Welcome to the Liiga report. Since October’s version was a very long deep dive into every Liiga team, this month’s edition will go detail some names I have been able to watch over the past four weeks. If you wish, you can also give me a follow on Twitter at @lassialanen. Without further ado, [...]
Hockey is back! I know hockey fans in North America are always saying “Is it October yet?” but in Europe, the hockey season is ongoing already. The Champions Hockey League started on August 30th (my recap of the first week can be found from here), and the first major national league to start their [...]
Welcome to the May edition of the Liiga Report where I’ll talk about the Liiga Awards, recently signed free agents, prospects who have signed their entry level contracts, and the upcoming 2018 NHL Entry Draft. If you want to read about Liiga Playoffs, check out my April Report. Liiga Awards Miro Heiskanen (Stars) [...]
This month's update will be a recap of Team Finland’s performance in the WJC. Overall the tournament was another huge disappointment considering the talent that this team had. *** In the past Finland has relied on its strong teamplay in order to compensate for its lack of elite players. This year the talent was there, [...]
In the last Liiga update I mentioned a couple of promising goaltenders. Let’s add Emil Larmi to the list. Larmi entered the season as a back-up for Nathan Lawson, but has now taken over the net for HPK. The 20-year-old Lahti native is starting to pick up steam for the second half of the season. [...]
The 2017 World Junior Championship tournament didn’t go according to plan for Team Finland. It was the first time that a defending champion had to play in the relegation round in this tournament. The Finns finished ninth overall after beating Latvia. Their performance hasn’t been good historically under head coach Jukka Rautakorpi, even though he [...]
The Finnish Elite League is one the top European leagues. This year was a historic one for Finland as there were three players selected in the top five at the NHL entry draft. Before that night in Buffalo, only five Finnish players had ever been selected within the first five picks of an NHL draft. [...]
