In recent years, Finland has continued to remain a dominant presence throughout the international hockey scene. At all levels, they’ve typically sent rosters full of smart, disciplined, and mature players who flourish in their system. In terms of the World Junior Championship (WJC), they’ve churned out tons of talent, including but not limited to: Aleksander Barkov, Juuse Saros, Sebastian Aho, Mikko Rantanen, and Patrik Laine.
They had a stretch of three gold medals in six years from 2014 to 2019 but have failed to become champions since. Finland will be in a tough Group A with Canada, Sweden, Germany and Latvia. With some loaded rosters for the US and Canada, it will be a difficult task for Finland to reach the mountaintop. But that doesn’t mean it can’t happen. Let’s take a look at who will be lacing them up for Finland at the WJC:
Goaltending
Eemil Vinni (Joensuu KP), Niklas Kokko (Oulu Kärpät), Noa Vali (Turku TPS)
In last year’s tournament, Jani Lampinen stole the show with a 1.66 goals-against average (GAA) and .933 save percentage (SV%). He has aged out and is unable to return, which means it’s Seattle Kraken prospect Niklas Kokko’s net to lose. He was on the roster for last year’s tournament but did not see any game action.
The 19-year-old Kokko has a respectable 2.36 GAA and .906 SV% in 10 games for Karpat, playing against men at the top level of Finnish hockey (Liiga). However, he’s struggled recently after a hot start – with an .845 SV% in his last four contests. If he starts to struggle, it will be between 18-year-olds Noa Vali and Eemil Vinni. Both have played well lately with their respective clubs, but are not returnees like Kokko.
Goaltending is super random at this tournament and traditionally, coaches don’t tend to stick long with their starting netminders if they struggle. With how important every game is, there’s not enough time to bank on their improvement. But Kokko was a second-round pick by the Seattle Kraken in the NHL Draft for a reason, and he certainly has the skill to hit the ground running and steal some games for the Finns.
For Finland to have any sort of realistic chance at competing for gold, they’ll need Kokko (or whoever they may happen to switch in) to be dominant. But if it gets to the point where they need to make a permanent goalie switch (barring injury), they’ve likely dug too deep of a hole for themselves anyway.
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