NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers defenceman Veeti Väisänen mans the front of the net in the first period of a 4-1 win Sept. 27 at Co-op Place over the Saskatoon Blades.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Back for a second season with the Medicine Hat Tigers, the team’s Finnish blue liners hope to improve upon their first seasons.
The pair of 19-year-old import defencemen, Niilopekka Muhonen and Veeti Väisänen, returned from NHL camps last week and are ready for their second stint in the Western Hockey League.
“It’s always a bit easier when you come back someplace,” Väisänen said. “You know how we do the things, so you don’t need to learn how we want to practice or anything. So we just have to go hard every day.”
Associate coach Joe Frazer says both defencemen look faster this season and he sees them carrying the puck with more confidence. After getting their first look last season, Frazer says they should be able to have more success this year after being acclimated to the WHL.
“It’s such a big adjustment coming from Europe to smaller ice and how we all play fast, and how we want our defence to play, so it takes time to adjust,” Frazer said. “In the second half of last year, both guys really excelled and took off. Now coming into this year, they know what to expect, so you can see their confidence is way higher. Both guys should have great gears for us.”
Väisänen returned from the Utah Mammoth’s camp after suiting up in a preseason contest, a 6-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Sept. 22. He says playing at the NHL level was what he expected it to be and enjoyed the experience, just not the result.
“It was nice playing against Anaheim, the result wasn’t what we wanted but I think I did pretty good in that game,” Väisänen said.
He likes Utah’s new name and enjoyed seeing the Mammoth logo for the first time in person. The Hamina, Fin. product had four goals and 24 points in 58 games last season in Medicine Hat, adding a goal and five points in 18 playoff games. Entering his second season, he’s hoping to get on the scoresheet more and continue developing.
“I just have to make good plays, keep playing hard and be a little bit better offensively,” Väisänen said.
It’s a similar goal for Muhonen who signed a three-year NHL deal with the Stars in the summer. It was the accomplishment of a goal he set when he joined the Tigers.
“It’s huge, that was my goal last year and I got it done,” Muhonen said.
This fall in Dallas was his second training camp with the Stars, also getting to experience a pair of development camps in the summer. Having gone through it once, seeing the NHL facilities and what they expect, made this fall easier, he says.
“It’s always fun to see those other prospects and of course in the main camp, be around the the NHL guys,” Muhonen said. “I just need to look how they do things and try to copy them a little bit.”
The Kuopio, Fin. product had four goals and 17 points in 60 games last season in the WHL, adding a goal and three points in 18 playoff games. His lone postseason goal came in Game 5 of the WHL championship series, kicking off the scoring in the Tigers’ 4-2 win to clinch their sixth Ed Chynoweth Cup.
The 6-foot-5 blue liner wants to put the puck in the back of the net more this season, with the Stars giving him a simple ask for his second year in the orange and black.
“Just go there and have a great season,” Muhonen said. “Play hard and keep developing.”
Both hope to replicate the end result of last season, hoisting the WHL’s championship trophy once again. Before they can dream of that, Väisänen says they have a who new process to go through again.
“We have lots of new guys and everyone has to dig in with what we’re doing it we want to win,” Väisänen said.
