At just 16 years of age, Kristian Vesalainen has already played with Frolunda Gothenburg's A-team, including the CHL Semi-Finals. While his team was celebrating the CHL title, however, he was training with the Finnish U18 national team. 

by Timo Simila

RAUMA – Less than 24 hours after Frolunda Gothenburg won the 2015–16 Champions Hockey League Final, Frolunda junior forward Kristian Vesalainen hit the ice with the rest of the Finnish U18 team against Russia in the five nations exhibition tournament in Rauma, Finland. This Helsinki-born winger left his youth team IFK Helsinki after last season to compete in the J20 Superelit, the highest junior league in Sweden. Switching countries seems to have paid off, since this season Vesalainen has already played 10 games in the SHL and three in the CHL with Frolunda's A-team. 

Going abroad to play hockey at a young age is not news anymore even in Scandinavia, but moving from a Finnish junior league to men’s European elite leagues at the age of 16 takes some courage. And skill.

“I had heard Frolunda had a great organization and we always praise the Swedish style play, so I went to check it out in the summer and found my place there instantly,” Vesalainen explains how he ended up in Sweden. 

While hockey culture in Sweden and Finland is nearly identical in many aspects, there are some distinctive differences in game philosophy and strategy. Having marked 29 points in 35 Superelit games this season, the Swedish style of play seems to suit Vesalainen well. The youngster has nothing but good things to say about his current club, which has offered him a great opportunity to shine. 

“The game is faster in Sweden in both professional and junior leagues. And the players are overall more skilled, in my opinion. When it comes to the Frolunda organization, everything has gone really well and I've received lots of help in every aspect, and also have gained some experience in the men's leagues as well.”

After a great start of the season in junior, Vesalainen was soon called upon to join the men's team. 

“The call to join the men's team came as a surprise. I had known that if I played well there could be a chance in the big leagues. I had a good start to my season and then the phone rang.”

Because of his U18 responsibilities, Vesalainen didn’t make the trop to Oulu for the CHL Final. Travelling with the Finnish national team prevented him for watching the Final game.

“I got a call to join the team in Oulu but I had agreed to the U18 team so I couldn’t make it. CHL games in general were a nice change to the routine even though I didn't get to play that much in some of the games, but there was some good places to learn new stuff. For example, Davos was a tough team to play against, but at the same time the experience was really neat.” 

The five nations tournament is a huge opportunity for young players to show their talent – between this tournament and the IIHF U18 World Championship tournament in April there are only two training camps during the spring. Playing against possibly the toughest junior teams in the world including Sweden, Russia, the USA and the Czech Republic are, for many, the first glimpses of elite-level hockey in their careers. In Team Finland's opening match against Russia both teams made one thing very clear: these guys take these games seriously.

But surely a young player aims for the NHL, right?

“Let’s see what happens in the future. But of course the NHL is a distance goal at some point of my career,” Vesalainen laughs. 

Only time will tell if we are talking about a future CHL MVP, but if it was up to motivation there would be no doubt.