How good is the Icelandic league?

[Exarz]

I don't know if there already is a thread for this, but how good is the Icelandic hockey league compared to, let's say, Swedish and Finnish lower leagues? Are the top players on a level of the 4th/5th division in Sweden or Finland?

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[QuietContrarian]

I would like to know aswell..

Always wondered why they used Iceland in Mighty Ducks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxJkAQFGEyo

 

[Flukeshot]

I think it is only at an amateur or at best semi-pro level. Their national team is 33rd, behind Australia. The population is so small and I doubt they have many rinks. The Wikipedia page states they have 6 teams from 2 cities so I wouldn't be surprised if they only had 2 Arenas in the whole country. Reykjavik isn't a big city, and you can walk through "downtown" Akureyri in about 8 minutes.

 

[robwangjing]

Yeah I think if ice hockey was the main and pretty much only sport on Iceland, then it could probably produce some good players and they could create a pretty good league.

But I think that football is the biggest sport there? So a lot of talent and interest is lost for ice hockey's part.

 

[jonas2244]

Football and also Handball where Iceland is world-class.

 

[Eagle Eye Cherry]

I've been to Reykjavik and as far as I know, I only saw 2 hockey rinks there.

 

[SoundAndFury]

It's only amateur-level. But I have no idea how good the players are on 4th or 5th level of Swedish hockey so I really don't know how good Iceland hockey is compared to them.

I would like to know aswell..

Always wondered why they used Iceland in Mighty Ducks.

Well that's pretty simple, they just wanted to avoid any real "bad guy" associations or politics (no real hockey nation wants to have their players pictured as enemies in a Hollywood, even more so, Disney movie) so they had to either make up a fake country or a better way was to find a real one which would seem believable (you can't plant a dominant hockey team in Peru). That leaves very few options and Iceland as a Nordic European country fitted the bill perfectly.

 

[mattihp]

Shouldn't Gunnar Stahl's kid be coming up through the ranks right about now?

 

[ElQuapo]

The level is definately not very high.

For example, som danish players who were 4th line/reserve players in the Danish League seem to be superstars with 2-3 points pr. game after moving to Iceland.

I would rate it even lower than the 2nd level in Denmark, which itself is very low level.

 

[talenttracer]

Whooot

The level is definately not very high.

For example, som danish players who were 4th line/reserve players in the Danish League seem to be superstars with 2-3 points pr. game after moving to Iceland.

I would rate it even lower than the 2nd level in Denmark, which itself is very low level.

We need to get a team from Iceland in to the Danish, Jyllandsserie syd, imagine how drunk you cant get, on the ferry home.

 

[feitur]

Iceland has 3 teams, two of them are located in Reykjavík, that's Skautafélag Reykjavíkur (SR), their rink is in Laugardalur, close to the downtown area, the other is called Björninn, they are located in the suburb of Grafarvogur.
And then we have Skautafélag Akureyrar (SA), in Akureyri, which is the biggest town outside of the Reykjavík area, it's located in the north of Iceland.

Each team sends two teams to the "major league"
One of them is their main team and the other consists mainly of young guys coming up (I think)

 

[Toffu]

How many people usually watch these matches?

 

[Exarz]

How many people usually watch these matches?

The total average is 19 people. Highest average attendance is Vikingar with 44!

http://stats.iihf.com/ihi/5/IHM005000_84_20_0.pdf

 

[mattihp]

Sounds like we should do a flashmob at one of their games. Who's up for it? When's their season closer?

 

[Exarz]

Sounds like we should do a flashmob at one of their games. Who's up for it? When's their season closer?

Count me in!

 

[PietB]

Just look at those penalty stats...