The Kraken have several Finnish players and prospects, including Kakko, Eeli Tolvanen, Jani Nyman, Ville Ottavainen, Nikke Kokko, Julius Miettinen and Kim Saarinen. Carolina boasts Finnish forwards Sebastian Aho and Jesperi Kotkiniemi.
Kakko said hockey means everything in Finland, a Nordic nation of 5.6 million people founded in 1919 and nestled along the Baltic Sea with Norway to its north, Sweden to the west and Russia the east. The main Finnish pro league, known as Liiga, is ranked the second strongest in all of Europe by the International Ice Hockey Federation and averages about 4,850 fans per game in attendance.
Kakko has no doubt the Kraken games will generate tremendous interest.
“If you look at it now, it’s already the most popular sport in the country,” he said. “So, this will make it even bigger and bring attention to just how big and respected the game is over there. The fans will be tremendous, I’m sure.”
Beyond attending the games, Kraken fans venturing to Finland can see myriad attractions, such as the northern Lapland region – replete with reindeer and the rumored home of Santa Claus in the village of Rovaniemi. The nation also has an extensive sauna culture in sleek urban settings and lakeside log cabins. Helsinki itself is along the Gulf of Finland, with long avenues and neoclassical architecture.
Incidentally, the World Happiness Report just ranked Finland No. 1 for the ninth consecutive year, citing virtues such as the country’s social support and low perceived corruption. Residents often point to Finland’s social safety net – including education and healthcare – creating a sense of security and wellbeing.
The NHL began playing games outside North America in October 1997 when the Ducks and Vancouver Canucks squared off in Nagano, Japan just four months ahead of the Winter Olympics there. A total of 48 contests have since been played overseas, 22 of them as part of a Global Series that began in 2017 with Ottawa and Colorado playing in Stockholm, Sweden.
There have been 11 prior NHL games played in Finland, most recently in Tampere two years ago with a twin set between the Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers. Seven of the previous Finnish games were at Veikkaus Areaa, which last hosted in November 2018 when the Jets and Panthers played twice.
Finland has had NHL players since 1976 when Matti Hagman broke in with the Boston Bruins as the league’s first player born and trained in the Nordic country. Previously, Finnish-born Albert Pudas played four games for the Toronto St. Patricks in 1926-27, but he’d moved to Canada at age 1 and learned hockey there.
The 1980s saw Finnish native and future Hockey Hall of Famer Jari Kurri play with the Edmonton Oilers dynasty while Teemu Selane spent most of his Hall of Fame career with the Anaheim Ducks in the 1990s and 2000s. But it’s only within the past two decades or so that the league has truly seen a mass influx of Finnish stars, including active players Mikko Rantanen, Aleksander Barkov, Sabastian Aho, Miro Heiskanen, Roope Hintz, Mikael Granlund, Esa Lindell and Artturi Lehkonen among others.
Finland emerged as a serious hockey power during that stretch, overhauling and transforming a national junior team program that has won three gold medals, two silvers and a bronze since 2014 at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships. And those junior players have bolstered Finland at the sport’s highest levels, with Finland winning three golds and three silvers since 2011 at the IIHF Men’s World Hockey Championships and also a men’s gold medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and bronze medals this past year as well as in 2014 and 2010.
“Everybody there watches the NHL on TV now because there are so many players from Finland,” Kakko said. “But they don’t often get the chance to see an NHL game in person. That’s why this is going to be so much fun for them and for us. I can’t wait.”
