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JYVÄSKYLÄ, Finland – Finland, like many European nations, seems to fall into despair with regular intervals. The past, looking back, always so glorious, and the future, unknown and scary. Sure, the Finnish national team came home - in a figure of speech as only three players returned to Helsinki airport after the tournament, and all three had connecting flights to catch - with a bronze medal, but who can Teemu Selänne, Saku Koivu, Sami Salo, Kimmo Timonen, Jere Lehtinen, and Ville Peltonen pass the torch to?
Vatanen also made headlines in Finland this year, when he scored two big goals against the Czechs in the World Juniors, finishing two end-to-end rushes with goals; first one was a slapshot from the point, in the second one, the Jyväskylä native caught Czech defenceman flatfooted, went around him and the goalie to tie the game.
This week, Vatanen, 18, broke the rookie defenceman points record in the Finnish SM-liiga when he scored a goal in JYP Jyväskylä’s game against KalPa Kuopio, recording his sixth goal and 28th point of the season. He already held the rookie defencemen’s assist record.
“Records are records, and you need the support of a good team, but of course they’re also proof of the fact that I’ve done something right,” Vatanen told IIHF.com.
“The whole season’s been a surprise, I didn’t think that I’d be playing a regular shift in the SM-liiga, I thought I’d play a couple of games and then go back to juniors or the Mestis farm team. I’ve been playing in a much bigger role than I expected,” he says.
Yes, he has. The Anaheim Ducks fourth-round draft pick in 2009 (106th overall) averages 19:37 minutes a game - fifth on the team - and has only missed three games this season, those due to the World Juniors. Four of his six goals are power play goals, and he’s third in the league in shots taken with 287. That’s 59 more than anyone else on JYP. His 28 points in 48 games are fifth on the team.
On a team that’s the reigning Finnish champion, currently third in the standings, expected to go deep in the playoffs that begin in a couple of weeks.
And three years ago, the smooth-skating defenceman was playing in JYP’s junior C.
“I don’t know what really happened, all of a sudden my development was just off the charts, or straight up. Not sure why, but I hope I’ll keep developing like this,” he says.
One explanation is playing on a team with a lot of good players that push each other into becoming better, and working harder and smarter. For Vatanen, that team was JYP’s Junior B with Pekka Jormakka, who’s played a handful of games with JYP this season, and Joonas Nättinen, a teammate onf the U20 national team, who’s played 21 games with the Espoo Blues this season.
“We won the Finnish championship in our age group that year, and I think we had six or seven players in the junior national team camps. Of course, we were all friends, but we all surely wanted to be the best player on the team as well, and the competition was probably good for us,” Vatanen says.
With most teams always on a lookout for good defencemen, Vatanen, a smart and mobile player got a chance to crack the team, despite his young age, and physical immaturity. Vatanen, at 175 centimetres and 75 kilos, who relies on his quickness and hockey sense when battling with forwards in his own end, took it.
“The pace of the game is faster than in the juniors, and of course, it’s not easy wrestling with big guys in the corners, but I think I’ve got better. It’s my first season so obviously, I’ve played some poor games, too,” he says.
“I need to get stronger, that’s clear, but so far I’ve been able to compensate that weakness by reading the plays, and positioning myself right,” he adds.
Of course, the local team’s new star defenceman is a celebrity in Jyväskylä. And with the points, and the records, and the highlight goals in the World Juniors, comes media attention.
“Well, I wouldn’t call myself a celebrity, but every once in a while, somebody wants to talk hockey with me. That’s different from last year when nobody knew me. But I’ll just try to play as well as I can, and not think about what others think. I think it was Teemu Selänne who said that ‘you’re never as good as the papers say, but never as bad, either’,” says Vatanen.
“I don’t need to read the papers, I have a pretty good idea what I’ve answered to the reporters’ questions,” he adds, laughing.
And now the teenager whose non-hockey activities include “hanging out with my buddies” is getting ready to take another step in his career, in the SM-liiga playoffs.
“I have no personal goals for the remainder of the season, but I’d like to win my first Finnish title, and get that right off the bat. Hopefully, I’ll get a call to the men’s national team at some point,” he says.
The optimists hope so, too. And they’d like to see him wearing the Finnish jersey already in Germany.
“I haven’t really thought about that,” says Vatanen.
