Favourite to least favourite major hockey nations?

[BeeRYCE 2]

For me it looks like this...

1. Canada (The country I hail from)

2. Sweden (Aside from Naslund, not really any players I hate from there, love them actually)

3. Russia (Exciting country to watch)

4. USA (You would think they'd be higher, and don't get me wrong, I love the States, but too many of their hockey players piss me off. The future looks bright though, so my opinion may change)

5. Slovakia

6. Finland

7. Czech Republic (I DO NOT LIKE THE PLAYERS THIS COUNTRY HAS PRODUCED, aside from Hudler and Hasek, but I'd probably not like them if they wore different uniforms anyway).

This is in accordance to the players in the NHL. I realize there are pretty big leagues over in the UK, Switzerland, Denmark, etc... But there aren't enough players in the NHL of those nationalities.

[timsummers 0]

For me it looks like this...

1. Canada (The country I hail from)

2. Sweden (Aside from Naslund, not really any players I hate from there, love them actually)

3. Russia (Exciting country to watch)

4. USA (You would think they'd be higher, and don't get me wrong, I love the States, but too many of their hockey players piss me off. The future looks bright though, so my opinion may change)

5. Slovakia

6. Finland

7. Czech Republic (I DO NOT LIKE THE PLAYERS THIS COUNTRY HAS PRODUCED, aside from Hudler and Hasek, but I'd probably not like them if they wore different uniforms anyway).

This is in accordance to the players in the NHL. I realize there are pretty big leagues over in the UK, Switzerland, Denmark, etc... But there aren't enough players in the NHL of those nationalities.

1. Russia - probably the most offensively skilled nation and most fun to watch

2. Sweden - Nik Lidstrom.

3. Slovakia

4. USA - i love the real top flight players the USA has produced. i.e rolston, cole.

5. Czech - also produces their share of talents, aside from jagr and langbang i cant relaly think of any czech that i absolutely despise.

6. Finland - Boring to watch, aside from fil i dont really like any of em

7. Canada - My hatred for Pronger, Neidermayer and Iginla single handedly puts them at 7, i absolutely despise them.

[OsGOD 3]

I am partial to the following:

Germany

Kazakhstan

why? because they kicked ass in NHL 96

[Reds4Life 51]

1. Czech republic - I am Czech

2. Sweden - I am fan of many swedish players

3. Russia - I like their offensive style and AO

4. USA - Not fan really

5. Finland - I hate Ruutu

6. Slovakia - I just don't like our neighbours.

7. Canada - They are not able to accept defeat and always act pretty stupid at the end of the game/s they are loosing.

[betterREDthandead 58]

I don't really root against any particular nation actually. But I (obviously) root for the USA at all times, and to a lesser extent Sweden due primarily to awesome uniforms. Always liked the triple crown as a kid, still do. Bonus now that the Swedish national team is like the official Red Wings branch of the IIHF.

[cirov19 1]

1. Canada - My country.

2. Sweden - Lidstrom, Hank, Homer, Kronwall, Franzen. Sundin.

6. Finland

7. Czech Republic - Reds4Life likes them

Edited February 11, 2008 by cirov19

[Never_Retire_Steve 35]

1. Canada --- obv reasons for me

2. Sweden -- stems from all the Wings

3. Finland -- How can you really hate any of these players, at the same time none really exciting

4. Slovakia -- Boring, unskilled

5. Czech Republic -- Love Hasek, Jagr has a lot of skill but it seems to me that a lot of these guys just show up when they want to

6. Russia -- Very dirty at times, lots of individuals that don't play a team game, most exciting to watch but also very hated

7. USA -- Dirtiest games (between Canada), also a lot of very arrogant players. Dislike most USA players, mostly old school (Chelios, Suter, J. Johnson, Roenick, Tkachuk)

[HkyTwn 5]

1. Sweden! I love the Swedes!

2. Russia- they're so much fun to just watch

3. Slovakia- one of my favorite college hockey players hails from there

4. Canada, annoying, but fun to watch

5. Finland - I really love Fins

6. USA, no particular reason

7. Czech Republic

[Yzerfan1999 81]

1. Canada - I am Canadian

2. Sweden - Henrik Zetterberg is Canadian

3. Finland - They are close to Sweden and have nice Jerseys and an interesting language

4. Czech Rep. - I have a friend who is Czech.

5. USA - meh, there Pro's are overrated and their Jrs. are cocky (but good).

6. Slovakia - meh

7. Russia - Canada/Russia rivalry, what more can I say.

[Mudvayneowns91 0]

1. USA - Born and raised

2. Russia - Pavel and Fedorov are and were my two favorites

3. Sweden - Greatful for St. Nick and Hank (as well as others)

4. Finland - Don't like many of their players

5. Canada - Pronger is the spawn of Satan and I know the most annoying Oiler fan

edit - grammar

Edited February 12, 2008 by Mudvayneowns91

[Detroit # 1 Fan 2,204]

Canada (Yzerman, McCarty, Cleary)

USA (Bunch of guys on there I like)

Sweden (have grown on me, Lidstrom, Holmstrom and Zetterberg are awesome)

Russia (Never been a fan, Fedorov and Datsyuk have been the only ones I've liked at one time or another, Ovie isnt bad either.)

[Kp-Wings 3]

1. USA (I will always support my home country first and foremost)

2. Canada (obvious reasons of course)

3. Russia (Russian 5, Vladdy, Igor Ulanov, Pavel Bure, there are quite a few Russians that I like)

4. Finland

5. Sweden (I'm not really big on Swedes. Obviously I like Zetterberg, Lidstrom, and Holmstrom, but aside from them, I'm not the really biggest Sweden fan)

6. Slovakia

7. Czech Republic (some ok players, but nothing overly impressive)

[juice71285 2]

1. Sweden- very skilled nation that is currently number 1 in the world. They also have players that are much more complete game then most, not all obviously, nations. Have enough players that can play physically.

2. Russia- Always love watching their style of play. Old generation tape-to-tape passing that would somehow eventually find a guy wide open in front of the net with an open net to shoot at. Today's generation has some of the most deadly goal scorers in the NHL (Ovechkin, Kovalchuk, Malkin, etc.). Behind Sweden for the simple fact that most of the top players that come out of Russia are usually one-dimensional. Most of them are not the most physical presence (with exception to guys like Ovechkin, Konstantinov, etc.).

3. Finland- I think a country on the rise to prominence. Starting to have players become more noticeable. Lost to Sweden in the last Olympics. Will be interesting to see where they are in the next 5-10 years.

4. Czech Republic- Much like Finland are becoming a more noticeable country as a whole rather than just a select few (Lang, Jagr, Hasek, etc.). Represented by the biggest player ever to lace up the skates in the NHL in Chara. Have players of all shapes and sizes that are just as diverse in their style of play.

5. United States- My homeland. I think they are just starting to scratch the surface as a possible team to be afraid come time of international competitions. The game is growing in places that it never did before. California is starting to show that they have talent in their state, who would thought the 10-20 years ago. Now with the game growing in the South, it just means there are more places to find top notch talent.

6. Slovakia- Unlike their rivals to the west in the Czech Republic, they seem to lack overall as a rather competitive team on either as a country as a whole or having elite names. Tough to say whether or not they will ever be able to compete with that of their former partner, or any other country for that matter.

7. Canada- I admit I am a little biased here. I never really have liked Canada for some reason (country has beautiful landscape and it did produce Yzerman). Teams seem to be an unbeatable force overall at the junior level. For some reason though this rarely translates in the higher levels. Could it be just poor chemistry amongst the team (although Yzerman seemed to fix that problem last I knew) as in not enough puck to good around. Maybe its because the Stanley Cup is more important to them then the international championships, which are more important to European teams.

8. Germany/Latvia- For some reason these countries just can't quite be considered with the other 7 teams above them. Always seem to be in the top tier when it comes to high level international tourneys, but are hardly noticeable squads with the exception of maybe a couple of teams.

9. Slovenia- Slovenia? Where the hell is that? Do they even play hockey there? I know this might be a weird spot to put this country since no one has ever seen this team play at a top tier at any level junior through adult. The reason why I put these team here is that we are starting to see them send players to top levels. Anze Kopitar played in the Elitserien before playing in the NHL. A Detroit prospect by the name of Jan Mursak is from there and he is showing signs that he might be a very good player. They also are moving up in the IIHF standings faster than anybody else. Which means they are also starting to translate not only players are good from there, but that as a team they are becoming a solid team, which in 5 years could easily be one of those countries that play year in and year out at the top level of international competition.

10. Switzerland/Kazakhstan/Belarus/Norway/Denmark/France/Italy/Great Britain/Poland/Austria/Ukraine/Japan/Lithuania/Hungary- These countries seem to always flirt between top tier and division 1 in international competitions and they seem to be going nowhere to either join the ones above or be so much worse then their fellow countries listed here. None of them have been seemingly consistent enough to even be considered with the likes of even Slovenia with the exception of Switzerland.