Go Finland

[ScandinavianMetal]

I dare you to find a people who wasn't terrible at some point of its history. And if you do, it will be because they didn't have the means or intelligence to actually do anything. Hell, my country hasn't even 200 years and we've already committed genocide.

Never suggested anything of the sort. Just stating the fact that the Vikings were cowards who attacked/plundered/raped while the armies/men were away, then ran away--back to their ships before they could arrive. And I am not proud of it.

Yet the Vikings accomplished unbelievable things. Not to mention the Jury system, which England later adopted.

I am so sick of people comparing different countries and saying X is better than Y. So sick of it. That's why I don't live in Europe anymore. It's just filled with jealousy and bitterness between each others. Well, more like that I am studying in the US for my degree. But, nevertheless--it's stupid. I've lived in three different countries. They are have bad parts to them. Some more than others. And all of them have good parts to them, too.

But what I love more is when people put words in my mouth. Why, the other day some idiotic person at campus got the notion that I was stating how Europe was better than America, merely because I was rooting for Finland. He proceeded in mocking how Sweden and Finland just discovered electricity and are lightyears behind USA. These are idiots I keep quiet, since you can not reason with them. Yet, for some reason, I do decide to respond to this.

 

[Celeb]

Back to hockey, WE WON BRONZE!!

It was a good game, tough though. First period 1-0, second 1-3 but the third was ours, 5-3. Its very important medal, not just for the team but also for the older players who probably wont be playing anymore in our international team.

 

[^MetalMan^]

That's pretty sad that all the "legends" start to get old and quit Hockey won't be the same without players like Selänne

 

[Celeb]

^^Yeh, I feel sorry for Selänne and also the legendary triplet Ville Peltonen, Saku Koivu and Jere Lehtinen. Even though they havent been in all of the teams for world championships because of NHL, they have become kind of a truism for Finlands team.

 

[Leandro]

Never suggested anything of the sort. Just stating the fact that the Vikings were cowards who attacked/plundered/raped while the armies/men were away, then ran away--back to their ships before they could arrive. And I am not proud of it.

Yet the Vikings accomplished unbelievable things. Not to mention the Jury system, which England later adopted.

I am so sick of people comparing different countries and saying X is better than Y. So sick of it. That's why I don't live in Europe anymore. It's just filled with jealousy and bitterness between each others. Well, more like that I am studying in the US for my degree. But, nevertheless--it's stupid. I've lived in three different countries. They are have bad parts to them. Some more than others. And all of them have good parts to them, too.

But what I love more is when people put words in my mouth. Why, the other day some idiotic person at campus got the notion that I was stating how Europe was better than America, merely because I was rooting for Finland. He proceeded in mocking how Sweden and Finland just discovered electricity and are lightyears behind USA. These are idiots I keep quiet, since you can not reason with them. Yet, for some reason, I do decide to respond to this.

See, I'm very hesitant to call people cowards... most of the time we only have that notion because the tactics they use are effective. It is considered dishonorable to kick a fellow man in the gnads. Why? Because you'll win the fight then and there, that's why. Same goes for hit and run tactics, they are and will always be extremely effective, yet... dishonorable. Well, I don't think it's cowardice to instruct your men to inflict the most damage to the enemy without endangering themselves. Also, most decent strategists know when and where to withdrawal, whereas honorable romantics might fight to the end and waste their lives and those of their subordinates.

Of course attacking civilians is one of the most objectionable actions we can see in war, but, considering every Viking was a warrior, they might've even *lacked* the concept of civilian in the first place!

That's not to defend them in any way, of course not. It's just putting things in perspective, seeing how they aren't really much worse than other bloodlusters we see everywhere. As far as the rest of your post goes, though, I agree completely.

 

[children of COB]

But excluding crosby, canada's got all kinds of bad ass players. Marleau, niedermayer, pronger, getzlaf, iginla, staal... Among others. Awesome. Also, how did russia do this year?

I know I know, and even tho I'm not too keen on him I like many of the plays he does, so I'm probably rooting for them. I happen to like a lot the Staal brothers (I miss Jordan there, I think he could well have been there) and although I kinda despise the Blackhawks for fucking us up in the ass repeatedly this season (Red Wings fan here) Toews is a cool guy too. And Luongo is great too, hopefully he'll have good night tonigth

About Russia, the most fucking dissappointing performance of all. Canada has a lot to do on that too, but still, not even making it past the quarterfinals was fucking lame. I say Canada had a lot to do on that because they fucked up their pool phase and ended up 2nd and Finland took over them as best seeded 2nd, so Canada had to play an extra game to get into the quarterfinals (8-2 against Germany) and then Russia found themselves playing Canada already in quarterfinals instead as in the finals as everybody expected. But it's not only that, it's the fact that the Russians never even came close to looking as a team throughout the whole tournament. If you gather together the likes of Ovechkin, Malkin, Datsyuk, Kovalchuk, Semin... you can't then screw it up with half a team of KHL-ers who are not used to NHL sized rink and play and who totally fucked it up when Canada started pressuring and dumping pucks and cycling and all. Top that with a horrendous performance by Nabokov and a stubborn coach who didn't replace him until he took 6 goals in 24 minutes (Bryzgalov played the remaining 36 and got just one in) and you have the recipe for failure.

Back to hockey, WE WON BRONZE!!

It was a good game, tough though. First period 1-0, second 1-3 but the third was ours, 5-3. Its very important medal, not just for the team but also for the older players who probably wont be playing anymore in our international team.

Yep, Finland keeps the streak of scoring a medal almost each year through the last 6 Olympics. Only missed one. Also, hopefully you'll have some sense of humour and laugh your ass off at this article as I did. I'm no fin but I do like them a lot and respect your National team, as well as rooting for it on the international dates, so don't take it as an offence, I just find it hilarious

Here you go, have a laugh

He actually ended up getting back on his feet and contribute to the bronze medal, so good for Kipper, I quite like him as a goalie. Also, class move by coach to give him the chance to redeem himself playing in the Bronze game. Kinda feel sorry for Backstrom too though. BTW, is people at Finland as mad as the coach as my team's goaltender is? He's finnish but playing for us here in Spain this season and he doesn't like the way the coach has handled it all one bit. He pretty much blames it on the coach lol.

 

[Celeb]

^^
Well I think we will remember that game for a long time but the medalgame proved that the team was able to wipe out the whole thing from their minds and focus on the new game and opponent. So quite needless to say that Im pretty proud of our international hockey team. Its been a long road and at least we have this one sport where Finland cant be ignored.
Ok, this whole thread should be called Hockey-thread or something like that.

I was quite surprised about Russia's success. Usually they've been one of the top teams though they haven't really reached the level of the good old Red Machine. I expected much more from the team of Russia. I didn't watch any of their games though so I don't know how their game was. But for Olympics, I think Slovakia was the black sheep, a real surpriser. Also US has done some progress, they weren't picking up the fight so easily as before (compared to 2008 WC, Finland-USA and the fight at the end of the game. I find it quite hilarious

Gonna watch the final game Canada-USA (which is about to begin in what, 30 minutes?). I would guess that Canada wins but you never know, USA can always surprise.

 

[FridgePack]

OMG!

OVERTIME! Olympic-final USA-Canada.. can't belive it..

GO USA!!!!

 

[P4T0U]

Oh. USA got pwned by Canada. I wasn't expecting that.

 

[children of COB]

^Really? I mean ok, USA got off to a great start and all, but all because Canada had quite the opposite. A so slow start that almost costed them the tournament. But when pool play was done and they were forced to play that extra game against Germany they woke up and from then on it has been Canada all over the place. Yes, Germany wasn't such a strong contender, but still they rooted them 8-2 easily, and then along came the russians, who altho really not tuned at all are really dangerous and strong. We all saw the outcome of that, and quite frankly after that came I was sure that if Canada was to get to the final it was to walk away with gold. Team USA is fast and Miller good, but that's about all they have to offer, and Canada showed that today. They played phisical and hard throughout the whole game (the longest shifts were 40 seconds, and many of them were just "go on the ice, rush to the net, back to the bench on your way to the blue line") and the USA just relied on Kane's speed and such, which paid quite a bit as the game was quite even, but no team in the tournament could match Canada's depth, so it all went their way in the end. Regulation was quite tied, but overtime was Canada's show.

^^
Well I think we will remember that game for a long time but the medalgame proved that the team was able to wipe out the whole thing from their minds and focus on the new game and opponent. So quite needless to say that Im pretty proud of our international hockey team. Its been a long road and at least we have this one sport where Finland cant be ignored.
Ok, this whole thread should be called Hockey-thread or something like that.

I was quite surprised about Russia's success. Usually they've been one of the top teams though they haven't really reached the level of the good old Red Machine. I expected much more from the team of Russia. I didn't watch any of their games though so I don't know how their game was. But for Olympics, I think Slovakia was the black sheep, a real surpriser. Also US has done some progress, they weren't picking up the fight so easily as before (compared to 2008 WC, Finland-USA and the fight at the end of the game. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqNRsOWx5mA I find it quite hilarious

Gonna watch the final game Canada-USA (which is about to begin in what, 30 minutes?). I would guess that Canada wins but you never know, USA can always surprise.

Russians were extremely dangerous if teams were stupid enough to let Ovechkin, Malkin, Semin, Datsyuk or Kovalchuk go. Beyond that, Russia was mediocre at the very best. Yes, the KHL lines combined for some goals, but a soon as the opposition was more than Belarus or the likes and the Ds could tie well the aforementioned 5 NHLers, Russia was out of the game. E.g. Toews and his line completely strangled Ovi's line game on the quarterfinals game, and that had a lot of part of Canada's success. They were given some help by Russian coach by beeing stubborn and sticking with Nabokov and not replacing him after he had let in 6 goals in the first 24 minutes, but there's not much they could have done with their top lines tied like Canada tied them up.

 

[reignofterror]

I'm glad that Canada won gold, and I was happy that Finland won bronze.

Am I mistaken, or has team Finland won the most Olympic hockey medals, but never a gold?

 

[Ess en]

I know I know, and even tho I'm not too keen on him I like many of the plays he does, so I'm probably rooting for them. I happen to like a lot the Staal brothers (I miss Jordan there, I think he could well have been there) and although I kinda despise the Blackhawks for fucking us up in the ass repeatedly this season (Red Wings fan here) Toews is a cool guy too. And Luongo is great too, hopefully he'll have good night tonigth

About Russia, the most fucking dissappointing performance of all. Canada has a lot to do on that too, but still, not even making it past the quarterfinals was fucking lame. I say Canada had a lot to do on that because they fucked up their pool phase and ended up 2nd and Finland took over them as best seeded 2nd, so Canada had to play an extra game to get into the quarterfinals (8-2 against Germany) and then Russia found themselves playing Canada already in quarterfinals instead as in the finals as everybody expected. But it's not only that, it's the fact that the Russians never even came close to looking as a team throughout the whole tournament. If you gather together the likes of Ovechkin, Malkin, Datsyuk, Kovalchuk, Semin... you can't then screw it up with half a team of KHL-ers who are not used to NHL sized rink and play and who totally fucked it up when Canada started pressuring and dumping pucks and cycling and all. Top that with a horrendous performance by Nabokov and a stubborn coach who didn't replace him until he took 6 goals in 24 minutes (Bryzgalov played the remaining 36 and got just one in) and you have the recipe for failure.

Yeah, I really like Jordan Staal. He pulls some sick shit, for sure. The only reason I really asked about russia is that I'm such a big fan of Malkin. And, of course, Ovi and Datsyuk are unbelievable, as well. The wings are like my least favorite team, btw. =P

^^
Well I think we will remember that game for a long time but the medalgame proved that the team was able to wipe out the whole thing from their minds and focus on the new game and opponent. So quite needless to say that Im pretty proud of our international hockey team. Its been a long road and at least we have this one sport where Finland cant be ignored.
Ok, this whole thread should be called Hockey-thread or something like that.

I was quite surprised about Russia's success. Usually they've been one of the top teams though they haven't really reached the level of the good old Red Machine. I expected much more from the team of Russia. I didn't watch any of their games though so I don't know how their game was. But for Olympics, I think Slovakia was the black sheep, a real surpriser. Also US has done some progress, they weren't picking up the fight so easily as before (compared to 2008 WC, Finland-USA and the fight at the end of the game. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqNRsOWx5mA I find it quite hilarious

Gonna watch the final game Canada-USA (which is about to begin in what, 30 minutes?). I would guess that Canada wins but you never know, USA can always surprise.

I always watch out for you finns whenever I see you on the ice. I certainly wouldn't expect anyone to ignore the finnish team. And we don't do so bad, either. I was so shocked that slovakia made it, but good for them, anyway. It's nice seeing something different than from what everyone expects. But I'm happy with silver, especially because we got so close to gold and I guess it was a close game.

I'm gonna go see what highlights and videos I can find on the web. =\

 

[Celeb]

I'm glad that Canada won gold, and I was happy that Finland won bronze.

Am I mistaken, or has team Finland won the most Olympic hockey medals, but never a gold?

We have won 2 silvers (or lost the gold twice, which way you want to think of it) and 3 bronzemedals but yeh, the brightest one we are still missing. At the moment we are the only team that has won a medal in winter olympics during 21st century. Ok, there has been only two olympics, Vancouver and Toronto but we got the medal from both of them.

I watched the final game and it was still very exciting even though it wasnt Finland who was playing. The goal USA made 24 seconds before the third period ended was very good and really have the game extra excitement. The whole game was quite amazing, good hockey I would say It was fast, talented and pretty rough what it comes to the tackles. To be honest, I was almost happy that we didn't make to the final because we would have probably lost it. I prefer the joy of winning bronze to the disappointment of losing gold

 

[Delanoir]

To be honest, I was almost happy that we didn't make to the final because we would have probably lost it. I prefer the joy of winning bronze to the disappointment of losing gold

Such finnish mentality. Not necessarily in a bad way, mind you. I feel that way too.

 

[Celeb]

^^Haha probably yeh But as Selänne said, bronze is always a medal which you win. And for the older players who might not continue playing in Finlands international team, this was a great ending for the olympics. I know at least for Olli Jokinen this was his last game in Lions. Now they can "happily" end the career in Lions when they won "the last game", hope you get what I mean.

Anyway, the Olympics are over and now I start to wait for May and the World Championship in Germany. Finland will be playing in the same group with Denmark, USA and Germany. Its gonna be an interesting game at least with USA. Some who played in the Olympics will play for sure in Germany too so I guess there will be some spirit of revenge. Probably the first thing to do is not to let USA score 6 goals before our team wakes up

 

[reignofterror]

^
That Finland and USA game was disappointing. I was hoping to seeing a really well played game, but was pretty discouraged after the first period.
I was actually hoping to see Finland and Canada play for the gold medal, but I guess I had better be happy with what ended up happening.

 

[Celeb]

Yeh, we were very disappointed but thats how things went this time. I felt sorry for Kiprusoff, it really wasnt his game but luckily he made it up in the bronze-game. Hopefully we are more lucky in the next Olympics in Sotši. But before that it would be great to see Finland take the gold in World Championship, we have enough silvers.

 

[children of COB]

Yeah, I really like Jordan Staal. He pulls some sick shit, for sure. The only reason I really asked about russia is that I'm such a big fan of Malkin. And, of course, Ovi and Datsyuk are unbelievable, as well. The wings are like my least favorite team, btw. =P

Not the brightest tournament for them all, probably looking for redemption in the World cup in summer, we'll see. About the Wings, it's love them or hate them, so I'm not surprised hehe. I'm happy we're finally healthy, playoffs here we come!

We have won 2 silvers (or lost the gold twice, which way you want to think of it) and 3 bronzemedals but yeh, the brightest one we are still missing. At the moment we are the only team that has won a medal in winter olympics during 21st century. Ok, there has been only two olympics, Vancouver and Toronto but we got the medal from both of them.

I watched the final game and it was still very exciting even though it wasnt Finland who was playing. The goal USA made 24 seconds before the third period ended was very good and really have the game extra excitement. The whole game was quite amazing, good hockey I would say It was fast, talented and pretty rough what it comes to the tackles. To be honest, I was almost happy that we didn't make to the final because we would have probably lost it. I prefer the joy of winning bronze to the disappointment of losing gold

Loosing a game is getting thrashed (like e.g. the semifinal), but getting a silver medal for games like Finland's in Torino should have them really happy because both teams showed great strength only that one was more lucky with the bounces, like this year's final (besides overtime, which was Canada all over the place), so you should all be well proud of that, as well as for being the team with more medals in the last 6 Olympics. Not Canada, not Sweden, not Russia, not USA: Finland. Let's see if Kiprusoff agrees to play them and seeks revenge to prove that he's a much better goaltender than that 6-1, because he is and he knows that. Should be a good World Championship

 

[Celeb]

^^Well its not like we are ashamed that we have won silver. Its always a great achievement but still when its about the ultimate final, the game for gold and even if the teams would be in the same level, if you lack in luck and things go bad for your team of course you feel disappointed.
No one underrates the medals our team has won but still I dare to say that we have a great hunger to beat all the other teams and at least once win gold in the Olympics. Its true that since -88 Olympics in Calgary when we won our first medal, we have won more medals than any other team (from 1988-2010 Canada is the next, with 4 medals). I guess that proves that we are capable of winning the gold but at least for now we have lacked in either luck or talent. Usually luck I would say, because of course our team is the best in the world, we just haven't succeeded in showing it to others but only once in -95.

I really hope Kiprusoff would play in the World Championship this year but we'll see. Luckily he is not the only good goalkeeper in Finland but at least with USA, as you said, it would be great if he could play and show that he isn't totally useless guy.