It’s no coincidence that four top-level goalkeepers grow from one Finnish club within a few years. However, this is the reality for Oulu Kärppie.
No less than four Finnish goaltenders with a knapsack background are making a strong entry towards the world’s toughest hockey series, the NHL.
Traded from Colorado to Nashville earlier in the fall, born in 2000 Justus Annunen is from Kempele, but moved to Kärppi as a junior.
Two years younger Leevi Meriläinen is Kärppie’s own breed and Joel Blomqvist From Uusestaakaarlepyia, but like Annus already moved to Oulu as a junior.
Complementary to the quartet, born in 2004 Niklas Kokko is raised by Kärppie.
The foursome is doing well in North America right now. Annunen has been around in NHL patterns longer, but Blomqvist and Meriläinen are the surprises of the current season.
The former shined with Pittsburgh’s goal in the fall and the latter has played two clean sheets for Ottawa in the previous week.
Koko, booked by Seattle, has a handsome 11–2–1 win record in the AHL.
How can small Finland, a relatively small city, produce such a high level of goalkeeper skills?
Kärppi’s long-time goalkeeper coach Ari Hilli answers. Hilli has been Kärppie’s goalkeeper coach from the 1998–1999 season, with the exception of a couple of KHL seasons.
– The junior work is good and the academy activities are really efficient. Goalkeeper coaches are always on the ice in Academy training and there are also in the junior teams. Currently working in Detroit’s NHL organization Roope Koistinen made this system even more efficient than before, says Hilli.
“We need to be able to make changes”
Hilli himself gets his hands on goalkeeper talents at the league level. Through Hilli’s hands, NHL skills have already been given, among other things Niklas Bäckström and Pekka Rinte. In general, through Hill, a huge amount of goalkeeper expertise has been refined in Finland.
– Technically good goalkeepers have come to me in the league. My task is to create capabilities, i.e. playing and growing as an athlete. Through Bäckström and Rinne, I myself have a strong experience of what North America requires and what kind of patience is needed there.
According to Hill, the way goalkeepers are trained today has changed a lot. The evolution of the game has changed goalkeeper training. Oulu has wanted to stay involved in the development.
– It’s a constant cat-and-mouse game between attackers and goalkeepers. Through that, for example, butterfly style and “reverse-VH” were born.
– On the other hand, equipment has changed and they have changed movement techniques, and that causes injuries. Many people wrestle with hip problems and good tools have been found for it.
Hilli emphasizes that goalkeepers must be prepared at a younger age so that they can play healthy in tough competition.
– With a high-quality physio team, we do a lot of goalkeeper-specific things for the hip area and the middle body.
In recent years, the quality of Finnish goalkeeper production has been talked about, sometimes with concern. In the NHL, you only get to the elite level Juuse Saros.
In the background, coming there is what makes young people Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. Then the eye turns to the above-mentioned foursome and the one who excelled at the youth WC Petteri Rimpinen.
According to Hill, there is room for improvement.
– Yes, we are participating in the competition, but we have to be able to make changes. Sportsmanship must be improved and details must be found. We used to be the world’s best in goalkeeper training, but the competition has become tougher and wider. There are quite a lot of Russians at the absolute top, Hilli says.
Competition develops
But what unites Annu, Meriläi, Blomqvist and Kokko apart from their carp background? What has made it possible to rise to the top international level?
At the same time, when Finnish ice hockey has been criticized from the league level to the junior leagues for removing competition and protecting the mandated places, in Oulu the competition with the goalkeepers has been put in the center.
– The lads haven’t gotten anything for free in Oulu. They are pretty much the same age, so the competition for playing time has been fierce all along. This way they are used to working hard to get playing time, Hilli answers.
– This is an important thing when thinking about North America, because there the margins are small. The competition has taken these boys a lot further.
When fighting for an NHL spot, the competition only gets tougher. Meriläinen, who emerged sensationally in Ottawa, got his chance as an NHL goaltender Linus Ullmark’s through injury.
A goalkeeper’s path to the NHL world is often rockier than that of field players. Blomqvist played well in Pittsburgh, but the everyday life of the iron league AHL is still known for a long time.
The same goes for Kokko, and maybe also Merilää when Ullmark returns. Veskars are marinated in the farm league according to a longer formula.
– That’s the way of the NHL. They say a hundred games in the AHL and then we’ll see what your guys are and start making decisions. If after that you get into the group of three NHL players, it’s up to you. Then you have to be ready and catch the puck, Hilli states.
Sometimes the tough culture also shows its dark side. Colorado marinated Annus for a long time in the AHL and seemed to be building the future on this, but in the fall the plans fell apart.
When the team lost and the booth didn’t catch on, Annunen was traded. In Nashville, this is off to a good start.
– I was surprised that he didn’t seem to get a decent chance in Colorado, but on the other hand that is just an indication of the brutality of the competition there.
– Expectations are often high, and when that time window is given, you have to be ready and succeed. You can’t always do it right at that moment. In my eyes, Justus is playing a good game.
Oulu has succeeded in preparing the young goalkeepers for this merciless competition for playing spots. Even if the wind is against you at times, every young goalkeeper with a flying background is heading in the right direction right now.
– Let’s think of Blomqvist, for example. He played well in the NHL, but there were two highly paid guys in front of him. Now in the AHL, the competition is tough for someone who played in the SHL last season by Filip Larsson with. This is a hard and rewarding school.
I protected the zero game coach’s payday
For Hill, days like Wednesday morning are naturally special when the long-time goalkeeping coach sees his protégé, in this case Meriläinen, play a clean sheet with the bucks.
– Of course it feels good. Especially when you know how much work the boys have done. How much they have wanted to get there and make a career there.
– On the other hand, you can only enjoy this kind of thing for one evening, and then in the morning the boys will continue their work, Hilli reminds.
The work also continues at Hilli in Kärpi, because the following goalkeepers from Oulu are worked on daily in Raksila.
Who will be the next Kärppien NHL player? The question makes Hill chuckle.
– Visa Vedenpää. He had a bit of sick leave and now he hasn’t been able to play, but he previously played good games in the under-20 national team tournament.
– When he was healthy, he would have been able to challenge Rimp. This now became an interim period for him. Now we just have to do the work required to return to the old level.