Stereotyping different hockey countries

Flip

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Apr 9, 2006
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Hi! When you think about teams like Canada, Russia, Finland and etc. how would you discribe the style that they usually play and the characteristic's of different teams. I know that I'm just stereotyping a bit but this is how I find some countries

Canada: - hard hitting, can really shoot the puck, big, sometimes nasty, great goaltending :eek:

Russia: - individuals, tons of skill and speed, selfish, a bit soft, offensive minded :p:

Czech: - Discipline, are great with odd-man rushes, a mullet, divers :propeller

Slovakia: - Same as the Czechs but are not that discipline :teach:

USA: - slow, tough, simple hockey, good at face-offs

Sweden: - passing skills, team play, great tactics, solid all-around players, lucky :sarcasm: , always beat Finland in big games :help:

Finland: - great work ethic and team play, doesn't have enough skill, suck at scoring goals, defensive minded, fantastic goaltending, most physical national team in Europe, good all-around players :D

Don't take this too seriously ;)
 

Flip

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Apr 9, 2006
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iR0CKED said:
There wasn't really a lack of scoring by the Finns at the olympics this year.

Like i said I was stereotyping a bit, but still you have to admit that usually the biggest problem for our team has been scoring goals :cry:
 

Vladiator

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Jenkki #13 said:
Russia: - individuals, tons of skill and speed, selfish, a bit soft, offensive minded :p:

I know we are getting this stereotype nowadays, but if you look at the old USSR team, it was the most unselfish team ever...
 

turnbuckle*

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I wouldn't classify the Americans as slow. Marchant, Amonte, Cole, Modano, Park, Drury, Rafalski and many others are far from slow. One of the fastest players in this draft is Kessel. I'd also say that the Americans are fairly strong in goal, and have a knack for developing good defencemen in recent times.

From what I've seen of Belarus players in limited viewings through the past decade, they are a gritty, resilient bunch.
 

octopi

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Dec 29, 2004
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Vladiator said:
I know we are getting this stereotype nowadays, but if you look at the old USSR team, it was the most unselfish team ever...

When the R5 played for the Wings, us fans would always moan about how they'd keep passing and take forever to get shots off.
 

Mace_37

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Nov 27, 2005
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turnbuckle said:
I wouldn't classify the Americans as slow. Marchant, Amonte, Cole, Modano, Park, Drury, Rafalski and many others are far from slow. One of the fastest players in this draft is Kessel. I'd also say that the Americans are fairly strong in goal, and have a knack for developing good defencemen in recent times.

From what I've seen of Belarus players in limited viewings through the past decade, they are a gritty, resilient bunch.

Strong in goal? The US probably has the weakest goaltending of all of the hockey nation powers. Conklin, Graham, Esche, Miller, DiPietro, when was the last time the US put out an all-star worth goalie? The US puts out goalies that are good enough to be a #1, but not good enough to singlehandedly win a game.
 

Skroob*

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Mace_37 said:
Strong in goal? The US probably has the weakest goaltending of all of the hockey nation powers. Conklin, Graham, Esche, Miller, DiPietro, when was the last time the US put out an all-star worth goalie? The US puts out goalies that are good enough to be a #1, but not good enough to singlehandedly win a game.


Well, not since Richter retired. :teach: ;)
 

Roughneck

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Finland = a poor man's Canada (though this should probably be reversed with the outcome of a certain hockey tourney this year).

Finland is easily the most "North American" hockey country in Europe, and considering the two countries they are squeezed between, its kind of perplexing actually.
 

Nemchinov13

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Roughneck said:
Finland = a poor man's Canada (though this should probably be reversed with the outcome of a certain hockey tourney this year).

Finland is easily the most "North American" hockey country in Europe, and considering the two countries they are squeezed between, its kind of perplexing actually.
It probably comes from the character of the people. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Finland has never had independence. It belonged to Sweden until 1740 (?), and after yet another Swedish loss to Russia, Finland was lost to Russia. After February of 1917, Russian Temporary Government has granted independence to Poland and Finland. I guess since then, the Finnish have vehemently defended its independence in all its forms.

Now, our fellow Finnish posters, please correct me or add if something is missing or wrong.
 

Raimo Sillanpää

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Nemchinov13 said:
It probably comes from the character of the people. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Finland has never had independence. It belonged to Sweden until 1740 (?), and after yet another Swedish loss to Russia, Finland was lost to Russia. After February of 1917, Russian Temporary Government has granted independence to Poland and Finland. I guess since then, the Finnish have vehemently defended its independence in all its forms.

Now, our fellow Finnish posters, please correct me or add if something is missing or wrong.

1917 Russia lost Finland after it seized independence. (Finns declared independence, and fought a war in which it, amogst other things, threw out the reamining Russian troops) It ended up "sealed" in writing in the German-Russian peace treaty of WW1, in which the Germans made the Russians sign a document in which they gave independence to Finland, Baltic countries and uuh, Poland?

Germany was probably the first nation to recognise Finnish independence, and it had trained the Finnish Jaegers and even made a landing in Hanko from where German troops marched to and liberated Helsinki from the reds (Russian troops, but mostly Finnish pro-communist forces who favoured being a part of Russia).
And we were supposed to get a German king, didn't turn out that way, and now his descendant who would've been king, is a famous fashion photographer in New York. (He's quite funny, saw him some years ago on a finnish talk show, kinda a pity we didn't get him as king..)

roughly, no need to be more precise on a hockey board =p
 

Gwyddbwyll

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Dec 24, 2002
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Actually I think Britain is the most "North American" country in Europe.

Unless you're factoring in the skill level :D in which case Finland pulps GB.
 

johnny_rudeboy

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Sweden lucky? :dunno:
I think Jenkki sums it up pretty well. Would not call the americans slow doh, not on their skates any way ;)

I think Czech players are similar to the Russian players, great individuals who mostly have offensive skills so a big :handclap: to the Czech coaches who have shaped them into a mean winning machine, atleast during the late 90´s, who played smart and disciplined. And man, can they dive.
 

johnny_rudeboy

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Nemchinov13 said:
It probably comes from the character of the people. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Finland has never had independence. It belonged to Sweden until 1740 (?), and after yet another Swedish loss to Russia, Finland was lost to Russia. After February of 1917, Russian Temporary Government has granted independence to Poland and Finland. I guess since then, the Finnish have vehemently defended its independence in all its forms.

Now, our fellow Finnish posters, please correct me or add if something is missing or wrong.

No this is true. And this is why Finland always does so well under Swedish command. King, captain, coach or just a boss. They all get the best out of the Finns. :p:
 

turnbuckle*

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Mace_37 said:
Strong in goal? The US probably has the weakest goaltending of all of the hockey nation powers. Conklin, Graham, Esche, Miller, DiPietro, when was the last time the US put out an all-star worth goalie? The US puts out goalies that are good enough to be a #1, but not good enough to singlehandedly win a game.

Weakest goaltending? You're not serious I hope.

Would Ryan Miller not qualify as an all-star type goalie? Dipietro isn't far from being a top-notch goalie IMO either - people forget how young he still is, with his best years ahead of him.

I said "fairly strong", and it was more a testament to the American depth and number of young prospects than having 'superstar" goalies. There have been a pile more solid American goalies though the years in the NHL than Swedish goalies for instance. In fact, the US has produced more NHL goalies than any nation other than Canada, and I would rank them third currently when it comes to producing goalies.

As for prospects, Montoya, Schneider, Howard, Frazee, Quick, Bacashihua, LeNevue, Goepfert...that's a more impressive list of goalie prospects than say....Slovakia's. In fact I'd put it up there with any country's young goalie prospects save Canada and perhaps Finland.
 

Sampe

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The descriptions in the first post are for the most part spot on IMO. I would only add passing skills for the Czechs and stickhandling in the corners/near the boards for the Swedes (they seem to love it). :)
 

johnny_rudeboy

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turnbuckle said:
Weakest goaltending? You're not serious I hope.

Would Ryan Miller not qualify as an all-star type goalie? Dipietro isn't far from being a top-notch goalie IMO either - people forget how young he still is, with his best years ahead of him.

I said "fairly strong", and it was more a testament to the American depth and number of young prospects than having 'superstar" goalies. There have been a pile more solid American goalies though the years in the NHL than Swedish goalies for instance. In fact, the US has produced more NHL goalies than any nation other than Canada, and I would rank them third currently when it comes to producing goalies.

As for prospects, Montoya, Schneider, Howard, Frazee, Quick, Bacashihua, LeNevue, Goepfert...that's a more impressive list of goalie prospects than say....Slovakia's. In fact I'd put it up there with any country's young goalie prospects save Canada and perhaps Finland.

You cant compare European goalies and American goalies on how many of them have played in the NHL. It is not until recently that so many Europeans play in the NHL and I dont think you have been following the leagues in Europe to really tell who is good and who isnt. Americans do produce good goalies but that is not what I think of when I think of American hockey. And Sweden have never been a great nation when it comes to produce goalies. We use to have one really good one and then several 3rd choices. Canada and Finland is the countrys who produce great goalies. Russia is probably the worst in that department among the big nations.
 

TORRUS

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johnny_rudeboy said:
I think Czech players are similar to the Russian players, great individuals who mostly have offensive skills

If I had to compare any other hockey nation to Russia then it would be Slovakia not Czech republic. Slovaks are faster and really resemble the Russian style.

And USA plays slow, that's correct (which makes it boring to watch)

I pretty much agree with everything.
 

turnbuckle*

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johnny_rudeboy said:
You cant compare European goalies and American goalies on how many of them have played in the NHL. It is not until recently that so many Europeans play in the NHL and I dont think you have been following the leagues in Europe to really tell who is good and who isnt. Americans do produce good goalies but that is not what I think of when I think of American hockey. And Sweden have never been a great nation when it comes to produce goalies. We use to have one really good one and then several 3rd choices. Canada and Finland is the countrys who produce great goalies. Russia is probably the worst in that department among the big nations.

I wasn't talking about 40 years ago obviously - I'm talking in the past 25 years - no European teams are close in the number of NHL goalies to play in the NHL.

how do you know I don't follow European goalies? I keep a tab on hockey prospects all over the world fyi.

I place the Americans third among hockey nations for goalies, and that's a solid third. You don't seem to dispute that. I'd say you are closer to agreement with me than you are with the fellow who stated that the Americans were the worst among the elite teams at producing goalies, and that is obviously false IMO.
 

johnny_rudeboy

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I could see America being the 3rd nation in the goalie development but there is a big step up to Canada and Finland. And as I said, when talking about stereotypes, goalies aint among the first things I think about when I think about american hockey.
 

Matti_A

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Sep 21, 2005
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Mace_37 said:
Strong in goal? The US probably has the weakest goaltending of all of the hockey nation powers. Conklin, Graham, Esche, Miller, DiPietro, when was the last time the US put out an all-star worth goalie? The US puts out goalies that are good enough to be a #1, but not good enough to singlehandedly win a game.
What about Tim Thomas :)
 
Last edited:

llwyd

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Feb 22, 2006
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johnny_rudeboy said:
No this is true. And this is why Finland always does so well under Swedish command. King, captain, coach or just a boss. They all get the best out of the Finns. :p:

I am still much too depressed from that unmentionable, already utterly forgotten match in February (that was basically supposed to stop me from ever again minding these endless Finnish final losses) to be provoked by this amateur effort.

One interesting point though is that the moment Sweden lost Finland they also stopped having wars. I guess no-one around to do the dirty work any more. Nice thread anyway, I would add one thing for Finland: collapses in finals...
 

Camshaft77

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Jan 3, 2005
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turnbuckle said:
As for prospects, Montoya, Schneider, Howard, Frazee, Quick, Bacashihua, LeNevue, Goepfert...that's a more impressive list of goalie prospects than say....Slovakia's. In fact I'd put it up there with any country's young goalie prospects save Canada and perhaps Finland.

I will agree with you that the United States have some good up and coming goaltenders. However David LeNeveu is Canadian. Born in Fernie BC, played for Canada at the World Juniors. He did however play at Cornell which is in the NCAA where he was outstanding
 

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