He played for Karpat Oulu almost four seasons, he knows the club where he still has many good friends, but now Vladimir Eminger will stand on the other side of the barricade as Sparta Prague will battle against his former club in the eighth-finals. “They should really look forward to this game in Prague but we will win this series,” says Sparta’s young defenceman.

by Karolina Antosova

PRAGUE – As a member of Karpat Oulu, Vladimir Eminger celebrated a Finnish Liiga title in the 2013–14 season. He started with Karpat the next season too, and even played seven Champions Hockey League games with the Finnish club before he was transferred to Sparta Prague in late November. Maybe it was his destiny, maybe not. The only certain thing is that he definitely wants to beat his old pals on the next two Tuesdays, first at Prague's O2 Arena, then the next week at the familiar Oulun Energia Areena.

You spent a good portion of your career in Oulu. How is it that a Czech ends up playing in northern Finland at 19 years of age?

“In juniors I didn’t have a new contract with Litvinov, so I wanted to try something new and I got a great chance from Karpat to play for them and get new experience, which I really appreciate. I was quite young and I had to take care of all the stuff at home myself. It was also great that I learned a new language. After a while I was sent to play with A-team, where I think I did quite well.”

You are speaking about language. I’m sure you mean English and not Finnish.

“Yes, English for sure (smiling). Finnish is a really difficult language. Anyway, everyone there speaks English, so there was no need to study Finnish.”

What was the hardest thing you had to deal with when you moved to Oulu?

“The language barrier, because when I went there I didn’t speak English at all. But also cooking and doing all the other housework wasn’t easy.”

And what about the city?

“Oulu is a wonderful city. Especially during summer – in winter it's not that wonderful (laughing). At 1:30 in the afternoon it's already dark there and –30°C. In these conditions there are not many options to do anything outside. I usually went home and stayed there.”

Are you still in contact with some of your former teammates from Karpat?

“I’m still in touch with a few guys who are there now. Sometimes I check how they are doing in the Finnish Liiga. This season they have some new players, mostly from their youth team. They have quite a young team now. They aren’t at the top of the standings, where they're used to being the last two seasons.”

Before this season they had to say goodbye to two key players, Joonas Donskoi and Joonas Kemppainen. Do you think they have already found new leaders to replace them?

“I think that was a tough loss for them. But on the other hand they were able to replace them with their young prospective players who you can see high in draft positions. All their lines are playing quite well now, so it would be hard to name just one or two players who I think are now the most dangerous. But Ivan Huml is quite dangerous with the puck in the offensive zone. He can really surprise you with a good pass or shot.”

Do you have any message for your former team before the Round of 16 starts?

“They should really look forward to this game in Prague, but we will win this series!”