Through two games, Finnish captain Aarne Talvitie leads his team with two goals and a +3 plus-minus rating.
photo: Minas Panagiotakis / HHOF-IIHF Images
Strong, smart, simple, straightforward. Those are just a few of the positive terms you could apply to Finnish captain Aarne Talvitie during Group B play in Victoria.
The 19-year-old Espoo native is a powerful skater with a strong shot. He looks very comfortable in his World Junior debut after winning silver at the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship. He’s on a goal-per-game pace, potting Finland’s lone marker on the power play with 3:34 left in the opening 2-1 loss to Sweden and tallying an opportunistic 2-0 goal in the 5-0 romp over Kazakhstan.
Talvitie, who was drafted in the sixth round (160th overall) in 2017 by the New Jersey Devils, is off to a solid start in his first year at Penn State University as well. With the NCAA Division I team in State College, Pennsylvania, the 180-cm, 91-kg forward has five goals and 11 assists in 17 games. Talvitie will confront one of his Penn State teammates, Evan Barratt, when Finland faces the U.S. on New Year’s Eve. The Finns are seeking their first World Junior gold medal since 2016.
We chatted with Talvitie after the victory over Kazakhstan.
What needs to improve with your power play after going 1-for-3 against Sweden and 0-for-5 against Kazakhstan?
I think we just need to shoot the puck more and be simpler in how we play on the power play, not look for too fancy passes and opportunities. Be stricter on how we shoot the puck, too.
How happy are you with your personal performance so far?
Pretty happy. It’s two games, and it’s gone pretty well. Scoring a couple of goals is always a good thing. But I think I can do better. Everybody in our team can do better. Considering how I played today, I got a couple of scoring chances and got the goal and everything. But I think there’s more to me than I showed today.
What did you guys learn from the opening game against Sweden?
We learned that every game is going to be so tough. The beginnings of the games are going to be tough. The teams come hard at you and you have to be ready for it. The game against Sweden, they caught us off guard at the beginning of the game. So we have to be ready from the beginning and be confident and play how we can.
Who are your favourite players?
Ooh, that’s a tough one. Of course, there’s a couple of Finnish players: Mikko Koivu and Teemu Selanne. Good players, of course. I really like Sebastian Aho, too. He’s really good.
The Finnish Sebastian Aho, right?
[laughs] Yeah, of course! Not the Swedish one, no.
Where were you and what were you doing when Finland won the World Junior gold medal in Helsinki in 2016?
I was watching it with my buddies at home and it was unreal. The whole country went crazy after that. It was unbelievable.
What’s your attitude toward off-ice training?
Of course, I like the ice practices, but I like to be at the gym and work out too and lift some weights. I don’t know if I have anything that I don’t like when it comes to training. I like to train and do it a lot. I pretty much enjoy every aspect of it.
You’re pretty comfortable speaking English. What makes you so good?
Spending the last half year at Penn State helped me a lot. Before that, I don’t really know. My parents speak pretty good English. We have to take English in school, too, so that helps out a lot. I’ve just picked it up from somewhere. I don’t know how exactly.
Outside hockey, what are you studying at Penn State, and how are you enjoying it?
Not sure yet about my major, but the first semester went pretty well. I’m happy with it. The first couple of weeks were pretty tough with getting used to it with hockey and education and studying. After the first month, I felt really comfortable.
What do you like to do when you have free time there.
We have a close team. Everybody on our team, they are such good guys. So we hang out a lot. Especially the freshmen, we hang out and sometimes go to movies or eat or play Fortnite.
What do you think of the city of Victoria?
It’s really cool. I heard before we came here that it was going to be a nice city and a beautiful place. It definitely is.
Espoo is the host city for the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship. What are your thoughts on the tournament coming to your hometown?
It’s good. There’s going to be a lot of people watching, and hockey – it doesn’t matter if it’s women’s or men’s, people will watch it anyway. It’s going to be good that it’s in Espoo. In Espoo, hockey is a big thing.
What do you need to do in order to become an NHLer?
I think to get better at how I play with the puck. That’s the biggest thing I need to improve on. How I pass it, my vision with the puck, those are the skills I have to improve. I’m pretty good at being a two-way forward and I’m pretty physical. But I do need to improve my skills with the puck, for sure.
What do you expect against Slovakia on Saturday?
Every game here is going to be a tough one. They’re a good team and they have a lot of heart with what they do. They’re going to come hard at us from the beginning and we have to be ready for that. I think we need to get more comfortable, and when we get into our rhythm as a team, I think we’ll be able to beat them for sure.
The 19-year-old Espoo native is a powerful skater with a strong shot. He looks very comfortable in his World Junior debut after winning silver at the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship. He’s on a goal-per-game pace, potting Finland’s lone marker on the power play with 3:34 left in the opening 2-1 loss to Sweden and tallying an opportunistic 2-0 goal in the 5-0 romp over Kazakhstan.
Talvitie, who was drafted in the sixth round (160th overall) in 2017 by the New Jersey Devils, is off to a solid start in his first year at Penn State University as well. With the NCAA Division I team in State College, Pennsylvania, the 180-cm, 91-kg forward has five goals and 11 assists in 17 games. Talvitie will confront one of his Penn State teammates, Evan Barratt, when Finland faces the U.S. on New Year’s Eve. The Finns are seeking their first World Junior gold medal since 2016.
We chatted with Talvitie after the victory over Kazakhstan.
What needs to improve with your power play after going 1-for-3 against Sweden and 0-for-5 against Kazakhstan?
I think we just need to shoot the puck more and be simpler in how we play on the power play, not look for too fancy passes and opportunities. Be stricter on how we shoot the puck, too.
How happy are you with your personal performance so far?
Pretty happy. It’s two games, and it’s gone pretty well. Scoring a couple of goals is always a good thing. But I think I can do better. Everybody in our team can do better. Considering how I played today, I got a couple of scoring chances and got the goal and everything. But I think there’s more to me than I showed today.
What did you guys learn from the opening game against Sweden?
We learned that every game is going to be so tough. The beginnings of the games are going to be tough. The teams come hard at you and you have to be ready for it. The game against Sweden, they caught us off guard at the beginning of the game. So we have to be ready from the beginning and be confident and play how we can.
Who are your favourite players?
Ooh, that’s a tough one. Of course, there’s a couple of Finnish players: Mikko Koivu and Teemu Selanne. Good players, of course. I really like Sebastian Aho, too. He’s really good.
The Finnish Sebastian Aho, right?
[laughs] Yeah, of course! Not the Swedish one, no.
Where were you and what were you doing when Finland won the World Junior gold medal in Helsinki in 2016?
I was watching it with my buddies at home and it was unreal. The whole country went crazy after that. It was unbelievable.
What’s your attitude toward off-ice training?
Of course, I like the ice practices, but I like to be at the gym and work out too and lift some weights. I don’t know if I have anything that I don’t like when it comes to training. I like to train and do it a lot. I pretty much enjoy every aspect of it.
You’re pretty comfortable speaking English. What makes you so good?
Spending the last half year at Penn State helped me a lot. Before that, I don’t really know. My parents speak pretty good English. We have to take English in school, too, so that helps out a lot. I’ve just picked it up from somewhere. I don’t know how exactly.
Outside hockey, what are you studying at Penn State, and how are you enjoying it?
Not sure yet about my major, but the first semester went pretty well. I’m happy with it. The first couple of weeks were pretty tough with getting used to it with hockey and education and studying. After the first month, I felt really comfortable.
What do you like to do when you have free time there.
We have a close team. Everybody on our team, they are such good guys. So we hang out a lot. Especially the freshmen, we hang out and sometimes go to movies or eat or play Fortnite.
What do you think of the city of Victoria?
It’s really cool. I heard before we came here that it was going to be a nice city and a beautiful place. It definitely is.
Espoo is the host city for the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship. What are your thoughts on the tournament coming to your hometown?
It’s good. There’s going to be a lot of people watching, and hockey – it doesn’t matter if it’s women’s or men’s, people will watch it anyway. It’s going to be good that it’s in Espoo. In Espoo, hockey is a big thing.
What do you need to do in order to become an NHLer?
I think to get better at how I play with the puck. That’s the biggest thing I need to improve on. How I pass it, my vision with the puck, those are the skills I have to improve. I’m pretty good at being a two-way forward and I’m pretty physical. But I do need to improve my skills with the puck, for sure.
What do you expect against Slovakia on Saturday?
Every game here is going to be a tough one. They’re a good team and they have a lot of heart with what they do. They’re going to come hard at us from the beginning and we have to be ready for that. I think we need to get more comfortable, and when we get into our rhythm as a team, I think we’ll be able to beat them for sure.