“Now I wish I had just gone home”

Michelle Karvinen gets to the home games again in Finland’s jersey, even though the Women’s Ice Hockey World Cup isn’t exactly played in Pohjola’s wigs.

Naisleijonat has traveled to Karvinen’s birth country, Denmark, where Finland will play its first match in the ice hockey World Cup against Canada on Thursday.

– It feels unreal and means a lot to me. I never thought I would be able to play in the World Cup in Denmark. It will be really fun, and not least because my whole family will be able to watch, Karvinen says in an interview with Sporten.

The experienced attacker represents Finland for the fourteenth time in the prestigious competition.

– Finland is my home country in hockey, but culturally I’m a little more Danish. However, I don’t want to say that I am too much of either. I am grateful that I can be both Finnish and Danish.

Karvinen grew up in Copenhagen, a good three-hour drive from Herning, the second host city of the Games. It takes almost five hours from the Danish capital to Fredrikshavn, which serves as another game venue.

– The Danishness in me shows itself in the way that I am perhaps more relaxed and easygoing than many others. Finns also have a similar warmth, but patience is often required for it to emerge, Karvinen laughs.

Karvinen was one of five Finnish players (Nora Räty, Anna Kilponen, Minnamari Tuominen and Susanna Tapani), who played for the Chinese club after the Beijing Olympics. KRS Vanke Rays played in the country’s women’s premier league in Russia. When Russia started its war of aggression in Ukraine, all Finns stayed behind.

Karvinen has not previously spoken about the spring events. When Sporten asks the first question related to the matter, his expression turns serious.

He thinks for a long time before each of his answers. He calmly recalls that it was the Finns’ own club that organized the players’ trip home, flying home via Abu Dhabi after the season ended.

– It was a difficult situation. A terrible situation, says Karvinen.

– We didn’t know what to do. We talked among ourselves about what would be the best solution. We had no idea what was going on in the world at that moment. It didn’t feel good, he continues.

The players decided to stay anyway. Partly because they found it physically impossible to leave Russia. Partly again, because without them the club’s activities would have been immediately shut down and they would have been left without a salary. For female ice hockey players, a professional contract is important in every way.

– Money is not everything, but at the same time, another option was to return home and think about how to pay the apartment rent, Karvinen explains.

– Nevertheless, we were very close to leaving. None of us felt well there. None of us were on Russia’s side. In retrospect, I feel like we didn’t know of a better option. We didn’t get any news or information about what we could have done.

– But now I wish I had just gone home.

The female lions will go to the World Cup for the first time Juuso Toivolan under the heel of. The era of Finland’s head coach began already at the Olympics, when a pre-planned change was made Pasi Mustonen with came suddenly. Mustonen missed the Beijing Games due to family reasons.

Mustonen’s years as head coach were successful, but also full of storms. The former head coach’s methods of operation caused friction.

The biggest commotion was related to Mustonen and the goalkeeper Noora Rädyn in between. Mustonen kicked Räty, one of the best in the world, out of the Olympic team at the venue, when Räty refused to play in last year’s World Championships.

In addition, Mustonen’s statements about the level of women’s personal playing skills at the 2018 Winter Olympics attracted attention.

– Pasi and I knew that anything could happen, Karvinen says and laughs. During Mustonen’s time, he was the vice-captain of the national team and at the same time acted as a link between the players and the coaching staff.

– Now that Juuso speaks to the media, things come out a little more calmly. He must be one of the kindest people in the world. At the same time, I have incredible respect for him as a coach. He has been a part of us for a long time and is therefore a safe type for us.

According to Karvinen, the gold is within Finland’s reach, but it requires the entire team’s united success, although he thinks it is “clichéd”.

– We are ready to take revenge from the 2019 World Cup final in Espoo.

One of Finland’s most consistent World Cup finishers of all time finds the August organizing time of the tournament difficult. The World Championships, normally held in the spring, will be played again in August, for the second year in a row.

When the tournament was moved last year due to the corona pandemic, now the reason was the competition schedule compressed by the Beijing Olympics.

– It’s okay to play, but this shouldn’t happen again. Now we have no break at all in the summer. Constant Pushing wears. This cannot be like this in the future, because it is too much for everyone in the long run, Karvinen explains his thoughts.

Head coach Juuso Toivola respects the efforts of his team’s players.

– I do take my hat off to the players, they are already winning the race for the second season in a row and have to aim for top form again in prestigious competitions. It brings its own heaviness to the whole, but it’s the same for everyone. We will run these competitions honorably and victoriously, says Toivola.

Toivola also raises his hat to the role of Karvinen.

– “Misu” is a team player through and through. He is usually the one who makes important speeches in the booth when they are needed. He plays a big role for us in every way and it’s great that he gets to play in a different kind of home tournament.

Michelle Karvista interviewed Sporten’s Mattias Simonsen.