VALDEMORO, Spain – With a population of less than 330,000 and just three covered ice rinks in the country, Iceland has one of the smallest hockey bases among the nations involved in the Olympic Qualification.

But watching the North Atlantic country’s football team seal its place in the 2016 European Championships ahead of the formidable Dutch squad proves that small can be beautiful even in top level sport.

Certainly for incoming head coach Magnus Blarand the exploits of Lars Lagerback’s footballers are something of an inspiration. His eyes light up at the mention of the team, and the suggestion that this can inspire his hockey players to be competitive on the international stage.

“Yes, I think Iceland is one of the best sporting countries in the world,” he said. “It’s so small, but still very successful. And people expect more. Since I’ve come here I’ve heard a lot about this because the head coach of the football team is Swedish and I’m also Swedish. People are expecting some wonders now!”

Hockey isn’t football, though. While Icelandic football talent can be found in major leagues all over Europe, including the Bundesliga and the English Premier League, Icelandic hockey players are still looking to make a breakthrough into the pro game. Only one member of the current roster, 21-year-old forward Bjorn Sigurdarson, has experience in the North American game: 2014’s Icelandic Hockey Player of the Year had two seasons with the NAHL’s Aberdeen Wings.

Blarand’s full-time job is coaching in the Hockey Gymnasium at Allsvenskan outfit Mora IK in Sweden’s second-tier professional league and he admits that it would be a big step up for Iceland’s players to compete in that competition.

“Some of these guys are playing in Sweden but not at that level,” he said. “The Allsvenskan is a pro league, it’s pretty tough. We have Icelandic players doing OK in Swedish Division 1 but that’s amateur. To ask them to play in the Allsvenskan would be a bit too much.”

For Blarand, the Olympic qualifiers will be his first competition since taking over from his compatriot Tim Brithen in August. It’s a short preparation time and it’s been difficult to get to know his new charges. So far he’s managed to attend nine games in Iceland and caught a couple more online, but he admits preparations have not been ideal.

“I only got this assignment in August and because the season in Iceland is on-going we’ve not been able to have a camp or anything,” he said. “All our preparation has been in Spain. We had an hour and a half on the ice on Thursday, and half an hour before Friday’s game [against Serbia] so we’re still getting to know each other.”

Despite that lack of contact with his players, he is still hopeful of getting off to a good start and can draw further confidence from a resilient display in a shoot-out loss to Serbia in the opening game.

“This is a pretty optimistic group of players. We have good size and good skills so the thing for me is to put it all together,” he said. “We have a good opportunity to win this group in my opinion, but if we have a bad day we could end up last.”

ANDY POTTS