World Cup medals are being fought for after a four-year break – Tuomas Määtta, who plays in Russia, will not be seen in the Finnish team

The men’s and women’s World Cups start at the same time in Sweden.

Men’s international top ice hockey has been in a stagnant state for a long time as far as the World Championships are concerned, as the world championships have not been contested since 2019. The reason was first the corona pandemic and then the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.

Now the men and women head to the World Championships in Sweden at the same time, starting in Växjö municipality in Åby on March 28. The Finnish teams were announced on Monday.

– A few older players have left the team and a few younger ones have joined. As first-timers, we have with you Topi Saukkonen and Eero Paavolahead coach Ari Holopainen said at Monday’s remote news conference.

Finland goes to the men’s tournament with great goals.

– The clear goal is to play the last game on Sunday, i.e. the final, and win it. We know that Sweden is an incredibly tough team. We have shown in two games during the season that we can beat Sweden.

In the previous World Cups, Finland was third behind Russia and Sweden.

Russia excluded from the World Cup tournament

The Russia issue has been brought up in many ways in ice hockey, because Russia is a traditional success of the small sport. The Russian president of the International Ice Hockey Federation Boris Skrynnik resigned from his position in Helsinki at the October congress. He was replaced by a Norwegian Stein Pedersen.

Russia will not be seen at the World Cup tournament in Sweden. Sports star Tuomas Määtä on the other hand, is not in the Finnish World Cup team, because he plays at the club team level in the Russian SKA-Neftjanik.

Executive Director of the Ice Hockey Association Tobias Karlsson opened Määtä’s possible future in the national team.

– For this season, it has been decided that Finnish players under contract with Russian clubs will not represent the national team. At this stage, the federal government has not discussed the future.

SKA-Neftjanik announced last summer that Määtt has signed an extension contract from summer 2020 with the club he represents.

On August 1, the Finnish Ice Hockey Federation announced the shelving of Määtä.

– Each player makes his own decisions. Hockey players, like players in other team sports, are free to move from one club to another, and we have no rights to interfere in the contract matters of individual players, President of the Ice Hockey Association Antti Parviainen commented at the time.

Finnish women won bronze at the World Championships last year. Finland will go to the World Cup in Växjö with a fairly young and inexperienced women’s team.