Kiitos, Finland: The Avalanche Reflect on Global Series in Tampere

Kiitos, Finland.
The Colorado Avalanche have returned to Denver after an incredible week-long trip spent between Helsinki and Tampere, Finland and having collected all four points possible between their two games against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

It was a lengthy trip for the group who had spent seven days in New York prior to departing for Finland on Oct. 30 and then spending the remaining seven days there before returning the 4,185 miles back to Colorado.
"The entire experience has been great," Nathan MacKinnon said. "The hockey's been the best part, obviously. And it's been fun to experience the crowd and doing a lap around the ice as one of the stars.
"You realize that you'll probably never be back playing here so you appreciate the awesome fans. A ton of jerseys. It was all great."

For the Avalanche who were - and continues to battle injuries to the lineup - and was struggling to play a full-60-minute effort to their structure and maintain consistency, this trip came at an opportune time as it served as the ultimate bonding experience - so much so that Devon Toews noted, "The joke in the locker room right now is that we've had enough team dinners for the year."
The Avalanche were 4-4-1 heading into Finland and had just suffered back-to-back losses to the New Jersey Devils (1-0 shutout loss) and New York Islanders (blew a 3-0 lead to lose 5-4), but got back to playing to their identity in Finland where they outscored Columbus 11-4 and won both games.
"When you get four points, you can call the whole trip it a success," Lehkonen said. "There's two games here and we got four points. It was a long road trip for us."
Despite missing crucial players to the lineup and who bring a veteran presence in captain Gabriel Landeskog and Darren Helm, the pair joined the team for the road trip to Finland.
For Finnish natives and Avalanche forwards Mikko Rantanen of Nousiainen, and Artturi Lehkonen of Piikkiö, as well as goaltending coach Jussi Parkkila of Tampere, and goaltender Justus Annunen of Kempele (who was recalled from the Colorado Eagles to serve as an emergency backup), it was a once in a lifetime experience to play regular season NHL games back in their home country. They also all served as the ultimate tour guides for their team.

Colorado's players and staff spent the week embracing traditional staples in Finnish culture like taking a sauna followed by jumping in the Baltic Sea (as well as daily saunas), trying Finnish cuisine like reindeer, salmon soup and Finnish chocolate and playing in front of consecutive sold-out crowds at Nokia Arena where the Avalanche praised the atmosphere that would sing the national anthem together, clap in unison during lulls in play, dance to a hoka song, and chant the names of the Finnish players on the Avs and Blue Jackets.
"To me, it's about getting out and meeting different people and experiencing different cultures," Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar said. "Every country has its own unique lifestyle and energy. The league is going to try to get us into places where NHL players are coming from because it's special, they drag you into it. [Rantanen], Lehkonen and Annunen were super excited to be here. You could feel their energy in our locker room. Coming over, Jussi Parkkila got our coaches excited to come on over and try new things. That's part of the fun of it. It brings your team together. Hopefully, it will galvanize our group."
For Rantanen, in particular, the experience was everything he imagined it would be and more. The Avalanche's selection as one of the teams to be a part of this Global Series was first announced back in 2020, but delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic that paused the daily life back in March 2020.
In the time since, the Avalanche were able to acquire Lehkonen at last year's Trade Deadline via a deal with the Montreal Canadiens and reunite the two Finns, who had grown up playing together and would go on to hoist the Stanley Cup as champions this past June with the Avalanche.

So, to then go on and play together in their home country was an opportunity they both seized. Rantanen finished the weekend with a hat trick in the first game against Columbus which the Avalanche soundly won 6-3 and recorded an assist on Lehkonen's goal in the second game. Following Saturday night's dominant 5-1 win to seal Colorado's Global Series sweep, both Rantanen and Lehkonen received standing ovations from their fellow Finns who cheered them on following the final buzzer.
"When you're five years old you don't really think that I'm going to play [in the NHL] once day," Rantanen said. "You dream about Finnish league maybe at that point. It's pretty special to share it with [Lehkonen]. We grew up together and played together on the same team. We never dreamt about this."
"It's been a long time since me and Mikko played in Finland," Lehkonen added. "It's special to come here and share this. We were probably 12 the first time we played together. We were dreaming of playing in the NHL, but you were thinking that you were maybe going to play in the Finnish league or whatever. It's a special thing for sure."
After spending a surplus amount of time together over the last busy two weeks, the Avalanche are looking forward to getting back to Denver and getting in a more routine rhythm as they continue the regular season.
But as they settle back into life Stateside and ready to hit the ice again as they host the Nashville Predators on Thursday night at Ball Arena, Colorado is returning with a surplus of special memories from their time in Finland and hoping to have made a positive impact in the country and have maybe even inspired the next generation of Finnish hockey players.
"Everyone we've met on this trip to Finland has been super welcoming," Bednar said. "They have a great energy about them, they're super welcoming. It's been a really great trip. It's seems like a really fun country. Everyone was here to have fun and enjoy themselves and support both teams. I thought it was super special for our guys."