With a record number of CHL players, Finland inches closer to their first WJHC medal in three years
Having missed the podium in consecutive years at a World Juniors only twice over the last decade, the 2025 edition of Team Finland is motivated to medal for the first time since 2022.
In search of a sixth gold medal in tournament history, Finland is endeavouring to achieve the latter with a record number of seven Canadian Hockey League (CHL) players on their roster (see complete list below), a list that includes a pair of forwards on the CHL’s No.1-ranked team – the London Knights.
Those two skaters – Jesse Nurmi (2G-2A in 5 GP) and Kasper Halttunen (1G-2A in 5 GP) – had their handprints all over Finland’s 5-3 victory over Slovakia in the quarterfinals of the 2025 World Juniors. Both Knights players factored in on their country’s first three goals at TD Place on Thursday. Nurmi first picked up a primary assist on Finland’s opening goal, before he sniped his first of the tournament by finding the top-right corner of the net to put his country up by a pair early.
Less than 10 minutes later, Halttunen would follow his Knights teammate with a strike of his own, scoring Finland’s third goal on what was only their fifth shot of the contest. Nurmi would later close out the game with his second of the night on another perfectly placed shot. Thanks to his three-point effort on Thursday, Nurmi was named Finland’s Player of the Game.
“We have some unfinished business, but it feels great,” stated Nurmi, who ranks second in scoring on Finland with four points. The 19-year-old from Valkeala is also one of five London Knights players to have participated in the 2025 World Juniors. “I think we are proving [our doubters] wrong. We have a really good chance of winning this tournament and every guy in the locker room believes in that.”
“We have our confidence now,” added Halttunen, who is one of two alternate captains for Team Finland at the 2025 World Juniors. “We are just trying to bring that same game, that same energy going into the semis.”
Through five tournament games at the 2025 World Juniors, London Knights forward Kasper Halttunen has tallied one goal and two assists for Team Finland. Wearing an “A” as an alternate captain, Halttunen is one of seven returnees from Finland’s 2024 team that placed fourth at last year’s World Juniors. Among those seven returning Finns are Barrie Colts forward Emil Hemming and Kingston Frontenacs defenceman Emil Pieniniemi (Photo Credit: André Ringuette / IIHF).
The offensive outburst in the first 13 minutes against Slovakia was a stark change from what we had seen from Finland during the preliminary round. The five goals they scored on Thursday night were double the 2.5 goal-per-game average they had mustered through four round-robin contests and marked the most they had scored at the tournament thus far.
“It was a good team victory,” shared Everett Silvertips forward Julius Miettinen (1G-1A in 5 GP), one of two Western Hockey League (WHL) skaters on Team Finland along with Medicine Hat Tigers defenceman Veeti Väisänen (1A in 4 GP). “We fought hard. I think we just played our game. We did what we were supposed to do and stuck to our structure.”
In addition to the two WHL players in Miettinen and Väisänen, there are five skaters who hail from the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) playing for Team Finland. It’s a list that includes both Nurmi and Halttunen, along with Barrie Colts forward Emil Hemming (5 GP), Kingston Frontenacs forward Tuomas Uronen (1G-1A in 5 GP), and Kingston Frontenacs defenceman Emil Pieniniemi (1G-1A in 5 GP), who is averaging the largest amount of ice time on Team Finland at 19 minutes per game.
The seven CHL players are the most Finland has ever brought to a World Juniors, besting the previous mark of six set in 2017 (Olli Juolevi, Vili Saarijärvi, Juuso Välimäki, Janne Kuokkanen, Julius Nättinen & Petrus Palmu).
The latter is not a coincidence when you consider the most recent CHL Import Draft, which saw 15 players from Finland selected by CHL clubs this past summer. It marked the largest number of Finnish players ever taken in a single CHL Import Draft since the event first began in 1992. That group of 15 in July included the likes of Hemming (1st Round – 15th Overall), Nurmi (1st Round – 58th overall), and Väisänen (2nd Round – 107th Overall).
This unprecedented entry of Finnish players coming into the CHL and its Member Leagues (WHL, OHL, and Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League [QMJHL]) comes as no surprise to Nurmi, Halttunen, and Miettinen, who all feel the CHL offers them the best chance at attaining their dream of playing in the National Hockey League (NHL).
“I think the game is faster here. Battling here is more important, and all the guys who come play in [the CHL] want to make it to the NHL,” said Nurmi, the New York Islanders’ fourth-round (113th overall) pick in 2023. “It’s a big part of your game.”
Miettinen has a pair of points (1G-1A) through five tournament games at the 2025 World Juniors. The latter included registering an assist in Finland’s 5-3 victory over Slovakia in the quarterfinals on Thursday. • In 2023-24, Miettinen led all WHL rookies with 585 faceoff wins and added 31 goals (eight of which were game-winners) along with 36 assists for 67 points and a +27 rating in 66 contests (Photo Credit: Matt Zambonin / IIHF).
“I think it’s the small ice. It’s so fast [in the CHL]. I enjoy it a lot more. It’s fun to play on the small ice. I think it’s going to make me a better player,” declared Miettinen, who is one of eight Seattle Kraken prospects to have taken part in the 2025 World Juniors, a group that features five current players in the CHL. “People want to make the NHL and [the CHL] is a way to do it.”
“It’s great hockey and it is really close to the NHL,” shared Halttunen about playing in the OHL. Halttunen was San Jose’s second-round (36th overall) pick at the 2023 NHL Draft. “There’s a lot of good young players from Finland that want to play in the NHL, and [the CHL] is a good route to the NHL and to chase your dreams.”
The success of the seven CHL players for Team Finland at the 2025 World Juniors should come as no surprise given what this group has already accomplished in the time they have spent playing with their CHL club.
To give a few examples: heading into the 2025 World Juniors, Pieniniemi sat fifth in scoring among OHL defencemen with 34 points (4G-30A) through 32 games in his first season with the Frontenacs. Halttunen started the 2024-25 campaign with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda on the heels of setting an OHL playoff record for goals by an import player with 17 goals in 18 postseason games in 2024 as London won the J. Ross Robertson Cup as OHL Champions last year. Nurmi has produced 16 points (4G-12A) over 28 games during his first season playing for the No.1-ranked Knights, while Miettinen has registered 34 points (10G-24A) in 2024-25 to help the No.3-ranked Everett Silvertips to one of the best starts in the WHL over the last 10 years.
As they head into the semifinal, no player on Team Finland is averaging more ice time than Kingston Frontenacs defenceman Emil Pieniniemi (19:00). Heading into the 2025 World Juniors, Pieniniemi sat fifth in scoring among OHL defencemen with 34 points (4G-30A) through 32 games in his first season with the Kingston Frontenacs. Prior to the OHL’s holiday break, his 16 power-play assists were also the third-most of any skater in the OHL (Credit: André Ringuette / IIHF).
The success of Everett in the WHL this season and the role Miettinen has played in helping his team achieve that has the Silvertips forward feeling confident about his role with Team Finland at the 2025 World Juniors.
“In Everett, they trust me a lot. So, I feel like here when [Finland] does it too it’s not like a new thing,” explained Miettinen. “I play a lot of penalty kill here, and in Everett, they like me to do that too. So, I feel like there’s nothing new right now. It’s the small ice. It’s the same as in Everett and I feel like my role is the same here.”
“It’s an amazing organization,” shared Nurmi about playing for the London Knights in the OHL. In addition to playing through his first season in the OHL, the 19-year-old is also competing in his first-ever World Juniors in Ottawa. “We got lots of good players and a good team [in London]. The first half of the season was like the best time of my life.”
Before they head back to their CHL club in a few days from now, as Nurmi said earlier, there remains some unfinished business to settle in Ottawa. Finland is in search of a fourth gold medal in 11 years and standing in their way will be their long-standing rivals Sweden, who remain the only unbeaten nation at the tournament through the quarterfinals as they have won all five of their games thus far at the 2025 World Juniors.
Finland’s quest for gold will continue on Saturday when they take on the Swedes at 3:30 p.m. ET on TSN 1/4/5. Later that same day, fans can also catch the United States face Czechia at 7:30 p.m. ET on TSN 1/4/5 in the tournament’s other semi-final. Despite Canada falling out of the tournament, including the seven from Finland, there remains a total of 24 CHL players vying for a medal at the 2025 World Juniors.
FINLAND (7)
(D) Emil Pieniniemi (Kingston Frontenacs / OHL)
(D) Veeti Väisänen (Medicine Hat Tigers / WHL)
(F) Kasper Halttunen (London Knights / OHL)
(F) Emil Hemming (Barrie Colts / OHL)
(F) Julius Miettinen (Everett Silvertips / WHL)
(F) Jesse Nurmi (London Knights / OHL)
(F) Tuomas Uronen (Kingston Frontenacs / OHL)
SWEDEN (2)
(D) Axel Hurtig (Calgary Hitmen / WHL)
(F) Noel Nordh (Soo Greyhounds / OHL)
CZECHIA (12)
(G) Jabuk Milota (Cape Breton Eagles / QMJHL)
(D) Jakub Fibigr (Brampton Steelheads / OHL)
(D) Adam Jiříček (Brantford Bulldogs / OHL)
(D) Matteo Koči (Kamloops Blazers / WHL)
(D) Vojtech Port (Lethbridge Hurricanes / WHL)
(D) Marek Rocak (Kelowna Rockets / WHL)
(F) Miroslav Holinka (Edmonton Oil Kings / WHL)
(F) Adam Jecho (Edmonton Oil Kings / WHL)
(F) Dominik Petr (Brandon Wheat Kings / WHL)
(F) Pavel Simek (Rimouski Océanic / QMJHL)
(F) Jakub Stancl (Kelowna Rockets / WHL)
(F) Adam Zidlicky (Brampton Steelheads / OHL)
U.S.A. (3)
(G) Sam Hillebrandt (Barrie Colts / OHL)
(F) Carey Terrance (Erie Otters / OHL)
(F) Joey Willis (Saginaw Spirit / OHL)
