MMC
Global Moderator
Hockey seems to be pretty big in Eastern Europe, though there's been hardly any players from Belarus or Romania. Why has that been the case? Do you think we will see more players from these countries in the future?
Hockey's big in eastern Europe? It's big in those countries that have been under the heavy Soviet influence, and even among those, it's the case in only a handful of them. The following are Eastern/Central European countries with strong hockey traditions:Hockey seems to be pretty big in Eastern Europe, though there's been hardly any players from Belarus or Romania. Why has that been the case? Do you think we will see more players from these countries in the future?
Great post, thanks for this.Hockey's big in eastern Europe? It's big in those countries that have been under the heavy Soviet influence, and even among those, it's the case in only a handful of them. The following are Eastern/Central European countries with strong hockey traditions:
Now take a look at the list of countries where hockey is either a non-factor or way down on the totem pole of team sports:
- Russia
- Latvia
- Czech Rep
- Slovakia
- Belarus - even there handball and soccer are above easily
Even with the nations that are supposed hockey hotbeds, there is less and less talent coming out compared to the days from when they were behind the curtain. Hockey will never be popular on a level higher than a niche sport in the vast majority of Europe, the biggest factors being:
- Romania - soccer, rugby, handball
- Bulgaria - volleyball, soccer
- Ukraine - soccer, bball, handball
- Lithuania - bball, soccer
- Estonia - soccer
- Poland - soccer, volleyball, handball, bball
- Hungary - soccer, waterpolo, handball
- Serbia - soccer, bball, waterpolo, handball, volleyball
- Croatia - same as above
- Slovenia - same as above minus waterpolo
- Bosnia - same as Slovenia
- Macedonia - handball, soccer, bball
- Georgia - rugby and soccer
- Albania - soccer
- no tradition
- far too many team sports that are easier to play, cheaper and more popular
- costly infrastructure
- lack of high-quality coaching from the grassroots level
Belarus:
Romania:
- Presence of the city of Minsk with ~2 M population
- KHL Team Dynamo Minsk
- 23 KHL Players
Considering a country like Slovenia has 3 NHLers, most notably Kopitar I think it's likely or at least possible to see a great player out of Belarus. Minsk is one of the Top3/Top5 arenas in all of Europe for attendance. Comparable to St. Petersburg, Bern, and Cologne. Josi is from Bern & Draisaitl is from Cologne. DEL, NL, and KHL are good enough leagues to develop a young player in their top markets as I have demonstrated. It's only that the right kid gets interested and sticks with it. We're not going to see an explosion of talent, but some outlier certainly could show up.
- Bucharest population 1.8 M, Romania ~20 M
- Romanian Hockey League
I wouldn't hold my breath for any Romanian hockey player.
Rest of EE:
I did meet a Hungarian customer who was SUPER interested in hockey. For some people, even in Europe, all the flopping and general behaviour in football is uninteresting. There will always be a baseline support for a combative, fast, and aggressive sport like hockey (ice hockey). It is kind of a cult sport, a rich man's sport, and a white man's sport. Eastern Europe has some strong far-right views and hockey seems to be a good fit considering this shift in attitudes (said objectively). Eastern Europe also has a strong culture based in traditional values and kind of male machismo that hockey fits into relative to other popular sports. A big obstacle is the cost.
I know all of them, but there are none active in the NHL.Or Ruslan Salei, who played almost 1000 nhl games
R.I.P
I'd argue the opposite. Belarus' situation is pretty interesting and topical considering the number of players from East European countries plummeted from more than 10 15 years ago to 1 in 2018. It's pretty interesting to discuss why countries like Belarus, Latvia or Kazakhstan, where hockey is relatively popular, can't produce anything at all anymore.I understand Romania, but why bring up Belarus?
Ruslan Salei, Mikhail Grabovski, Kostitsyn brothers, Koltsov.....
sure, not a single at the moment.
and Ukrainian, as that was one of the languages spoke in the house by a grandmotherWalter Gretzky is of Belorussian descent
Fluent in the language
Walter Gretzky is of Belorussian descent
Fluent in the language