When you are a hockey obsessed country it is tough to really shock anyone with anything. Some people will argue that player selection on the national team is a pretty big deal, while others will say attendance figures warrant some discussion. How about record breaking television numbers? That would seem like a pretty newsworthy accomplishment.
In the case of Finland, their television numbers for the gold medal game at the Worlds were ridiculous.
https://twitter.com/jarkkonordlund/status/734653270514356224
Rough translation: 3.25 million people watched the World Championship gold medal game in Finland. To put that into context for you, the entire country of Finland only has 5.4 million people. That is well over half of the country watching this game and taking it in. The Super Bowl for example had about 114 million people watching and the United States’ population is hovering around 318 million people. That is still well under half and it was the third largest broadcast in US television history.
This Finland team was an easy side to cheer for as they could end up being an all-time great squad. Patrik Laine is going to be a top-two draft pick and could be a generational player for a country that always seems short on star power. He could be Finland’s answer to Alexander Ovechkin. Watching him blossom before our very eyes is a definite plus and probably helped drive the numbers. The real driving factor here was playing the traditional power that is Canada. It doesn’t matter that this is their “C” team – people still get excited to play Canada.
While Finland didn’t get their “Miracle On Ice” type of moment, this is sure to help with the growth of the game. Just wait for the 2034 draft, it should be stacked with Finnish players.
