Marko Anttila became the hero of the whole nation in 2019, when he scored two goals in the World Championship final, which ended in Finland’s victory. At the Beijing Olympics, Anttila matured at the peak of the moment.
The Finnish people following hockey first noticed something in May 2019: Lions winger Marko Anttila is at its best in tight spots.
Anttila became a big figure on the world champion team, and not just because of his 203-centimeter. Four goals in the playoffs of the World Cup in Bratislava made “Mörö” a national hero.
The statistics reveal how wildly Anttila has really raised his level in the playoffs of the 2019 and 2021 World Championships and the 2022 Olympic Games. Anttila has doubled his average score when moving to solution games.
Since the autumn of 2018, Anttila has played in his KHL club in the Jokers (0.3 points per match) and in the Lions Value Matches (0.4 points per match) with almost the same average score.
In other words, although many have wondered whether Anttila, who appeared in Leijon, may be a different person than the attacker playing in Jokers, there is not much difference in efficiency.
If the Lions’ three championship events, in which Anttila has participated in the last three years, are further divided into first-round matches and playoffs, the level increase will be tremendous.
Anttila has scored one goal and scored two assists in his 16 matches in the first series of recent years, which is a moderately weak statistic. Instead, in his nine playoff games, Anttila has scored five goals and scored two assists: that means an average of 0.78 points per match.
Over the past five to six years, two coaches, Lauri Marjamäki and Jukka Jalonen, have become particularly familiar to Anttila. Both of them have served as head coaches in both the Jokers and the Lions in recent years.
Anttila’s amazing statistics in Leijon have been noticed by the current Jokerit pilot Marjamäki.
– Sometimes Anttila’s offensive play has been really good and sometimes there is a lot to look for. We have tried to help him with that. It is quite exceptional that he has scored such big goals for the national team, Marjamäki says.
The playoffs for the Helsinki team that moved to KHL for the 2014–2015 season have ended for the second round at the latest each year.
Marjamäki believes in Anttila’s ability to become a solver in the Jokers as well. However, the core tasks of a versatile striker include much more than scoring.
– Hopefully he will be able to score big goals for us in the playoffs this year as well. Markok would certainly like to get more power, but his value in defensive play, feed interruptions and underpower play is rising to unpredictable value.
The radar pair Anttila – Björninen tinted
In the Lions quadruple chain, Anttila’s cooperation was with the Jokerit chain friend Hannes Björnisen with great. Björninen, who is playing for the first time in the Jokers, hit the Russian Olympic Committee team’s net in the Olympic finals on Sunday in the Olympic finals for Anttila’s performance. Finland’s 1–1-leveling paint was also the handwriting of the four-chain chain.
Marjamäki considers it valuable that Anttila’s and Björninen’s joint game had already been honed for six months before the Olympics.
– Markok has also said that Björninen is a world-class central forward and has played really hard. Although we have not had a result in the meantime either, their chain has made a positive result. This is a team game, and good chain line-ups are always needed to succeed, Marjamäki says.
A mentally strong player
Known by his nickname “Stretsi”, Anttila is able to stretch, but where does that ability come from? Lauri Marjamäki can give many different reasons for this.
– He’s a mentally strong player. He has a strong motivation, a great attitude and a good level of self-confidence. He is a very responsible player for the team and plays as a big man very coldly too. “Stress” understands when there is a place to play. She has a very good Emotion Control, Marjamäki praises.
According to Marjamäki, his mental strength was emphasized in the Olympic tournament, which started catastrophically for Anttila. Anttila gave a positive corona test result immediately after arriving in China and went to an isolation hotel for a week. The first match of the first round therefore went side by side.
– An ascending tournament and of course all the hardships, isolation and other things below it. He played his best game in the Olympic finals.
According to Marjamäki, who trained the lion in 2016–18, Jalonen’s playing style is excellent for Anttila.
– They have a common experience, a similar play has been played in club teams. There are no big changes to it. He is a very good playing field player and a big player for both us and the national team.
Anttila’s grips at the Olympic Games will warm up Marjamäki, which will focus on KHL’s playoffs starting in a week’s time.
– If anyone, Marko Anttila will certainly benefit from all these successes, Marjamäki concludes.