Sochi Winter Olympics: The ice hockey, age and heritage

BY JOSEPHAT SIROR

SOTCHI OLYMPICS: They were only short of one player from creating a formidable team in the Sochi Winter Olympic games. This is a group of five Ice Hockey players from different nationalities with shared vision but coincidentally under the same age bracket – 40’s.

They have seen it all. From national competitions, popular leagues to the world stage competitions. The European dominated ice hockey players from countries that include Latvia (Sandis Ozonlish) , Czech Republic (Petr Nedved) , Sweden (Daniel Alfresson) and Finland (Teemu Selanne) have stood against their maturity in one of the most physical sports.  

Of the five stars, all-time legend Selanne, 43, towers above the rest not only age difference but also by the number of medals won in Olympics and competitions appearances. For the Finn Selanne, Sochi Olympics was his sixth appearance and sadly so, the final one.

He was predominant player in the just ended Sochi ice hockey competitions leading his team as a captain to the semi-finals. At the beginning of the competitions, Finland mauled Austria in the group stage followed by Norway and Canada. Of the three opponents, Finns lost 2-1 to Canada.

However, Team Finland proceeded to the quarter-finals meeting the arch-rivals and host, Russian team. It was uneven match though for the Lions’ in the final strides to the gold spot after pressing Canadians beyond regulated time.

This was a lesser match for the Lions’ as it had already secured a place in the semis by points.  It was no surprise that Finland eased through the opponents from the start blowing away Russia in the quarters and again coming head to head with the Swedish strong team in an entertaining game that ended 2-1 in favour of Swedes. 

Millions of hockey enthusiasts were glued to screens during the broad-day televised live derby between the Lions and Nordic neighbor, Team Sweden. Päävö Linna, an ice hockey fan in his last 60's rallied behind the team from home in Central Finland.

“It was unfortunate we lost to Swedes but the team did very well with help of senior players,” he said after watching team Finland in all competitions.

NHL star player, Selanne was once again in the mix creating many chances even though at the beginning of the match against Austrians, the skipper limbed off the pitch sparking a scare for the entire national team.

Indeed resilience and flash come-backs by Team Finland plugged through inspiration of senior players  ensured the country’s sport heritage was guarded till the whistle stop in the Winter games.

And as the curtain came down from the oval Bolshoy Ice Dome, Finland settled on the bronze medal crashing Americans 5-0.

That outstanding performance left a clear message that the fight for the gold medal was all the Finns looked upto right from the start to the Finnish albeit losing narrowly during competition. 

Unregrettable though is the fact that Team Finland conceded less goals and scored as many coming to the end of the competitions. News that Canadians even cruised past the Swedes by a margin of an extra goal within the regulated time, showed that the Lion’s had more competitive edge than their Nordic neighbours.

Back home, the screens were kept busy with Sochi events running simultaneously making remote controls swapping from one channel to another. But the ice hockey team dominated the screens being the most watched competition in Finland.

According to random audiences statistics tabulated by Finnish National Broadcasting channel-YLE media over two million audiences in Finland followed the national team on their screens.

Yet Sochi Olympics was another stage where the country’s sports heritage was set off both in terms of prowess and consistency. Only a month in the run up to the Winter Olympics, Finnish junior ice hockey team thrashed the Swedes 3-2 in their home ground, Malmö during world junior ice hockey competitions.

A gold medal claimed by the juniors and now bronze coming from the mens’ national team in Sochi Olympics ignited yet another spark of an even stronger team ready to face their opponents in future.  

Erkka Westerlund, team head coach reiterated the significance of raising young players and the need for European league just like the famed world’s National Hockey League (NHL).

“We hope to nurture young players as we look to future competitions. It was excellent performance by the team,’’ said the coach in a live interview.

Quick facts:

-         Finland has won four medals in previous five Olympics games in N.H.L era

-         The Lions’ captured bronze medal in Sochi Winter Olympics beating USA 5-0

-         Number 8 jersey star, Teemu Selanne toppled other players to attain Most Valuable Player (MVP) spot in Sochi Winter Olympics  (media rating)

-         it was his sixth appearance at age of 43 years in Olympics, more than any other player

-         Ice hockey is the most popular sport in Finland

-        the country harbours great talents most of them among top players in the world

-     Team Finland, (the Lions)’ is currently ranked 2nd by International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Ranking after Sweden