Sports visited Marko Anttila’s childhood areas in Lempäälä at Kelho School. Anttila turns 37 on Friday.
Jussi Saarinen,
Mika Halonen
27.5. 13:45 • Updated May 27 14:13
When the situation got awkward, it came up, of course Marko “Mörkö” Anttila. On Thursday, the Lions started the semi-finals of the World Hockey Championships against Slovakia poorly and lost 0-2. Anttila then raised to Finnish levels with two hits.
The 203-cent wing striker rose to become a cult player and national hero with his decisive hits when Lions last won World Cup gold in Bratislava in 2019. Anttila has scored six playoff goals in the last three World Championships.
Today, Friday, Marko Anttila turns 37 years old. On Anttila’s birthday, Urheil visited Kelho School in Lempäälä.
– Yes, it’s a tough guy Marko Anttila! line Paavo Palo-ditch.
– It was nice, “Mörkö’s” first goals in the tournament. They came to a good place, comp Elias Ikola.
In the video on the main picture of the story, you can watch the atmosphere from Kelho’s school and congratulatory songs to Marko Anttila.
The fire ditch points out what is one of the secrets of the long winger in the trough.
– It has that legendary racket, so it surpasses all discs.
Ikola added that thanks to her size and long club, Anttila shines in the game of underpower.
Anttila started playing hockey in the Kelho school trough team. The breaks were also spent in the trough, he said Aamulehti (you switch to another service) 2019 Anttila’s teacher in grades 5–6 Olli-Pekka Rantanen.
– I was amazed when the schoolchildren came to class and sat at the desks with skates on their feet. One was a goalkeeper, he had knee pads on his leg. When the hour was over, right on the field, I slipped off the skates and played upright. They were so eager. In the winter, they asked if a few could go to an hour to freeze the field, Rantanen chuckled at the time.
Anttila was bred by Lempäälä. During his junior years, he also played in Ilves, where the Finnish Championship League career also began. Seasons 2011–13 Anttila played in TPS before a short break in KHL. After that, it was a few seasons in the Swedish league in Örebro before moving to the Jokers in 2016.
In Jokers, Anttila played until this year, until the KHL adventure of the people of Helsinki ended after Russia invaded Ukraine. Towards the end of the season, Anttila wore an Ilves shirt again.