Finland recently hosted the 40th World Junior Ice Hockey Championship in Helsinki. Beginning Dec. 26, 2015, the tournament ended on Jan. 5, 2016, with host country Finland defeating Russia 4-3 to win the championship and their fourth title. The United States beat out Sweden for bronze and Canada placed sixth overall. Belarus was relegated to Division I-A by merit of their tenth-place finish. Finnish right-winger Jesse Puljujarvi was awarded tournament MVP and top scorer honors.
In a tournament traditionally dominated by nineteen-year-old NHL draft-picks, much of the glory was bestowed upon the cage-wearing seventeen-year-olds. The Finnish first string, comprised of seventeen-year-old left and right wingers Patrik Laine and Jesse Puljujarvi, and nineteen-year-old Sebastian Aho, dominated the tournament. Puljujarvi scored a tournament-leading seventeen points in seven games.
While hockey has always been popular in host country Finland, it seems to have exploded with Canadian-like intensity in recent years. Two titles in three years might have something to do with the fervour. International audiences applauded the hospitality efforts made by the IIHF and Finnish Hockey Association. The home audience packed the stadium nearly to capacity every time the Finnish team played, and the team itself seemed as though they wanted to put on a show. The Finnish Hockey Association seems to be in a golden era for junior hockey, as both Laine and Puljujarvi will be eligible to play in the 2017 tournament and possibly even 2018. They’ve also got quite a few talented players coming down the pipe, including sixteen-year-old Eeli Tolvanen.
Canadian efforts in the tournament fell disastrously flat, proving that in an organized sports event full of emotionally flighty teenagers, truly anything can happen. Canada’s world junior team is usually comprised of nineteen-year-old top prospects but this season, there seems to have been a bit of a drought. Led by captain Brayden Point, alongside alternate captains Lawson Crouse and Joe Hicketts, the team was ultimately eliminated by host country Finland in the quarterfinals. Criticisms of the team centre around potentially bad coaching by Dave Lowry; uninspired goaltending by Mackenzie Blackwood, ridiculous penalties, and an overall lack of cohesion amongst the players on the ice. Some players’ futures will be reconsidered; one such young player is Jake Virtanen.
Virtanen, a recently-signed Vancouver Canuck, was crucified multiple times by fans and the media alike for his performance at the tournament. Scoring only one point in four games, Virtanen headed into the later stages of the tournament with little confidence. In the critical quarter-final game, he took back-to-back minor penalties, during which the Finns were able to set up the circumstances for their game-winning goal. General manager of the Vancouver Canucks, Jim Benning, is not looking to do anything drastic with Virtanen. Sensing that Virtanen may need some time to recover and regain his confidence, Benning plans on meeting with the young player and discussing next steps.
Ultimately, many of these young players’ regular-season teams recognize that a high-stakes international tournament, with the weight of an entire hockey-crazy country bearing down on their still-young shoulders, isn’t really all that indicative of true talent.