The Norwegian national team, which is to challenge Česko et al. in the Prague group at the 2024 World Hockey Championship, is troubled by serious financial problems. The union there canceled the events planned for this year for almost all selections.
Norwegian ice hockey players have played in the elite group of the world championship continuously since 2006. During that time, they advanced to the quarterfinals three times. In the international ranking, they are ranked twelfth behind Slovakia, Latvia and Denmark.
It can be said that it belongs to the wider global top.
That’s why the news that the Norwegian team will not play a match or attend a training session at least until the end of the year was so surprising.
The local union admitted a loss of nine million Norwegian crowns (almost 19 million Czech crowns in conversion) for the past year, three million more than it had planned. That is why he resorted to drastic measures. He said goodbye to several workers and suspended the activities of almost all representatives for the rest of the year.
The exception is the U20 team, which will play the WC in Sweden in December, and the women’s A team. This was not lost due to a special sponsorship deal.
However, the senior men’s national team, where most of the attention is directed, is standing. “It’s sad. Sad and dangerous for the future of Norwegian hockey. The national team is our flagship,” said veteran defender Alexander Bonsaksen, who won ten world championships with Norway, shaking his head.
“It’s a little embarrassing for you when the national team in such a big sport can’t function normally in Norway,” forward Mats Rosseli Olsen, who has played for Frölunda in the Swedish league for many years, added to NRK television.
He learned the unpleasant news from his club teammates. “Now we’re their laughing stock,” he said.
The coach of the Norwegian national team, Swede Tobias Johansson, is also disillusioned. “I didn’t think it was that bad,” he told TV 2, saying that the lack of international confrontation would have a negative impact on his team. They are even more worried about the development of young players.
“Furthermore, it will damage relations with other countries. Petter Salsten (general manager of the Norwegian national team, editor’s note) In recent years, he has worked hard to ensure that we face better opponents in preparation,” commented Johansson.
Towards the end of last year, the Norwegians tested their skills against the Latvians, Danes and Slovaks, this year they are unlucky.
“I am now curious if next year we will meet countries like Slovakia and Latvia again, or if it will be Italy or Hungary,” added coach Johansson.
It seems that Norwegian hockey already has a tarnished reputation. “I’m completely shocked that something like this can happen at this level,” former Finnish defender Juha Kaunismäki, who represented Norway thanks to his second citizenship and is currently working there in Stavanger’s coaching staff, told Iltalehti.
He lamented that Norwegian hockey was unable to take advantage of participation (and the resulting money from the state coffers) in three Olympics in a row in 2010, 2014 and 2018. According to Kaunismäki, it has not moved anywhere.
The Norwegian hockey players did not make it to the last Olympic Games in Beijing, China. And now another blow caught them.
Some hockey players fear that the representative stopwatch will not just end. In the extreme case, Norway would not play at the next World Cup, where they have to meet the Czech Republic as part of the Prague group.
“However, from the information I received, it is planned to resume activities for 2024. I have already called up our best players,” assured national team coach Johansson that a catastrophic scenario is not on the table.
2023-08-22 04:13:23
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