In the hockey-crazy country of Finland — population just under six million people — it’s hard to hide something such as the IIHF World Championship Cup when you’re walking down the sidewalk.
Nikolas Matinpalo found that out earlier this week, as he and the rest of the gold medal-winning Finns returned home from Switzerland with the trophy for the fifth time in their nation’s history.
“I was walking with the cup and my teammates in the street, and here comes this lady who was maybe 80 years old. She started crying about it, she was so happy,” said Matinpalo.
“At the same time, you walk a couple metres, there’s a 10-year-old kid who’s screaming and being happy, so yeah, it’s kind of crazy… everybody’s so happy.”
After defeating host country Switzerland 1-0 in overtime in the gold medal game on Sunday, the team was escorted back to Finland by Hornet fighter jets on Monday. In the capital city of Helsinki, they met with Finnish president Alexander Stubb before hosting a rally outside Olympic Stadium in front of more than 80,000 fans.
“That was the first time I’d ever experienced that. It was crazy when we flew back to Finland,” said the 27-year-old defender, who played in all 10 games for the team at the tournament.
“The whole country getting crazy and being together and celebrating together, it was awesome.”
Matinpalo has become a mainstay on the national team’s blueline over the past couple of years. Sunday’s win was the 26th game he’s played for the national team over the past two seasons, a span which include the past two World Championships, 2025’s 4 Nations Faceoff, and 2026’s Olympics.
“That was always my dream when I was young, was to play on the national team and win the World Championship or an Olympic gold medal, so yeah, it’s been very cool to play this much hockey for the national team, and I hope that it’s going to keep going.”
He couldn’t have picked a much better locale to do it in, either, with Team Finland group stage games being held in Zurich.
“Zurich is a very, very nice city to go to, so yeah, it was fun. Of course, when you have a long season, sometimes you want to [lay] a little low, too. But yeah, it was an awesome two weeks there, very good food, nice people, and great weather.”
Still, even with that childhood dream fulfilled, the Senators defenceman thinks about being somewhere else this week.
“Of course, the goal is to play in the Stanley Cup Final someday. It was a very fun year to play Olympics, playoffs, and World Championships, but yeah, the main goal is still to play in the Staney Cup Final someday at this time of year.”
Matinpalo even added that these days, he prefers playing on the smaller ice of the NHL rather than the 200x100 international sheet. That said, Finland had a handful of players who were used to the big ice, and Matinpalo described that as an annual advantage in the tournament.
“I think you see at these tournaments, there’s always some teams, this year it was [bronze medallist] Norway — who play very good because they play bigger ice, they know how to handle it. You can’t just dump the puck all the time, you need to keep the puck much more,” said Matinpalo.
“It’s a little bit different game, and I see that some countries, Finland too, who know how to play on bigger ice better than U.S. or Canada, and I think that’s one reason why there’s always some smaller European countries on the podium.”
Matinpalo spends his summers in Finland and said he will take a couple of weeks to recover his body and mind before beginning to work out again. After that, it’ll be back to business as he prepares for training camp in September, back in Ottawa.
“It’s very exciting, absolutely. We have a very good group of guys, we’ve played two times now in the playoffs. So yeah, I’m very excited, and I think we can now take that next step,” said Matinpalo, who added he wants to focus on improving his own game this summer.
“I definitely want to take the next step in my game, get moving pucks a little bit better, and maybe get more points, too.”
