Finland is Taking the Lead

In a competition marked by the absence of NHL players (https://www.nhl.com/player) Finland confirmed the potential that was promising all these years. Preceded by world gold in 2019 and silver in 2021, with six medals in the previous nine Olympic editions (silver in Calgary 88 and Turin 06), it went on to overthrow the reigning champions with a spectacular game, which forced the target, Ivan Fedotov, to play hard. He made 29 stops - Finn Sateri only 16 - and failed to stop the two most important pucks in Finnish history. The goalkeeper, disappointed above all by his performance during the first goal, took off the medal on the podium. "It's hard to accept that it's not gold," said the goalkeeper drafted in 2015 by the Philadelphia Flyers of the NHL and who has Finnish maternal grandparents, a country in which he was born to later move to St. Petersburg.

Liiga

The Liiga is the highest professional category of ice hockey in Finland and one of the most important leagues in this sport in Europe, and the fourth in the world after the Swedish SHL, the Russian KHL and the North American NHL, respectively. It was founded in 1975 to replace the semi-professional SM-sarja, which had been existing since 1928. The Liiga (https://liiga.fi/) is not supervised by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, but they both maintain a collaboration agreement. It takes place in the winter months, it has 14 participants and is divided into two phases: a regular season and a direct elimination among the first classified. The new league was successful with the public and in 1988 it was expanded to 12 participants. By the mid-1990s all the players had signed a professional contract, and by 2000 many of the clubs had become limited partnerships. In the 2000/01 season the promotion system was eliminated. From that moment on, the Liiga teams had to fulfill a series of obligations in order to participate. With this, it was also hoped that the weakest franchises could improve in the future, although in 2009 a promotion match was recovered between the bottom team and the champion of the Mestis (second division). In 2003, the current playoff system was introduced, which gives options for the title up to the tenth place in the regular season.

Ice Hockey is Becoming Internationally Popular

With its popularity on the rise, ice hockey continues to climb the ranks of the world's most popular sports. Ice hockey is extremely popular in Canada, where it is the national winter sport and one of the country´s most popular game. Nevertheless, there are other countries where ice hockey is popular, such as United States, Russia, Sweden or Finland. Surprisingly, India was the only country to win 8 gold medals in the Olympics, however, it seems that lately hockey has been losing its grip in India. On the other hand, Germany is not to be underestimated either when it comes to hockey, with a third place finish in the Olympics a few years back. However, this year, Finland won its first Olympic gold medal and has proven to be one of the leading countries regarding ice hockey. When it comes to sports betting, hockey will also be gaining more popularity in the future. At LV Bet, hockey fans have many options when it comes to supporting their favorite teams. Likewise, any other sports betting site, where you can find many different sports to bet on, you can also enjoy free online slots at https://www.vegasslotsonline.com/ca/.The free game page includes some of the best online slots in Canada and all of the games load instantly in your browser.

In conclusion, Finland is a country with a very promising future in ice hockey, especially after winning the Olympic gold medal.