Ice hockey in Finland

Ice hockey in Finland
Association:	Suomen Jääkiekkoliitto
First international match:
Finland 1: 8 Sweden January 29, 1928 in Helsinki , Finland
Medal winners men:
WM:	2 × gold, 5 × silver, 3 × bronze
Olympia:	2 × silver, 2 × bronze
Medal winners women:
WM:	7 × bronze
Olympia:	1 × bronze

The Finnish national goalkeeper Niklas Bäckström at the 2005 World Cup

Ice hockey is considered the most popular sport in Finland . In the Scandinavian country, 1.2 percent of the total population (approx. 62,800) play ice hockey, only in Canada this rate is higher at 1.76 percent. In comparison, in Germany only 0.04 percent of the population do sport, in Switzerland and Austria the rate is 0.35 and 0.1 percent respectively.

The sport of ice hockey is organized on a national level by the Finnish ice hockey association Suomen Jääkiekkoliitto .

history

With the spread of ice hockey , which originated in Canada , in Europe towards the end of the 19th century , the Nordic countries Sweden and Finland in particular found a new national sport in this game, as, among other things, the conditions in these countries were ideal for ice hockey, which was then still played in the open air were. In some parts of Finland ice hockey could be played all year round, a decisive advantage over other European countries.

With the SM-sarja the first national ice hockey league was founded in 1928, champions in the first year were the Viipurin Reipas , one of the oldest ice hockey clubs in Finland, which still plays under the name Pelicans in the SM-liiga , which was founded in 1975 and was the first professional league which replaced Zarya as the top division.

The Finnish national ice hockey team , called Leijonat in their home country , played their first international match against neighboring Sweden in January 1928 and had their first international appearance at the European ice hockey championship in 1929 , the greatest success so far being winning the 1995 World Cup . In the current IIHF world rankings , the Finnish team is in fourth place. The women's national team is considered the "eternal" bronze medalist at major international tournaments as the third best ice hockey team in the world, behind Canada and the USA.

Several international tournaments have also taken place on Finnish soil, including the ice hockey world championships in 1965 in Tampere , 1974 in Helsinki , 1991 and 1997 in Turku as well as the 2003 World Cup , which was held in several Finnish cities. On May 11, 2007, the Finnish cities Helsinki and Turku prevailed clearly against the Swedish cities Stockholm and Malmö with 64 to 35 votes at the annual meeting of the World Ice Hockey Federation IIHF in Moscow in the vote to award the 2012 World Cup .

But ice hockey is also the most popular sport outside of these World Cup host cities , so the sport is also very important in Lahti , Oulu and Espoo , cities that are home to other successful ice hockey clubs.

organization

Play-off between Espoo Blues and Oulun Kärpät in the 2005/06 season

Today the umbrella organization Suomen Jääkiekkoliitto organizes not only the two professional leagues (SM) Liiga and Mestis but also numerous lower-tier leagues in which a total of over 120,000 amateurs are active.

The SM-liiga was a closed league from the year 2000, so that no team could relegate to a lower league or rise from a lower league without the consent of the league committee. In order to obtain this consent, special criteria, such as B. the fulfillment of the league standards for stadiums. Contrary to the generally prevailing trend in Europe to close the highest ice hockey leagues based on the North American model, the Liiga was reopened in 2009 so that the highest athletic hockey league in Finland is also the highest division in the country.

Finnish players in North America

Due to the high quality and the perfectly organized Finnish ice hockey due to the broad base, the National Hockey League quickly became aware of the Finnish star players, who have increasingly been signed by teams from the best professional league in the world since the 1980s. These successful players in North America include: a .:

• Valtteri Filppula - current player in the Tampa Bay Lightning
• Niklas Hagman - current player in the Calgary Flames
• Raimo Helminen - 117 NHL appearances for the New York Rangers and the New York Islanders
• Jussi Jokinen - current Florida Panther player
• Olli Jokinen - current player in the St. Louis Blues
• Jere Karalahti - 349 NHL appearances for the Los Angeles Kings and Nashville Predators
• Miikka Kiprusoff - current goalkeeper for the Calgary Flames
• Mikko Koivu - current player of the Minnesota Wild
• Saku Koivu - current player in the Anaheim Ducks
• Jari Kurri - 1251 NHL missions, a. a. for the Edmonton Oilers and the Los Angeles Kings
• Jere Lehtinen - 875 NHL appearances for the Dallas Stars
• Toni Lydman - current Anaheim Ducks player
• Mikko Mäkelä - 423 NHL appearances for the New York Islanders , Los Angeles Kings and Boston Bruins

Teemu Selänne

• Antti Miettinen - current player in the Minnesota Wild
• Teppo Numminen - In the NHL from 1988 to 2009 for the Winnipeg Jets , Phoenix Coyotes , Dallas Stars and Buffalo Sabers .
• Ville Peltonen - 175 NHL appearances for the San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators
• Reijo Ruotsalainen - 446 NHL appearances for the New York Rangers and Edmonton Oilers
• Jarkko Ruutu - current player of Jokerit
• Tuomo Ruutu - current Carolina Hurricanes player
• Sami Salo - 526 NHL appearances mostly for the New York Islanders and Vancouver Canucks
• Teemu Selänne - 1,451 NHL appearances mostly for the Anaheim Ducks
• Esa Tikkanen - 877 NHL missions, a. a. for the Edmonton Oilers , New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks
• Kimmo Timonen - current player in the Chicago Blackhawks
• Vesa Toskala - 260 NHL appearances for the San Jose Sharks , Toronto Maple Leafs and the Calgary Flames
• Ossi Väänänen - 479 NHL missions a. a. for the Phoenix Coyotes and the Colorado Avalanche

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 2008 General Congress News. In: iihf.com. May 31, 2007, accessed February 1, 2017 .