The Czech Republic is expecting a difficult debut at the WC in hockey. The Finns will bring five Olympic champions

The Finns have cadre full of successful players. Gold from the 2022 Beijing Olympics and from the Tampere World Championships in the same year is held by goalkeeper Harri Säteri from Biel, Switzerland, forwards Hannes Björninen from Örebro, Sweden and Saku Mäenalanen from Langnau, Switzerland, and defender Mikko Lehtonen from Zurich, who would also win the World Cup championship in 2019 in Bratislava and Košice.

Striker Iiro Pakarinen from IFK Helsinki also celebrated under the five rings. Forward Jere Innala from Sweden’s Frölunda was also a member of the winning team at the previous year’s championship, the 2019 world champion is defender Oliwer Kaski from HV 71. Mikael Granlund was involved in winning gold in Slovakia in 2011 and 2019.

Säteri with Björninen and Mäenalanen, like Määttä, Kaski, Pakarinen, Puustinen and Innala, also have silverware from the 2021 World Cup in Riga. Pakarinen is the vice-champion of the world and from Minsk 2014, where another forward, Pekka Jormakka from Jukurit Helsinki, was also introduced. Määttä is a two-time Stanley Cup winner with Pittsburgh in 2016 and 2017 and won bronze at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

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At last year’s World Cup in Tampere, where the Finns were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Canada after a 1-4 defeat, there were goalkeeper Emil Larmi from Växjö and defenders Lehtonen, Määttä and forwards Björninen, Ahti Oksanen from Sweden’s Oskarshamn, who in the 2021/22 season played in the Czech extralize for Hradec Králové.

Another six players have NHL experience. Säteri caught 15 games for Florida and Arizona, guard Juuso Riikola of Langnau played 80 games for Pittsburgh, Lehtonen 26 games for Toronto and Columbus, and Örebro’s Rasmus Rissanen played six games for Carolina. Attacker Pakarinen has 134 games in the regular season for Edmonton and one more in the playoffs, and Mäenalanen has 94 games for Carolina and Winnipeg.

Debutants also in the squad

Goalkeeper Lassi Lehtinen from MoDo Hockey, defensemen Jesper Mattila from KalPy Kuopio, Vili Saarijärvi from Langnau, Veli-Matti Vittasmäki from champion Tappara Tampere and forwards Arttu Hyry from Kärpätu Oulu, Juha Jääskä from IFK Helsinki, Oliver Kapanen from KalPy Kuopio, Rasmus Rissanen from Örebro, Patrik Puistola with 17-year-old Konsta Helenius from Jukurit Helsinki, who joined the Finnish team at the end of the tournament in Brno after the domestic under-18 world championship in Espoo.

Defenders Atro Leppänen from Sport Vaasa, Aleksi Matinmikko from Ässätu Pori, Tobias Winberg from Jyväskylä, Axel Rindell from Timra and forwards Julius Mattila from Lukko Rauma, Eemeli Suomi from Ilves Tampere, Joona Luoto from Bern, Lauri Pajuniemi from Malmö and injured Markus Nurmi from TPS Turku.

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In preparation, the Finns won twice over Latvia 3:2 in overtime and 3:2. They lost to Sweden at home 0:4 and then won 2:1 in extra time, then beat the Swedes on their ice 2:0 and 3:0. They beat in Brno Czech Republic 4:1Switzerland 3:1 and Sweden 4:3 after separate raids.

At the World Cup, in basic group A in Prague, after the duel with the Czech Republic, they will face Great Britain, Norway, Austria, Canada, Denmark and Switzerland.