament, including Canada.

 

[mazmin]

Simple answer: they simply shouldn’t be so good. Smallest population of all big 5 teams ainec

 

[Zub]

Finland don´t have more high end talent. Not a chance. A combined roster would still consist of mostly swedes.

Landeskog - Pettersson - Rantanen
Laine - Barkov - Nylander
Aho - Zibanejad - Teravainen
Forsberg - Bäckström - Lindholm
Karlsson

Hedman - Karlsson
Dahlin - Heiskanen
OEL - Klingberg
Lindholm

Markström
Rask

That's a fiesty roster, i'd love to see that if world cup ever decides to go gimmick teams why not make a team nordic?

 

[Fatass]

2010 - 5th place (Switzerland 4th)
2011 - 6th (Switzerland 5th)
2012 - 4th
2013 - 7th (ended up in the relegation tournament, behind Czechs and Swiss)
2014 - Gold
2015 - 7th
2016 - Gold
2017 - 9th place (narrowly beat Latvia to avoid relegation)
2018 - no longer place all teams - lost in quarters to czechs
2019 - Gold
2020 - 4th

some pretty horrendous finishes in there.

Does that average out to about 4th or 5th, which is where they should be?

 

[Zub]

nah, even this year Finland was bullying Team Sweden in wjc if you look at the game.

Sweden is ahead of Finland in seniors, they have double the population we have and a similar program so it's not a suprise. In juniors however we are, but seniors its Sweden hands down.

 

[karhukissa]

I'd be curious who was on their Gold medal teams, seems like there was an influx of excellent young Finns (guys like Aho, Barkov, Laine, Poolparty as a prospect, etc.) and maybe they were all on the same team?

I'd be curious to see how they'd fare in the Olympics if NHLers could return, if those 3 gold medals were led by some really good players that'd probably enough to compete well.

From that 2016 team we have these players as NHL regulars today playing big roles: Aho, Laine, Kapanen, Rantanen, Hintz

These players either already have NHL games or are playing next season in the big league: Kähkönen, Niku, Juolevi, Puljujärvi, Saarela, Mikkola.

Likely to get a chance in the future: Saarijärvi, Nättinen, Vehviläinen

 

[Zub]

From that 2016 team we have these players as NHL regulars today playing big roles: Aho, Laine, Kapanen, Rantanen, Hintz

These players either already have NHL games or are playing next season in the big league: Kähkönen, Niku, Juolevi, Puljujärvi, Saarela, Mikkola.

Likely to get a chance in the future: Saarijärvi, Nättinen, Vehviläinen

Nattinen is a interesting fella, i wonder how he'd do in the NHL right now, he's what, 23?

 

[AB13]

That's a fiesty roster, i'd love to see that if world cup ever decides to go gimmick teams why not make a team nordic?

Could beat Canada. Not a fan of gimmick rosters in general but that would be a sick team.

 

[Boonk]

Sweden is ahead of Finland in seniors, they have double the population we have and a similar program so it's not a suprise. In juniors however we are, but seniors its Sweden hands down.

For now, the Finnish men's team won the worlds with almost all Euro league players (rip us). I can only imagine how good Finland's A Team would be with that coaching.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Lol, Finland is a head of Sweden.

in juniors, yes. not in seniors.

 

[Zub]

Could beat Canada. Not a fan of gimmick rosters in general but that would be a sick team.

Not saying i am a fan of it neither because i really dislike gimmick teams, but just the thought of a team like that is really cool.

 

[majormajor]

I think this year I just underestimated how much they'd be able to squeeze out of one 5-man unit. Their depth was as bad as expected.

 

[Zub]

One thing which i think can be argued is that Finland has hands down the best coaching and system in the world, the results/roster ratio is way up there.

 

[Eye of Ra]

One thing which i think can be argued is that Finland has hands down the best coaching and system in the world, the results/roster ratio is way up there.

especially jukka jalonen. how long is his contract with the national team?

 

[Zub]

especially jukka jalonen. how long is his contract with the national team?

zero clue, i wonder if NHL would ever concider hiring him as a coach for some team, that'd be fun to see how he'd manage.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

And when we are flashy we go overboard, 2016 is probably one of the best squads in the recent history of U20 tournaments. But realistically we're somewhere between 3-5th best squad on paper each year.

Was the team really that great ON paper? It was lead by draft eligible players.

 

[ijuka]

It was Finland's first non-gold medal in like 14 years or something. So in that time they had 3 golds and 11 non-medals or something(can't be bothered to check the exact numbers but it's in the ballpark).

 

[The Cannon of Tesoma]

Who underrates them?

The worst are probably Finns themselves and their (our) sports/hockey media. Indirect impact of it can be enormous to a team's mental integrity and cohesion during relatively short tournaments by pressure it induces to players and staff to success. Hockey is real national sport of Finland, and it can be absolutely too dead serious sometimes (sadly especially also for youth tournaments). Either rags or glory. Finns easily "abandon" badly performing units taking 'I can't give a **** attitude', but on the other hand when real underdog story occurs we (=how sport media direct the perception on a team for general populace) also very fast form a line of total support for those squads.

And support, coverage, it's really total. During international tournaments, when Finns are successful particularly, I think there is no place on the earth where it would be more difficult to avoid knowing/hearing/reading/discussing about hockey and a national team than it can be in Finland.

But there is something there that cannot be underestimated, beyond that easy to see, hard to define 'Sisu' -factor (which may or may not appear during a tournament). Systemic approach and coaching in general are world top quality, and shouldn't ever underestimated by anyone, which is probably also the case for everyone else than for Finns themselves during 'a bad year'.

 

[crowi]

zero clue, i wonder if NHL would ever concider hiring him as a coach for some team, that'd be fun to see how he'd manage.

NHL is an old boys club. It's extremely hard especially for a foreigner to get a coaching job. They just keep rotating coaches around until they die.

 

[NoMessi]

Sweden is ahead of Finland in seniors, they have double the population we have and a similar program so it's not a suprise. In juniors however we are, but seniors its Sweden hands down.

Sweden won 54 round robin games in a row. Last lost before this year was in 2006. Im happy for the progress we have seen from Finland, but they are still 4/5 on this level, a couple of amazing years with 3 golds aside.

Germany would have a chance to medal this year if they had a full team, does that make them a part of top 5? No. Finland are not on Can/Swe/USA level in juniors, Yet.

 

[Thenameless]

A third of the gold medals in the last decade has gone to the finns in u20. Three gold medals in ten tournaments, and on top of that the Finns have a lot of stellar prefomances to show for with a few 2nd and 3rd finishes.
The question is, why is Finland so underrated every year? Why isn't Finland considered a main contender for the finals every year? Is this a legacy of the cold war?

I think because Finland is usually a case of "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts". Except for the Aho, Laine, Puljujarvi year, I don't ever remember Finland coming in with a ton of star power. You should be proud that the team generally exceeds expectations. That's the exact opposite of being labelled chokers that are talented and expected to win, but lose often.

 

[MMANumminen]

more like

1: canada
2: usa
3: russia
4: sweden/finland

right now, seniors

Why is USA number 2 in seniors? On easports biased player ratings perhaps?

after 2000 (G-S-B)

USA:
OG: 0-2-0
WC: 0-0-4

SUOMI:
OG: 0-0-2
WC: 2-4-3

RUSSIJA:
OG: 0-0-1
WC: 4-3-5

SVERIGE:
OG: 1-0-0
WC: 4-3-5

KANADA:
OG: 3-0-1
WC: 5-5-0

CZECHIA:
OG: 0-0-1
WC: 4-0-2