Finnish ice hockey players are a high-quality export product – But could they also be the best in something other than hockey?

This year, hockey fans have been treated to high-quality and entertaining hockey. For the first time in eight years, the best hockey players from different countries played against each other in the Four Nations tournament. As I write this, we are living in the best time of the year for hockey fans. The carnival of the European hockey world is underway, the traditional IAAF World Championships. Many Finnish homes are watching hockey on television right now.

The ice hockey community has built an unprecedented culture in Finland

The last few years have been very successful for the Lions. In the last five years, Finland has won one Olympic gold medal and two world championships. Last winter, a Finnish captain lifted the Stanley Cup trophy for the first time. This year, the U20 youth team won silver and the women's team won bronze at the World Championships. At least so far, Finnish hockey culture has produced really high-quality players and teams.

This spring, I have been wondering why Finnish hockey players are apparently valued abroad simply because they come from Finland. My own son plays hockey and will move to the U20 league next season. He is not among the best in his age group, but he still dreams of becoming a professional. He is good but has never represented any Finnish league club junior team. We come from a small village where my son played until he was U15 before moving to bigger clubs.

The Finnish hockey player is a brand worldwide

I promised to help the boy find a team for next season. I contacted the Austrian ice hockey academy in Graz. I had heard a lot of good things about the academy, and they had won the Austria U20 championship a few years ago. I asked if there was a chance for my son to be on the team. I spoke with both the head coach of the academy and their CEO. Both conversations started with the same question. “Why on earth would a Finnish ice hockey player want to come and play here”? To my surprise, they immediately wanted to accept a Finnish player and planned a big role before they had even seen the boy in person. This would be unheard of in Finland.

It seemed obvious to Austrian ice hockey leaders that Finnishness and ice hockey meant excellence. Finnish ice hockey is an export product that represents high quality. I got the feeling that these Austrians almost felt honored to have a Finnish player in their ranks. I was confused.

It is a great honor for the world to be able to buy a Finnish product from you!

This brings us to the main point of this article. What if we could build a culture in other fields where it is a privilege and an honor to buy a Finnish product? In ice hockey, we have succeeded in building a winning culture in Finland. Of course, it has taken decades. But it has been done. Finland has been ranked number one in ice hockey for many years. Would it be possible for us to do the same in other fields? What would it require? What would it cost? Would we have the enthusiasm for it?

Ultimately, do we have any other choice than to try to do what ice hockey has been able to do? The economy has been running at a standstill for some time now and the world situation is challenging. We do not have the cheapest labor force in the world, we practically live on an island, so transportation is neither the fastest nor the cheapest. What if we tried to be the best at something? We could be the most reliable and the highest quality.

It would be great if in the future a buyer would experience the same as the hockey influencers in Graz and think: “This product is from Finland, it has to be good”.

If you are interested in starting to build such a future for yourself together, then get in touch and let's discuss how we could succeed together.

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