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Honka played for Finland at two World Juniors -- the 2014 tournament in Malmo, Sweden and 2015 in Toronto and Montreal.
The 2014 event stands out. Honka was part of the Finnish team that won a gold medal by defeating arch-rival Sweden in the championship game at a tournament the Swedes were hosting.
"That made it even a little more special," Honka said. "It was awesome."
Honka had come to North America for the 2013-14 season, was playing for Swift Current in the Western Hockey League and was off to a great start when he was selected to play for Finland at the World Juniors, which features many of the top under-20 players in the world.
He had just turned 18 and was the youngest player on a Finnish roster that featured several future NHL players, including current Dallas teammate Esa Lindell along with forwards Teuvo Teravainen (Carolina) and Artturi Lehkonen (Montreal), defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen (Buffalo), and goaltender Juuse Saros (Nashville).
"Lots of players that play here now," Honka said. "We had a really good team. Everybody was playing together."
But it was no easy ride to the gold medal for the Finns. They finished second in their group in the preliminary round with a 2-1-1 record, beating Norway and Russia, losing to Sweden in regulation and falling to Switzerland in overtime.
They played the Czechs in the quarterfinals, and when Czech center Radek Faksa scored 14 minutes into the second period, the Finns found themselves down 3-1. But the Finns scored four unanswered goals to win 5-3 to advance to the semifinals.
Riding a wave of momentum and confidence from the comeback win over the Czechs, the Finns rolled over Canada in the semifinals, 5-1. Finland scored two goals in a 1:51 span early in the second period -- the first one assisted by Honka -- to take a 2-0 lead.
When Teravainen scored on a penalty shot to extend the lead to 4-1 with 3:17 remaining, it was chaos on the Finnish bench.
"We were jumping up and down on the bench," Lindell said. "The coach had to calm us down."
It was Finland's first win over Canada at the World Juniors in 12 years.
"Yeah, that was a big win," Honka said.
That set up the dream matchup of Finland vs. Sweden in the gold medal game. The Swedes were unbeaten in the tournament and had defeated Slovakia in the quarterfinals and Russia in the semifinals. Sweden also had defeated Finland, 4-2, in the preliminary round.
