Quote:
Originally Posted by yads
I don't think winning gold in one of 3 tournaments should be considered as the qualification to be a hockey power. By that logic, Russia is not a hockey super power. Finland has won more medals at olympic hockey than Canada since NHLers started participating.
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Ok, forget about past Olympics. Let's see how many World Championships Finland has won recently. Then there's the World Cup of Hockey which they've never won either, though they came close.
I'm not dissing Finland and saying it's a huge shock they're in the final four. It's just that they weren't medal favourites coming into the tournament and the combination of them, Slovakia and the US being in the semis while Sweden, Russia and the Czechs are gone is not one the general consensus saw coming.
And Finland isn't great on paper either, it's not like they deserved to be talked about as gold medal favourites coming in. They have Kiprusoff but beyond that their roster isn't more impressive than Sweden or Russia on paper.