In the recently finished IIHF World Junior Championship, Karpat Oulu's Jesse Puljujarvi and Sebastian Aho and Tappara Tampere's Patrik Laine formed a nearly unstoppable forward line, powering Finland to the gold medal on home ice. 

by Leo Runsas

HELSINKI – In their recent World Junior Championship victory on home ice, the most decisive factor in Finland's favour was the forward line of Jesse Puljujarvi, Sebastian Aho and Patrik Laine. All three players play in the Finnish Liiga and also in the Champions Hockey League – Laine is a member of Tappara Tampere, while Puljujarvi and Aho are teammates on Karpat Oulu, whose CHL Semi-Final against Lukko Rauma begins exactly one week after the gold medal game against Russia.

The trio had an amazing WJC, finishing 1–2–3 in points, with Puljujarvi winning the scoring title, the Top Forward award, and the tournament MVP. Laine also finished tied for the tournament lead in goals along with American Auston Matthews of ZSC Lions Zurich.

Puljujarvi, 17, gave credit to Jukka Jalonen’s coaching team for their decision to give the players relatively free hands to express themselves during the tournament. This could be seen also in the trio’s game. They were responsible for a huge part of Finland’s offence and played well in all.

“I liked how the coaches gave us free hands to do things and trusted us. They let us play and if something didn’t work, they told us that we should stop doing that. That enabled us to keep our heads in the game. It was fun to play.”

The trio was almost unstoppable in the tournament. Sweden was the only team that could effectively throw obstacles in their way. Laine, also 17, was happy that the line could get their momentum going in the final, and after falling behind early they produced both of Finland's goals on the power play for a 2–1 win.

“Sweden defended so well that we weren’t able to do anything,” Laine said about the start of the game. “We got our grit back in this game and we were able to produce a couple of goals. We played well.”

The line’s centre Aho agreed with his wingers.

“We didn’t take any pressure. This was a fine tournament. We were able to enjoy ourselves during the whole tournament and we didn’t freeze in any point. Our line had a solid quality of play all the time.”

The trio also gave compliments to the whole team. When a question about the team’s level of confidence was asked, Laine gave his account of how the team's confidence rose throughout the tournament.

“This has been an incredible group, nothing like anything before. We have grown so much during this journey and the gold medal was an excellent ending to the story.”

Laine continued, “When all goes well, of course the confidence gets a boost. And when you eat, the hunger rises too. I tried to set an example and rise the confidence with my own doings and I succeeded in it quite well.”

Champions – nothing more, nothing less

The Finns only lost one game in the tournament, 6–4 to Russia during the group stage, but they avenged that in the final with a 4–3 overtime win. The championship was Finland’s second in three years and the team was exhilarated.

“We were that kind of a team that didn’t allow ourselves to lose these kinds of games,” said 19-year-old Aho. “We were trailing a few times but each and every time we tied the game and achieved victory. It tells quite a lot about the players and the team.”

Russia was able to tie the game just six seconds before the end of regulation time. Laine explained the line's idea to fully take advantage of the 16-minute break.

“We decided to play bravely. If you start to be afraid, that will backfire. The break was nice, we were able to regroup. We could also take a breath because we knew that we would play a lot in the overtime.”

In the end only one minute and 33 seconds of overtime was needed. Kasperi Kapanen, who played for KalPa Kuopio last season, was the decisive factor in the game with his wraparound goal.

“He was the right guy to end this game,” Laine explained. “He had some rough times in the tournament, but when the games are decided, he is on the ice and scores the needed goals. He is an amazing player as he was able to score from that kind of a position. It can easily be seen why the guy puts up big points in AHL.”

When the talk turned to the championship and the gold medal, Puljujarvi summed up the trio’s thoughts quite nicely.

“This feeling can’t be described in any way. When we are in the arena, with this medal on our chests and the trophy in our hands, this is the reason why we started to play hockey – to be able to win something big.”