Roope and Mikko Primer
(Roope and Mikko playing for Team Finland)
2015 World Juniors
(Roope Hintz and Mikko Rantanen celebrate a goal with other members of Team Finland)
Finland’s national team is traditionally called ‘leijonat’ or the Lions, and their juniors team is called ‘pikkuleijonat’ or the Little Lions. The year before, in 2014, the Little Lions won gold for only the third time in the history of the tournament, and the first time since 1998. Many of these ‘golden lions’ were returning for World Juniors 2015 and hopes were high for a back to back win.
Mikko and Roope would join these returning players in Montréal, alongside other newcomers like Sebastian Aho, Kasperi Kappanen and Jesse Puljujärvi where they suffered an embarrassing loss to Slovakia in the preliminary rounds, before being knocked out by top seed Sweden.
(Mikko playing for Finland at WJC 2015)
Despite the disappointing performance of the Little Lions as a whole, Mikko had an impressive tournament with 4 goals in 5 games. He led the team in both goals and points, which only contributed to his rising draft stock. Roope centered Mikko’s line for the entirety of the tournament.
2016 World Juniors
(Roope and Mikko celebrate a goal with other members of team Finland)
That winter, the Little Lions would get the chance to redeem themselves on home turf. Finland was the host country for the tournament, increasing the stakes and the amount of national attention. Several of the same players from the previous year, including Mikko Rantanen, Roope Hintz, Sebastian Aho, Kasperi Kapanen, and Jesse Puljujärvi would be returning—and they’d be joined by newcomer Patrik Laine. Together they’d make up the Little Lion’s top six.
Mikko was by far the best player for Finland the year before, and he was the only player on the current roster who had any NHL experience, so he was named captain. He had high expectations both for himself and for the team.
Both Mikko and Kasperi Kapanen had to join the team late, getting in less practice time with the rest of the team due to their AHL commitments. Their coach was not worried about this causing issues, saying, “All top players usually adapt quickly to a new team. That's why they play at the top.”
Perhaps he had a good reason to feel that way. Roope and Mikko had played together for the entire tournament in 2015, and Kasperi Kapanen had been one of their rotating cast of wingers. The plan was to play the three of them together again in 2016 as Finland’s top line.
(The PuLa-Aho line)
However, during the qualifiers, the PuLa-Aho super line stole the show. The younger trio of Aho, Laine and Puljujärvi were responsible for the majority of Finland’s scoring, and Mikko’s line fell dormant, drawing criticism. Kasperi Kapanen, who’d also had a poor tournament in 2015, was swapped out for Antti Kalapudas, moving down to the third line.
In the semi-finals, the young lions would face their national rivals, the Swedes, who’d knocked them out of the tournament the year before. The Swedes were prepared for the PuLa-Aho line, and were able to neutralize them completely, but Mikko and the new look top line stepped up.
Roope scored to tie the game, and within two minutes Antti Kalapudas scored to give Finland the lead, a goal that would eventually prove to be the game winner. Mikko assisted on both goals. Both Mikko and Roope received praise from their coach, who mentioned them specifically as the best players in the game. One sports writer wrote, “the scepter of play was transferred to the veterans, [Mikko] Rantanen and Roope Hintz, who should have had it in the first place.”
(Mikko making a heroic play against Sweden)
The game against Sweden was a turning point. The Little Lions were going to the finals and it seemed like they actually had a chance of winning. All eyes were on the championship game against Russia.
(Mikko celebrates his goal against Russia)
The teams were well matched. Russia took the lead early and held onto it, despite two goals from the PuLa-Aho line. Mikko was the hero for a moment, managing to put Finland up by one late in the third, but the Russians came back and tied it, causing the game to go to overtime.
In the end, Kasperi Kapanen was the one who did it, scoring the golden goal and redeeming himself. The moment was made into an official Finnish stamp and the team attended a public celebration the next day alongside crowds of adoring fans. Mikko brought the trophy out to Queen’s We Are the Champions.
(Roope, Kaspari and Mikko with the WJC trophy)
The boys became superstars overnight, especially with a certain demographic. They weren’t just champions, they were teen idols. When Roope, Sebastian Aho, Jesse Puljujärvi and Patrik Laine returned to play for their Liiga teams, they suddenly had crowds of fans waiting for them, asking for pictures and autographs, many of them teen girls. The game between Aho and Puljujärvi’s Kärpät and Roope’s HIFK in Helsinki that March drew a crowd of over 100 just to see the players walk into the building.
(Fans hold up signs of player's faces)
Kasperi Kapanen was asked about the possibility of being chosen as the sexiest player on the team, and said that he would be honored, and that he’d been aiming for it by posting good pictures of himself on instagram.
Roope Hintz also altered his instagram habits after the tournament, becoming more aware of what he shared. For him, there were also concerns about physical safety. He told the media that fans had once found his car and washed it, and another had discovered where he lived, luckily only to slip a chocolate bar through the mail slot on his front door. On the Wet Show Podcast, Roope spoke about using the increased attention as a motivator, saying that while it was overwhelming at first, if there weren’t fans they wouldn’t have an audience.
(Roope hi fives other members of team Finland after reciveing their medals)
Click here to return to the primer master post
Click here to proceed to part V (Miro)
