The prestige of Liiga

vaiski

Registered User
Dec 27, 2015
381
3
I think the appreciation for Liiga should be higher than it currently is. Especially when people cite things like NHLe to compare leagues with eachother. Just this year Laine, Aho, Auvitu, Nutivaara and possibly Puljujärvi broke into NHL lineups straight from Liiga. Three of those players are special talents, but the cases of Auvitu and Nutivaara are something that shows the top end talent in Liiga can definitely be NHL material. Maybe this year is just an anomaly, but this is a very positive sign for Liiga either way.
 

Stoat

Registered User
Jan 5, 2014
145
136
Oulu
I think Liiga is appreciated well enough among players. But from my perspective, Liiga is way too defensive minded. I mean we're watching 60 minutes of trap in every match. I still watch Liiga basically every day when there are matches, but damn it can be boring at times. Especially now when my team is playing like monkeys.

But yeah, I agree that the top-level players in Liiga are definitely NHL ready. And it's not just this year. Year before there was Donskoi and Kemppainen. I believe that there will be a couple players next year too.

- Stoat
 

Tulipunaruusu*

Registered User
Apr 27, 2014
2,193
2
How the prestige could not be in relatively high standard when 'Finland' pours so much of its sports and cultural resources into ice hockey? Youth production may have normalized but from every horn you are given the message that this is some golden age of Finnish ice hockey when the only comparison you have is with a decade of ridiculously poor age classes.

Yet SM-liiga shows no signs of domestic growth or a plan how to overtake Sweden or Switzerland as desirable destination for some of the top players in Eurasia while playing ice hockey is expensive as hell for the juniors. You sit there watching something other than 'top-4' hockey... The play is halted every five minutes so you could listen to the ads for what you paid +20 euros of entrance fee. Where is the show? Let me get out of the barn door as I do not see how exactly are these relatively enormous resources (for ice hockey) channelled in a way you should be so appreciate of.

The flag ship of Finnish ice hockey at least finished eight in the World Cup so let's not forget the positive side of Finnish ice hockey.
 

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