Quote:12. Written, 50 to 200+ words. Old Reliable IIHF Analysis
Write your predictions for this year's IIHF tournament or WJC! Tell me about your team! What are your expectations for your player? What teams are you watching out for this time around? Did last season's results surprise you and how much do you expect them to change this time?

I'll be looking at IIHF and not WJC, because that's where I play and where I'm also a fed head. I don't think expectations for my player are that relevant or even something I'll be looking at. Goalies - as we all know - rely almost entirely on the team that plays in front of them so looking at the team is more important. Expectations for team Finland are, pretty much as every year, to win a medal, preferably gold, but we'll be happy with silver or bronze too. The team is currently a good mix of older, experienced players who have won medals in the past and younger ones who are still looking to win their first. Finland has never been particularly bad during round robin, we even won it in S75, but we still need to make noise in the medal rounds where we've been a little quiet lately. Looking at the other teams I think we definitely have the roster to beat any of them, we just need a little FHM luck on our side. In the end I can't say that I'm watching out for any team in particular, but I'm looking forward to what Switzerland can do since they have been pretty good lately, especially after being not very good for a while before that. It's been an up and down for them, so I'm really curious what they will do this tournament.

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4 TPE

Quote:13. Written, 50 to 200+ words. National Rivalry
Which team do you see as your main rival in either IIHF or WJC? Maybe it is the closest neighboring country or someone who you have met in the playoffs countless times? Or maybe your team got split for WJC and you now have eternal hatred for the other team or the other way around, did your teams get merged and you want to show to your old partners in IIHF why they were bringing you down? Do you think that most of your team agrees with your pick or is it for more personal reasons?

This one is relatively easy and it doesn't even come close. Finland's biggest IIHF rival is and always has been: Sweden. I'm pretty sure that everyone on the team sees it the same way and likely even everyone on the Swedish team, but I can't speak for them. This probably originates in the IRL equivalent of our two simulated teams, but it hasn't stopped in the SHL world. The two countries are neighbors and both have been very good, each country winning multiple medals recently, so it's no surprise they're rivals. It's actually quite funny how they were put together again in the WJC as one team after having their own teams and I'm not sure anyone is really happy about it.
Let's look at some of their matches to describe the rivalry during the FHM era. Finland came back from a long, long era of not even making the medal rounds while Sweden saw themselves there more regularly, but also without too much success. It all changed in the S60s. In S62 Finland beat Sweden in the quarter-finals but didn't make it very far after that. A year later, in S63, they did it again and eventually went on to win gold. In S64 Finland met Sweden in the finals and won gold. In S68 it was the other way around, they met again in the finals, but this time Sweden won gold. So far it looks pretty even. In S73 Sweden kicked out Finland in the semi-finals already, but Finland still won bronze while Sweden got themselves another gold medal. The next season. in S74. Finland kicked out Sweden in the quarter-finals, but again didn't manage to win any medals in the end. I think right now Finland is due to meet Sweden again in the finals and win another gold. Either way, it is an interesting rivalry.
You could argue that another big rival is Canada, because Finland has met them twice in the finals too and won both times and even won a bronze medal playing them, but Canada hasn't had the same success against Finland, so it's not quite comparable. Others worth mentioning could be Norway and Japan.

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