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He has won a Stanley Cup, an Olympic gold medal, an IIHF World Championship, a national championship in Switzerland and a Champions Hockey League title. Winning the Mestis, Finland’s second-tier professional hockey league, might not outrank all of those, but it means a lot to Valtteri Filppula right now.
Back playing at home after almost two decades abroad, 41-year-old Filppula was second in team scoring with 41 points in 37 regular-season games and 14 points in 13 playoff games. The team, Jokerit, comfortably finished first overall in the regular season and then went 11-2 in the playoffs to capture the title.
“We have played consistently well throughout the season,” Filppula said in an on-ice television interview following the last game, a 3-2 overtime victory over IPK in Game 5 of the finals. “We were able to raise the level (in the playoffs). Now we face an unknown future.”
In the team’s second year playing back in Finland following a dramatic departure from the KHL and a season in limbo, Jokerit now has a chance to get back to the Liiga – Finland’s top league, where it played from 1989 to 2014, winning five national championships in the process.
Standing in the team’s way is the Lahti Pelicans, a team that made the Liiga finals in 2023 and 2024 but then free-fell this season, finishing 15th out of 16 teams in the regular season before losing a playout series to the last-place team, Jukurit. The winner of the best-of-seven series will play in the Liiga next season, the loser will go to the Mestis.
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Pelicans Made Finnish Finals 2 Years In A Row; Now Must Fight To Avoid Relegation; Kapanen & Nurminen Respond Peter Abbandonato scored 1:24 into overtime to give Jukurit Mikkeli a 2-1 victory over the Lahti Pelicans and a 4-games-to-1 win in their Liiga playout series. As a result, Jukurit will again play in the top Finnish league next season, while the Pelicans will have to defeat the champion of the second-tier Mestis in a promotion-relegation series to remain. Asked how Jokerit stacks up against the Pelicans, Filpula answered, “I think we have a pretty good starting point. Let’s see how it goes.”
One of Jokerit’s players, American defenseman Ben Blood, played for the Pelicans last season. After not playing most of this season, the former Ottawa Senators draft pick signed with Jokerit in time to play the team’s last six regular-season games.
“It’s going to be really fun, I’m looking forward to it!” Blood said about facing his former team. “It’s God’s will. I’m just grateful to be back in Finland. I really love being here and I thank Mikko (Saarni, Jokerit’s CEO) for giving me the opportunity. Everything went great in the end. This has been fantastic!”
As both series finished in five games, both teams now get a bit of a breather before the start of the qualifying series. It begins next Tuesday, April 8 and if it goes seven games, the last game will be played two weeks later on April 22. As the team defending its position in the Liiga, the Pelicans play at home in Games 1, 3, 5 and 7.
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Valtteri Filppula returns to Jokerit, plans to stay long-term It was widely expected and now it’s official: Valtteri Filppula is going home. After 19 years abroad in the NHL and Switzerland, the 40-year-old Finn is returning to Jokerit Helsinki, the club where he played from ages 16 to 21.Continue reading...
