Historical Rivals

[Outofbodyinhungary]

Who is ur nations historical arch rival? Is it any different compared to other sports? For example I’d say the Czechs are our rivals in hockey. In soccer, Hungary has definitely become an arch rival and the hate there is very historical. How are your nations similar or different ?

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[snipes]

Soviets/Russia for Canada will always be our biggest rival. Shared history as the only two hockey super powers. So many great games beginning in 1972. The Soviets made Canadians think about the game in a different way as they had such a contrasting style.

The USA obviously is another massive rivalry.

But if it’s historical hockey rivals it’s Russia.

 

[BlizzardSloth]

For Switzerland it's definitely Germany as in all sports. Not a hateful rivalry at all, it's more of a big brother thing.

Otherwise there has grown a huge desire to finally beat the Swedes since they've been beating us in the finals in 2013 & 2018 but I wouldn't call it a rivalry since it's pretty one-sided.

 

[ZEBROA]

For Switzerland it's definitely Germany as in all sports. Not a hateful rivalry at all, it's more of a big brother thing.

Otherwise there has grown a huge desire to finally beat the Swedes since they've been beating us in the finals in 2013 & 2018 but I wouldn't call it a rivalry since it's pretty one-sided.

Many Swedes(me included) felt a bit sorry for Switzerland and would not be that upset if you won. The fighting spirit was fantastic!

I hope you win soon, but against Finland... our biggest rival, Canada second but faaar down on the latter. With Russia we just have a hard time figuring them out, but no real rivaly/maby between the coaches .

 

[alko]

In the top level it is not so hard to imagine:

Slovakia - Czech : but now not so big like it was in 90s and 2000s
Czech - Canada ( i thing, they dont see Slovakia on the same level, so it is not a true rival. And the results support that)
Finland - Sweden
USA - Canada
Russia - Canada
Canada - Every team from Top 6 only to prove, they are the best

Interesting would be to see, how it is in lower World levels. Not second division, but even lower.

 

[Albatros]

For Germany Austria is the one you don't want to lose, Canada the one you want to win. But there isn't much intensity anyway unlike with the Netherlands in soccer.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Historically it's Sweden but it's not as big anymore.

 

[JFG]

Historically it's Sweden but it's not as big anymore.

Why not?

 

[323667]

I'm not sure... But it feels like the more we succeed (Finland) the less the rivalry against sweden matters. For me personally, sweden is still the number one rival followed by russia and Canada.

Russia for historical reasons and Canada because they simply are the #1 hockey nation.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

I'm not sure... But it feels like the more we succeed (Finland) the less the rivalry against sweden matters. For me personally, sweden is still the number one rival followed by russia and Canada.

Russia for historical reasons and Canada because they simply are the #1 hockey nation.

I'm sensing a small rivalry against the Americans in juniors. U18 finals and the latest U20 final as examples. Sweden isn't as big of a deal as it used to.

 

[romelson]

Being a swede, I like it when finns have success in sports. But I want danes and norwegians to fail as much as possible.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

USA-Canada is such a weird rivalry. They don’t actually dislike each other, at all. They usually end up good friends if they play for the same NHL organization eventually and some of them play college or junior hockey together. It’s fun to watch, but there’s very little animosity from the players or historically from the two countries.

USA-Russia is more of a rivalry because of historical context of the two countries. Current relations between the two countries aren’t great now either, so that doesn’t help, but things are obviously very different from when Russia was the USSR. We’ve had a few good games against them recently in the 2017 WJC20 semis and the 2019 WJC18 semis.

The real hockey rival right now is the Finns. We’ve played a lot of big games against them in recent years, and they’ve beat us a lot. If we can meet and beat any team in the final, I want to play the Finns and get revenge for the many big games they’ve won against us.

 

[93LEAFS]

Soviets. First country to really challenge our claim as the best Hockey Nation in the world. Followed by the USA.

USA-Canada is such a weird rivalry. They don’t actually dislike each other, at all. They usually end up good friends if they play for the same NHL organization eventually and some of them play college or junior hockey together. It’s fun to watch, but there’s very little animosity from the players or historically from the two countries.

You can be rivals and still like and respect your competition. I mean, Duke/UNC is a blood bath for college basketball, but most of those guys grew up on the AAU circuit together and are on friendly terms. Tons of Manchester United/Manchester City players or the London based clubs hang out with each other. Fans take it way more seriously than the players in most cases. Yes, the players want to win at all costs (and sometimes beating your friend is better than beating a random opponent), but it is still a game where life goes on after 60 minutes. Rivalries don't have to be political in nature.

Obviously, Russians are a bit more isolated in the NHL due to the language barrier. But, a lot of those guys are loved in the locker room for being jokers.

 

[Zine]

For Russia:
In Soviet times the #1 rival was Czechoslovakia, followed closely by Canada.
Today it's Canada, followed by USA.

 

[tony d]

USA and Russia for Canada in hockey.