2nd Best Hockey Nation

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bigjfnd

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Apr 2, 2005
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Nova Scotia
I admit that I'm a bit biased, but it's still tough to logically argue that Canada is the most dominant country right now in best-on-best tournaments. But the question of who is second best isn't as easy to answer. Sweden is ranked 2nd by the IIHF, but Finland only lost the World Cup by a goal. Russia and Czech Republic are always strong, Slovakia has improved a lot and the US, after winning its first World Junior Gold last year proved showed that their development was improving.

I don't want this to turn into a "my country is better than yours" thread. Just looking for some opinions on who the "number one contender" is.
 

Riddarn

1980-2011
Aug 2, 2003
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Kaizer said:
But You've already said the same thing about your country.

Well, it's pretty hard to dispute the fact that canada dominates every aspect of the game. At the moment there is no clear 2nd, imo. The US will become the clear 2nd nation in the world within the decade. They have the youth program, the depth, the knowledge, the culture and the money.
 

bigjfnd

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Apr 2, 2005
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Nova Scotia
OK, I guess I could have made that part clearer, but I meant I don't want people to start slagging other countries. Obviously people are going to say that one country is "better" than another when you're ranking them, I just don't want people ****ting on other countries to make their own seem better.
 

espo*

Guest
For me it's the Czechs......i think they are number two for right now but without some championships in the bag soon i would have to drop their spot.
 

Burnaby_Joe*

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I think it's between Russia,Sweden and the Czechs. Finland isn't far off, though.
 

wilka91*

Registered User
May 5, 2004
4,251
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I have a better one : what country was number 2 during the 1998-2002 period? Finland? Russia? A little reminder : the Czech Republic was number 1.

And I wanna see this same thread once Canada's domination ends (probably in the next couple of years).
 

Burnaby_Joe*

Guest
wilka91 said:
And I wanna see this same thread once Canada's domination ends (probably in the next couple of years).

Who said Canada's domination is going to end? That's news to me. :D
 

Tb0ne

Registered User
Nov 29, 2004
5,452
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Victoria
I think he means in the sense that for the recent past U-20 WJC Canada has not won gold.

Except if you count the most recent win of Gold.
 

TORRUS

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May 31, 2004
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Beli
Riddarn said:
They have the youth program, the depth, the knowledge, the culture and the money.

If there is something they don't have it's the culture. I'm not talking about overall culture but the hockey culture. Their hockey started after Lake Placid and 25 years of hockey history cannot be called culture. But I agree on the rest that you mentioned.
 

B Boarding

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Feb 26, 2005
1,055
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Stockholm, Sweden
If there was a league where every nation played each other say 4 times, my guess would be:

1. Canada (Strengths: Everything...Weaknesses: Not much. They don't have a Gretzky or Lemieux anymore that could be the difference in tight situations.)
2. Sweden (Strengths: Top 2-lines and defence. Scary PP-units. Weaknesses: Goaltending. Lundqvist keeps up with everyone, but behind him is...Tellqvist. Coaching is not a strenght anyway.)
3. Russia (Strengths: Scoring, skating. Weaknesses: Team spirit and good defensive d-men)
4. Czech Rep. (Strenghts: Wingers and probably still goaltending. Weaknesses: The defence and centers doesn't look that impressive)
5. USA (Strengths: The team seems quite solid but without the obvious strenghts and weaknesses).
6. Finland (Strengths: Goaltending and team spirit. Weaknesses: Overall depth is not good enough against the best in the long run)
7. Slovakia (Strengths: Wingers. They have a scary arsenal of scoring wingers. Chara, the best d-man in the world. Weaknesses: Everything except the strengths is prteyy much a weakness. The team lacks role players etc...)
8. Germany
9. Switzerland
 

Riddarn

1980-2011
Aug 2, 2003
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TORRUS said:
If there is something they don't have it's the culture. I'm not talking about overall culture but the hockey culture. Their hockey started after Lake Placid and 25 years of hockey history cannot be called culture. But I agree on the rest that you mentioned.

That depends on in which part of the US you are in.
 

Raimo Sillanpää

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Mar 11, 2003
1,848
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Espoo, Finland
B Boarding said:
If there was a league where every nation played each other say 4 times, my guess would be:


6. Finland (Strengths: Goaltending and team spirit. Weaknesses: Overall depth is not good enough against the best in the long run)

Not to take too much position on this, but I would say that only a few countries, USA, Canada, Russia have more top-end prospects than finland does right now. Sweden for example, has a bare cupboard..
 

Raimo Sillanpää

Registered User
Mar 11, 2003
1,848
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Espoo, Finland
On another point, why just judge it on performance?

Hockey is a #1 sport in two countries, Canada and Finland. For the rest it's soccer and for the US baseball/basketball.
 

Hasbro

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Raimo Sillanpää said:
On another point, why just judge it on performance?

Hockey is a #1 sport in two countries, Canada and Finland. For the rest it's soccer and for the US baseball/basketball.
Football way before Baseball and basketball and there is some regional variation which matters with 300 million people.

Is baseball or soccer bigger in japan?

Isn't rugby and footy bigger in Australia?
 

kmad

riot survivor
Jun 16, 2003
34,133
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Vancouver
ahmon said:
I won't put sweden in the top 3.. canada, russia, usa are the best 3 imo..

Sweden was in the top three for a long time, but their prospect cupboard is now bare and they've still never had a marquee goaltender.

And to whoever said Chara is the world's best defenseman - do you have categories other than height?

Lidstrom is a lot better than Chara.
 
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