U18 HOCKEY: Finland captures U18 world title – Grand Forks Herald

Teammate Eeli Tolvanen grabbed the back of his helmet and pretended to fling it in the air to celebrate the hat trick.

It was just the Finnishing touch on what’s already a golden year for hockey in Finland and for Puljujarvi, a budding superstar who will soon be in the NHL.

Puljujarvi scored three times and Finland blew out rival Sweden 6-1 in the gold-medal game of the IIHF World Under-18 Championship in Ralph Engelstad Arena.

It marked the third U18 title for Finland and the first since 2000, when Minnesota Wild captain Mikko Koivu was on the team.

This championship continued another terrific year for Finland in junior hockey.

The Finns also won the gold medal in the World Junior Championship this season (under-20) in January, becoming just the third country ever to win both events in the same year.

Puljujarvi also is believed to be just the third player ever to be on a World Junior Championship and a World Under-18 gold medal team in the same year. The others are Americans Jason Zucker and Jack Campbell, who did it in 2010.

Puljujarvi, expected to be the No. 2 or No. 3 overall pick in June’s NHL Draft, also could end up going for a third IIHF title in the same year if he’s selected to play for the men’s team. The men’s event begins next month in Russia.

“I have to say about Puljujarvi. . . unreal. Unreal game,” Finland coach Jussi Ahokas said. “He was sick during the day. Then, he comes and shows up and scores three goals like that. It’s an unreal thing. We need players like that.”

The Finns opened the tournament with a close call against the Czech Republic–Finland won 4-3–but they continually improved throughout the 11-day event.

Puljujarvi, whose team was knocked out of the Finnish men’s league playoffs last week, joined the team in Grand Forks for the fourth and final pool play game. He was held without a point in a 3-1 loss to Canada.

But Puljujarvi, who led the World Junior Championship in scoring, came alive in tournament play, tallying seven points in three games as the Finns beat Russia, the U.S. and Sweden.

He saved his best for last, scoring a hat trick against Sweden.

“It’s a huge thing for Finland hockey,” Tolvanen said. “There are young kids watching us play.”

Tolvanen, Eetu Tuulola and Otto Somppi also scored for the Finns, who chased goalie Filip Gustavsson after two periods. Gustavsson made 54 saves a day earlier in Sweden’s upset win over Canada.

Finnish goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen started all three tournament games, going 3-0 with a .916 save percentage.

“We’ve had tight games before with Sweden, but today, everything worked and our team played great,” Ahokas said. “It was a great game and all the guys, four lines, all of our guys had great effort.”