1999 - 2001, Polish forward Mariusz Czerkawski was one of the best players in the NHL

[MS]

Poland's had complicated relations to all their neighbours historically speaking, so makes sense they wouldn't want to emulate them in niche sports. Also the climate in Poland is pretty mild I think. Germany's also never been very good at hockey, just mediocre to okay.

Oh, for sure. There are obviously reasons for it.

It's just an oddity that you have this one total non-hockey country surrounded by major hockey nations.

And Germany is definitely a significant hockey nation - they've had NHLers dating back to the 1980s, have a recent NHL MVP, have a prominent domestic league.

 

[Staniowski]

It's always interesting to look at good players from the smaller hockey countries - like Poland. Czerkawski stayed in Poland, was drafted in his 2nd year of eligibility. He's the same age as Jagr, Kozlov, Nylander, and Espen Knutsen from Norway.

He then goes to Sweden at age 19.