Faktisti*
Guest
That is not correct. Here are the official stats from the IIHF:
http://www.iihf.com/iihf/member/Survey of players.pdf
Finland has 60811 registered players, while Russia has 77202 registered players. Finland has 220 hockey rinks and Russia has only 142 hockey rinks(!).
So if you look at these numbers there is no reason for Finland to produce less skilled players than Russia.
For the comparison's sake North America has an overwhelming edge over the Europe in hockey resources. Canada has 552404 registered hockey players and 3000 hockey rinks. USA has 453299 registered hockey players and 1800 hockey rinks.
THIS IS WHERE PEOPLE GO WRONG!
there are mayby pretty as much register players in finland than in russia. BUT in russia they take just the most talented players and the others wont have a change to play hockey. in the other words there are 77000 very talented players in russia and mayby 10000 very talented finnish players. the junior programs are so different in russia