Olympics: Team Norway 2022

[Eye of Ra]

So it looks like China might get kicked out and Norway takes the place.

A possible team Norway;

Patrick Thoresen - Mathias Emilio Pettersen - Mats Zuccarello
K.Olimb - M.Olimb - Mats Rosseli Olsen
Tobias Lindström - Michael Haga - Mathias Trettenes
Andreas Martinsen - Gustav Willman Borvik - Thomas Valkvæ Olsen

Erlend Lesund - Jonas Holös
Stefan Espeland - Emil Martinsen Lilleberg
Mattias Nørstebø - Alexander Bonsaksen

Henrik Haukeland
Jonas Arntzen
Lars Volden

Team is decent and better than people think. Can give Germany a good match.

Click to read more...

 

[GotTheMovesLikeJagr]

I would probably put Martin Røymark and (perhaps) Eirik Salsten in the 4th line, with Samuel Solem as 13th forward.

Regarding defensemen I would include Christian Kåsastul or Max Krogdahl as the 7th.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Holos is reported to be out until February.

 

[GotTheMovesLikeJagr]

Holos is reported to be out until February.

Correct, good that you pointed that out. If Norway gets the spot, and if he's healthy in time to he will probably play (not guaranteed considering he hasn't played the entire season, but knowing his drive it isn't improbable either), and it wouldn't be surprising if Petter Thoresen keeps a roster spot open for him. If Holøs is left out, Bjørgvik Holm could be a possibility.

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

I hope China enters a team.

Whichever team gets the last nod is likely to be a very weak one, as far as medal contention goes. Am I wrong, or has Norway regressed quite a bit in the last ten years or so? Those seem like most of the same aging lukewarm names Norway’s had since forever, plus a middling AHLer, 6th round prospect as #1C. Seems telling if 38-year-old Thoresen is still a first liner for them. For the growth of the game, I think China is much more interesting than seeing Norway maybe upsetting Germany or Denmark. Who cares if they end up being the worst team ever? Part of the charm of the Olympics are the lovable underdogs, and it’s not as if hockey’s unfamiliar with them.

Japan lost 19-1 and 19-0 against Canada and Sweden in 1960, and were even worse than Australia in those same Olympics. I’d be surprised if China turned out worse than them, but I don’t think it should matter.

 

[Pardus]

I hope China enters a team.

I guess most of the people on planet Earth would prefer seeing the host country China play rather than boring Norway. We've seen them already. What have they achieved? Nothing.

Countries like Latvia, Denmark and Belarus have some promising prospects every year. Even Great Britain and Estonia are producing better prospects nowadays than Norway. In terms of ice hockey Norway is dead at the moment. Maybe they will rise some day but now is not the time for them to enter the Olympics in ice hockey.

 

[Albatros]

Norway made the quarterfinals last time around, finishing ahead of the likes of Switzerland and Slovakia. I'd call that an achievement.

Regarding hockey's worldwide popularity, most people would have to be paid to be willing to watch any hockey and that goes also for China.

 

[GotTheMovesLikeJagr]

I guess most of the people on planet Earth would prefer seeing the host country China play rather than boring Norway. We've seen them already. What have they achieved? Nothing.

Countries like Latvia, Denmark and Belarus have some promising prospects every year. Even Great Britain and Estonia are producing better prospects nowadays than Norway. In terms of ice hockey Norway is dead at the moment. Maybe they will rise some day but now is not the time for them to enter the Olympics in ice hockey.

I really look forward to seeing the documentation on several claims in this post. Norwegian hockey is dead? Most people would prefer to see China play in the Olympic tournament instead of Norway? Estonia producing more prospects than Norway? (no offense to Estonia, would love to see them improve).

To complain that Norway has not achieved anything is ridiculous. Neither Latvia, Denmark or Belarus have, like Norway, "achieved anything". By that logic the tournament should only feature the representation of the Big Six (or maybe Switzerland, Germany and Slovakia).

The Top Division middle countries will likely not win any medals, but that doesn't make their participation pointless. They can (and have) upset the top nations - all have defeated Sweden; Denmark and Norway have beaten the Czechs; Latvia has beaten Russia; the Danes have defeated the US and Finland; while Norway and Latvia has beaten Canada. Even Belarus defeated Sweden in Salt Lake City.

The 1990s have development-wise been uneven and dissapointing for Norway, but the future is looking more promising.

 

[Urbanskog]

Norway made the quarterfinals last time around, finishing ahead of the likes of Switzerland and Slovakia. I'd call that an achievement.

Yeah, they made the quarterfinals (and finished exactly eighth) in 2018 after beating Slovenia on overtime in the qualification playoffs (their lone win in the entire tournament) in a tournament in which they were essentially the least negatively affected team by the absence of NHL players after South Korea. Slovakia however faced the US and Switzerland fell on overtime to the would-be-silver medalists Germany in these very same qualification playoffs. You are free to call that an achievement but it seems like a stretch to me. In the World Championship Norway hasn't finished higher than tenth since 2012 and in Sochi they were dead last.

Now, combine this with the fact that Norway has been trending down for years.

 

[Albatros]

We're talking about the very last spot at a 12-team tournament. I don't know how reasonable it is to consider an 8th place finish insufficient when the top 7 is as good as locked. Unless then you suggest that the tournament should contain fewer teams because a significantly weaker side like Norway is the 8th one.

Hockey is trending down in most countries by the way.

 

[Urbanskog]

We're talking about the very last spot at a 12-team tournament. I don't know how reasonable it is to consider an 8th place finish insufficient when the top 7 is as good as locked. Unless then you suggest that the tournament should contain fewer teams because a significantly weaker side like Norway is the 8th one.

Hockey is trending down in most countries by the way.

Norway finished eighth essentially only because Slovenia had a surprisingly decent group stage display. If we assumed that your claim about hockey trending down in "most countries" was right (the global participation numbers are actually growing), it has nothing to do with the discussion. Norway's results have been getting worse so their relative strength is trending down.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Some extreme exaggerations aside (Estonia produces better prospects ), if you remove 30+ age guys from this Norwegian team it is just sad. We would be talking about the roster that has a hard time staying up in the elite.

Hockey is trending down in most countries by the way.

I respect your opinions immensely but not sure what this means.

 

[Albatros]

I respect your opinions immensely but not sure what this means.

If you look at even the most successful neighboring countries like Sweden, the underlying numbers signal that men's hockey is merely scraping by. No growth in player licenses in the 2000s while the number of teams has went down by a thousand from 3000 to 2000. Back in the olden days there used to be over 9000 hockey teams in Sweden. Top-level player development has surely become much more efficient over the years, but the long-term concerns are about maintaining the current existence more so than about growing the sport further. In countries like Norway where that existence never really... existed that is understandably quite the challenge. Hockey is not about to become less fringe in the future.

 

[garbageteam]

If you look at even the most successful neighboring countries like Sweden, the underlying numbers signal that men's hockey is merely scraping by. No growth in player licenses in the 2000s while the number of teams has went down by a thousand from 3000 to 2000. Back in the olden days there used to be over 9000 hockey teams in Sweden. Top-level player development has surely become much more efficient over the years, but the long-term concerns are about maintaining the current existence more so than about growing the sport further. In countries like Norway where that existence never really... existed that is understandably quite the challenge. Hockey is not about to become less fringe in the future.

Which is precisely why I would advocate for giving fake China a shot rather than Norway with four months to go. Not saying it is likely to result in any success but better to shoot for converting some Northern provinces into the game.

though I would have preferred the qualifying tournament to have accounted for this and have four spots up for grabs if they planned it like this from the beginning. A bit arbitrary now

 

[Albatros]

Which is precisely why I would advocate for giving fake China a shot rather than Norway with four months to go. Not saying it is likely to result in any success but better to shoot for converting some Northern provinces into the game.

though I would have preferred the qualifying tournament to have accounted for this and have four spots up for grabs if they planned it like this from the beginning. A bit arbitrary now

The losing men's team isn't going to get any exposure in China beyond perhaps a singular article about how the overseas Chinese are serving the motherland by joining the national team in this exotic sport, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if they have already decided that getting rid of the spot altogether to be in their best interest as well. As if Korea four years ago wasn't bad enough now there are all kinds of political sensitivities on top of that.

Of course, if the miracle happens and they beat the Americans or the Canadians then that will be milked to no end after the fact.

 

[GotTheMovesLikeJagr]

In the World Championship Norway hasn't finished higher than tenth since 2012 and in Sochi they were dead last.

Now, combine this with the fact that Norway has been trending down for years.

Really hate to nitpick, but in Sochi Norway did play respectably against Canada (1–3 loss) and much of the qualification game against Russia (0–4, but only trailing 0–2 for almost 59 minutes). While it is strue that Norway had some disappointing losses to Finland (1–6) and Austria (1–3), it is worth mentioning that several Norwegian athletes suffered from allergic problems due to construction dust during the Sochi Olympics, among them alpinist Aksel Lund Svindal and goalie Lars Haugen (which particularly impacted his gameplay against Finland). The loss to Austria was by all means disappointing, even if Haugen and others were impacted by allergic issues, but any team can have a bad tournament (Russia 2000 or Sweden 2021, anyone?).

It is true that Norway has had a downward trend the last couple of years, and this is linked to the generational change. We had some great years spanning from the late 1970s to the late 1980s which gave us a great group of players, and these are mostly retired and the last ones (Holøs, Bonsaksen, Røymark, Zuccarello, Thoresen) are getting older. Since the talent pool of the 1990s were more or less disappointing this has resulted in some disappointing seasons the last couple of years and will likely keep resulting in some more weak seasons. The talent pool looks more promising from 2000 onwards, however, so only time will tell what impact this will have on the national team.

 

[Eye of Ra]

I guess most of the people on planet Earth would prefer seeing the host country China play rather than boring Norway. We've seen them already. What have they achieved? Nothing.

Countries like Latvia, Denmark and Belarus have some promising prospects every year. Even Great Britain and Estonia are producing better prospects nowadays than Norway. In terms of ice hockey Norway is dead at the moment. Maybe they will rise some day but now is not the time for them to enter the Olympics in ice hockey.

How are UK and Estonia producing better talents than Norway?

Norway have:

Emil Martinsen Lilleberg
Philip Granath
Mikkel Øby-Olsen

All 3 SHLers.

Martin Johnsen.
Sander Wold.
Leo Johansen Halmrast

All 3 good players in the best Swedish junior league.

Others:
Mathias Emilio Pettersen (AHL)
Ole Julian Bjørgvik Holm (drafted by Jackets)
Markus Vikingstad (DEL)
Max Krogdahl and Gustav Willman Borvik (Allsvenskan)

Probly forgot someone.

Who does Estonia and UK have that puts them ahead of Norway?

 

[SoundAndFury]

How are UK and Estonia producing better talents than Norway?

It was an obvious exaggeration, I don't think it was meant to be taken seriously.

 

[GotTheMovesLikeJagr]

According to NIHF president Tage Pettersen, a decision is expected in the beginning of November. National team general manager Petter Salsten also confirms Norway has submitted a longlist of players and staff to the IIHF before the 15 October deadline.

Source: Hockeygutta klare for OL-ja - kan ta over Kinas plass