{"id":12385,"date":"2021-12-10T04:06:01","date_gmt":"2021-12-10T04:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/?p=12385"},"modified":"2021-12-10T04:06:01","modified_gmt":"2021-12-10T04:06:01","slug":"flames-prospect-valimaki-leads-as-finlands-captain-at-world-juniors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/?p=12385","title":{"rendered":"Flames prospect Valimaki leads as Finland’s Captain at World Juniors"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Juuso Valimaki, a first-round pick of the NHL’s Calgary Flames.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Postmedia file<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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He missed the bus.<\/p>\n

Over and over again.<\/p>\n

That would usually be a troublesome trend, but not in the case of Calgary Flames\u2019 first-round selection Juuso Valimaki.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have our development camp in the summer over at WinSport, and (the players) stay at a hotel near there and there is a van or a bus that takes them back and forth,\u201d said Flames general manager Brad Treliving. \u201cSo for the first couple of days of development camp, it\u2019s always, \u2018Ok, is everybody here?\u2019 They do the roll-call, and Juuso was never there. He would never be on the bus because he would go to the rink early to work out, and then he would stay at the rink \u2014 when everybody else was coming back to the hotel \u2014 to work out.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo say there were 40 kids at the camp. Well \u2026 there were only 39 on the bus. Juuso was never there, because he was either there early or staying late.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fine by the Flames higher-ups, who announced Valimaki\u2019s name on their first trip to the podium \u2014 at No. 16 overall \u2014 at the 2017 NHL Draft.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh yeah, that\u2019s a good reason not to be on the bus,\u201d Treliving said.<\/p>\n

Treliving talks often about guys who \u201cdrive the bus,\u201d and the Flames are optimistic that Valimaki has a bright future as one of those impact sorts at the Saddledome.<\/p>\n

For the next two-plus weeks, the 19-year-old defenceman will be at the wheel for Team Finland, serving as captain for his national squad at the world junior championship in Buffalo.<\/p>\n

The Finns open against Team Canada on Boxing Day (1:30 p.m., TSN\/Sportsnet 960 The Fan).\u00a0It should be an especially proud afternoon for Calgary\u2019s hockey-operations and scouting staff, with future Flames in top leadership roles on both sides \u2014 Valimaki for Finland and left-winger Dillon Dube serving as Captain Canada.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, fellow Flames prospect Adam Fox will wear an \u2018A\u2019 for the host Americans.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust leadership and bring his presence on the ice \u2014 that\u2019s what we want,\u201d said Finland\u2019s head coach, Jussi Ahokas, of Valimaki. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t have to be any Superman or anything, but just be himself and I think that will be enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a person, he\u2019s a really good guy. He works hard on the ice and off the ice. He\u2019s a good teammate. And of course the way he plays, he always shows the best of what he can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

These aren\u2019t uncharted waters for the blond blueliner, raised in the town of Nokia and now toiling for the Western Hockey League\u2019s Tri-City Americans.<\/p>\n

Valimaki had the \u2018C\u2019 stitched on his sweater when he made his international debut at the under-16 level and then captained Finland to gold at the 2016 IIHF World U-18 Championship.<\/p>\n

This must have been a no-brainer because Ahokas announced way back in August that the Flames\u2019 prized prospect would lead the letter-wearing crew at the holiday showdown in Buffalo.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a huge honour, and it means so much to me. Especially in that big, big tournament, it\u2019s something special,\u201d Valimaki said. \u201cI just want to do everything I can, on and off the ice, so that hopefully we play good and we compete for the championship and we\u2019ll end the journey with the gold medals.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is no guarantee that world-junior difference-makers will eventually become stars at hockey\u2019s highest level, but it\u2019s certainly not a bad starting point.<\/p>\n

In the lead-up to the 2017 NHL Draft, Flames scouts were struck by Valimaki\u2019s sky-high compete level, by his size, his offensive skill-set and his smarts in both ends.<\/p>\n

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Their reconnaissance on the 6-foot-2, 211-lb. defender \u2014 it\u2019s not uncommon to quiz past coaches, teammates and support staff and even billets and school-teachers \u2014 only increased their interest.<\/p>\n

Valimaki\u2019s work ethic and leadership traits were constants in those conversations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some guys that it\u2019s just a certain way they\u2019re wired, and that\u2019s how he is,\u201d Treliving said. \u201cWhen you think of leadership, some people think, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s the loudest guy that is screaming and yelling all the time.\u2019 Juuso encourages others, but it\u2019s the way he looks after himself, the work that he puts in, the training that he does \u2026 It\u2019s really leading by example.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one of the things, even talking to a lot of people around the Finnish national team, they saw at a younger age. He was always coming for extra, there early, staying late \u2026 and he has a deep desire to learn. You hear the comment of \u2018being coachable.\u2019 This is a guy who is asking and always looking for feedback and ways that he can get better. The time he puts into areas that he needs to work on in his game, it\u2019s as good as I\u2019ve seen with any young player. Areas that you talk to him about, areas that he\u2019s got to improve upon, he\u2019ll spend a lot of time trying to perfect his craft, and I think that\u2019s really the strongest part of leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s sort of part of his DNA \u2014 he\u2019s a very committed young guy and a very well-respected teammate, and he expects others that play with him to have the same mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Finns won world-junior gold in both \u201914 and \u201916 but barely dodged demotion a year ago, failing to advance to the quarterfinal round before defeating Latvia in a best-of-three relegation series.<\/p>\n

Valimaki is one of nine returnees from that squad.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the past experience, I\u2019ve been captain with a lot of the guys that will be there again, and there is so much leadership, other than the guys wearing the letters, that it\u2019s pretty easy to lead that group,\u201d Valimaki said. \u201cI think I\u2019m more a leading-by-example guy, just doing everything as I good as I can all the time. I think I\u2019m positive and kind of happy guy there, just trying to keep the negative stuff out of the room and just getting along with everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s my mindset \u2014 that if everybody is happy in the room, it will show on the ice.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, hopefully, result in a shiny keepsake.<\/p>\n

Gold, preferably.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the goal we all want,\u201d nodded Valimaki, pointing out nearly half of this band of buddies have been skating together in international action since their U-16 days. \u201cI would say that the whole group, including coaches and everyone, I think we kind of deserve of it after this great journey. I think always one of our biggest strengths has been the team spirit and how the group of guys are in the room.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of special momentum out of that, so I think it will be the way all of us want to end it. That\u2019s what we\u2019re going for.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Juuso Valimaki, a first-round pick of the NHL’s Calgary Flames.\u00a0\u00a0Postmedia file He missed the bus. Over and over again. That would usually be a troublesome trend, but not in the case of Calgary Flames\u2019 first-round selection Juuso Valimaki. \u201cWe have our development camp in the summer over at WinSport, and (the players) stay at a … <\/p>\n

Read more “Flames prospect Valimaki leads as Finland’s Captain at World Juniors”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12385\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}