How is ice hockey perceived in Norway? Sweden is very strong in ice hockey I know.
Perhaps it has all to do with figure skating not being masculine enough to attract a large contingent of young boys wanting to learn it. There is a certain prejudice agains anything which involves 'dancing' in male sports, as opposed to 'fighting'.
No teenage boy wants to be called certain terms in front of his friends, classmates, family.
Ice hockey is not very big, but I guess some watch them. The Sportsnews have reportage on ice hockey, but you can almost never see or read about figure skating.
And yes, I do agree. I think many think the sport isn´t masculine enough and doesn´t want to be seen as unmasculine.