What can i say?

there is going to always be disagreements over that stuff.

it may be tiring but like you said........it's not going to ever end.

Not between Russian and Canadian fans.

Thanks for giving us a glimpse of what life was like behind the Iron Curtain...you obviously have first-hand experience because you described it with chilling accuracy. Methinks you're confused about life in Canada (the True North strong and free!)

Must agree...am quite sick of hearing that same arguments every year, over and over about who was better...let's look to the future, i.e. tomorrow!

Number of registered hockey players, provided by respective countries federations.

Canada - 543,390 - 1.64% of population
USA - 435,737 - 0.15%
Czech Republic - 83,589 - 0.82%
Russia - 77,202 - 0.05%
Sweden - 67,747 - 0.75%
Finland - 62,886 - 1.2%
Slovakia - 9,402 - 0.17%
(@wikipedia)


Their "hockey population" isn't actually that big, and yet they produce the most skill

That old saw....lol....once again...."registered" players in our country includes every beer league and house team on Canadian Soil...we also tend to accurately track our numbers..not everyone does...we don't have any more players playing at an "elite" or competitive level than USA or Russia....put away the phony stats they are embarassing to u

They do?

Who says that?

"experts' like Klaus Zaugg?

why does this myth persist that they produce the most "skill"

where does it come from?

Does it come from the same place that produces human curiosities like The bermuda triangle,the abominable snowman and loch ness monster?

This myth and more like it persists to this day in spite of all evidence to the contrary or no evidence at all.

I've always wondered.

it's one of those perplexing mysteries of sport that i've always marveled at.

They win so seldom yet people (usually European fans) consistently rave about them as being the "most skilled"

Hockey is the only sport i've ever seen where this phenomenon exists.

Baffling to me.

Wikipedia is really an unreliable source, I would not take it too seriously...

my 2 cents...

oh, the numbers are about right technically speaking..

but it's like candon says........Canada records all the massive beer league and bullshit house players in their numbers.

Hockey being the number 1 sport it's of course natural that tons of no talent john and pat nobodies play hockey till they are too old to do so anymore.

The elite level numbers are about the same for Russia and Canada.

When you have such an enormous more amount of people in Russia compared to Canada it's a done deal that they are going to have as many top level athletes playing a sport that is popular over there as Canada will have.

Ray Canuck,

All women sports are not a joke. Let's say that some sports are just too masculine for women to play. Hockey is one of them. For me it looks more like "cows on ice" when women play ice hockey. As for more feminine sports I could mention rhythmic gymnastics, figure skating, from team sports maybe volleyball. There no need to drop it into the "disabled", but for me personally it's not something I like to watch, as it looks disgusting, but that is of course my personal opinion.

As for other sports, yes these sports you mentioned we are good as well.
Skiing, Bobsled, etc. these are individual sports.
Please name a few team sports where Canada is good at, except hockey of course.

Candon,

We suck in other sports? Yeah, right. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-time_Olym...mes_medal_count Combine USSR and Russia and you'll see that we don't.

But I'll cut that "who is the best crap" right now. Of course we have less hockey players, cause Russias No 1 sport no questions asked is football. Everyone wants to play it. We don't even have decent ice rinks nor place to play hockey (except for the frozen river in winter) in most of the cities. The infrastructure is getting better, now when there's a money flow into the hockey from the large companies and regional politicians etc, but we still have a HUGE way to go to catch you. In that perspective I see it's a shame to be such "undeveloped" in this regard compared to other hockey powers.

I just came from business trip from Saint-Petersburg. Russia - Switzerland 1/4 game was played at 3 a.m. local time, so because of an early wake up and long day ahead I didn't watch it. However, on the same evening UEFA Cup final game between FC Zenit Saint-Petersburg - Glasgow Rangers took place, which Zenit won. So, I am driving the car next morning, going through every radio station there is to find out the score of last nights ice hockey game. And you know what, it's all about the UEFA cup, NO ONE GAVE A SHIT THAT WE WON A 1/4 match in ice hockey WC. But I heard plenty of things about how did Zenit players celebrate the UEFA cup, when will they start to pack their things and return to Saint-Petersburg, a lot of meaningless and minor details. Of course not to mention the celebrating people all over the city to block the traffic. Only after an hour of surfing through different stations I heard the score, it was informed in a way of "and yeah, by the way, we won switzerland in WC 6:0" that's it, and after that Zenit, Zenit, Zenit. Man, I was furious about that attitude, that no one gives a fcuk that we might have a best team and showing good hockey this year that we actually have a good chance for gold. Though UEFA cup is a major achievement, no doubt about that, but so is ice hockey WC imho. Still should we win the final, still we won't see the kinds of celebrations like there were (hell, they are still celebrating the UEFA cup win as I am typing here) after Zenit's win. And that makes me really, really sad.

This is all just to show you guys how "important" ice hockey is. It's not to prove how good we are in other sports, absolutely. Its just that we'd hope ice hockey would get more attention in our country.

Well it should get more attention then.............because it's five times the sport football is!!

And i like football!!

I base my "most skill" comment on the fact, that Russia is one tough cookie in many sports, Canada is good in hockey and curling.

So their best athletes don't necessary play hockey, and yet they are able to dominate hockey. Sure they haven't done so in recent years, but did for decades in a row.

Er.

Torino Games

Russia 8 G 6 S 8 B 22 Total
Canada 7 G 10 S 7 B 24 Total

Let's not sell us completely short.

Yes, Canada cannot compete with the USSR/Russia in the Summer Games, or historically, but we're trying.

To NiLz:

Well, yes, of course, you were in St. Petersburg. I'm sure it would have been a little different in Moscow or Kazan or Ufa.

1994 Lillehammer

Russia. G11 S8 B4 Total23
Canada. G3 S6 B4 Total13

1988 Calgary
Russia. G11 S9 B9 Total29
Canada. G0 S2 B3 Total5

here is a good one

1972 Sapporo
Russia.G8 S5 B3 Total16
Canada.G0 S1 B0 Total 1

Yes, we have had a home soil curse at the Olympics, we've never won a gold medal at home...
That'll change in Vancouver of course

Your ignorance is breathtaking....do a little research before u post next time.....