After winning the Swedish title with the Vaxjo Lakers and the Finnish title with Tappara Tampere in back-to-back years, centre Jani Lajunen is now trying for his second World title.

by Derek O'Brien

SAINT PETERSBURG – Jani Lajunen has picked the right team to play for the last couple of years. In 2014–15 he played for the Vaxjo Lakers, who won the Swedish Hockey League title. He then moved back to his native Finland for 2015–16 and, after losing in the Liiga finals three years in a row, Tappara Tampere won the Finnish title with Lajunen in the lineup. 

“Yeah that's kind of funny how that happened,” the 25-year-old centre said. “I don't know if that's anything more than luck. Of course I went out and worked hard every game, but it was nice to win both years and fun for me too.”

He also played in the Champions Hockey League both seasons, collecting 4 points (3 + 1) in 12 games with Vaxjo and Tappara. Previously, he played for the Espoo Blues in the original CHL in 2008–09. That Espoo club had made the Liiga finals, but these last two seasons were his first domestic championships.

“I'm from Espoo and those years were fun,” he said of his five seasons with his hometown club, where he made his professional debut as a 17-year-old. “It's unfortunate to see what's happening there now, but I hope they get a team back there soon.”

Lajunen is now in Russia, representing Finland in his second World Championship. His first time was 2011 in Slovakia, which was the last time Finland won the gold medal. Lajunen played only four games in that tournament but made the most of his opportunities, recording 3 points (2 + 1). 

“It helped me a lot,” he said of that previous experience. “I played the same kind of role on the team last time, so that's helped with my concentration and patience. It's helped me to be ready so that when I get my chance, I'm ready to play.”

This time around, it took until the Finns' fifth game before Lajunen got into the lineup. 

“I feel alright. It could've gone better but it's a good win for the team,” he said after the 3–1 win over France in which he got 9:58 of icetime. “It's always difficult to sit and watch. You always want to get on the ice and play, but now it feels alright.”

Sitting and watching, however, did give Lajunen a good seat to watch Tappara teammate Patrik Laine perform his magic. In the first two games, the young phenom set a World Championship record for an 18-year-old with 6 points.

“Yeah, he's playing really good hockey right now, shooting and scoring really well so it's fun to see him play.”

Lajunen did have some opportunities to play with Laine, on a Tappara club that juggled line combinations often this past season.

“Yeah, a couple of times. The last couple games we ended up playing together but most of the season we were on different lines.”

In addition to winning his second straight domestic title, Lajunen is coming off his most productive season as a professional, registering 43 points (20 + 23) in 76 combined Liiga regular-season and playoff games. But there's one more thing that would be the icing on the cake.

“It was a pretty good season for us, winning the Finnish league. We had a really good team, and winning the World Championship here would make the season even better.”

Finland was the only perfect team in the group stage of the tournament, taking all 21 possible points. But as they say, the “real tournament” begins on Thursday, when Finland plays Denmark in the quarter-finals.

As for Tappara, Lajunen is confident about the team's chances again in the 2016–17 season, even if Laine – projected to be picked 1st or 2nd in this summer's NHL Entry Draft – doesn't return.

“We've got some good young guys so I think we'll have a pretty good team again. Of course we'll lose a couple of guys but we should be bringing some new players in as well, so I don't things will change that much.”

Tappara will start their competitive season in the CHL's Group C along with Swiss finalists HC Lugano and 2014–15 German champions Adler Mannheim.