Patrik Laine, the Finnish Ice Hockey Teen Miracle
Ice hockey is the most popular sport in Finland. You can find most of the Finns in front of the TV during the ice hockey world championships. Now Finns can be even more proud of their ice hockey team as they have not only silver medals but also the most valuable player of the recently held world championships within their squad. The most valuable player is 18 years old Patrik Laine.
Who is Patrik Laine?
Patrik Laine is ice hockey right winger born in Tampere, Finland. In addition to the most valuable player (MVP) title, Laine received the best goal scorer title. He reached this success as the youngest world championship ice hockey player in the Finnish history. However, for many Finns this is not a surprise, as Laine was the MVP of this year's Finnish playoffs and champion with Tappara Tampere team. Laine is holding the 2015 U18 silver medal and the 2016 World Junior gold medal, adding the silver from just finished senior world championships in Russia.
Breaking the records
Only two games in this year's ice hockey world championships were enough for Patrik Laine to break Jaromir Jagr‘s 26-year-old record. It was 1990 world championships, when Jagr scored three goals and two assists and became the highest-scoring under-18 player at world championships in the modern era. However, this was not enough for Laine as he became the highest scoring under-18 player ever.
NHL Draft
USA's Auston Matthews is the number one overall pick in the 2016 NHL Draft. The Winnipeg Jets will almost certainly get Patrik Laine as the second overall in the draft. He has climbed the draft rankings throughout the entire season. On the first place he passed his teammate Jesse Puljujärvi, the youngest MVP of the world junior championships. Laine is now challenging Auston Matthews for the number one ranking.
Team members about Patrik Laine
"He’s only 18 years old and he’s playing at that level," said Finnish goalkeeper Mikko Koskinen after the first match and Laine's world championships debut against Belarus.
"When we selected Patrik he was the most valuable player in the playoffs and it's the same here. He has a great, great future and he grew up a lot in the last two and a half weeks", said Finland's national team coach Kari Jalonen.
There is still a long way to go before Patrik Laine reaches the NHL and international success, but he is definitely on the right path.