Hockey Markus Granlund’s big day is coming soon – and an almost eternal dream will come true

Winger Markus Granlund could wonder if this day would never come. Year after year, some reason wiped out admission to the Lions World Cup or Olympic team.

Big brother Mikael Granlund won the World Championship at the age of 19, scored a scavenger goal and made the stamp. Now it’s Markus Granlund’s turn to come forward – and perhaps as a solver. He is leaving for the Beijing Olympics, the first major tournament of his career.

“With good cheer. It’s an honor to be involved and, first of all, to be selected for the team, ”Granlund said shortly before the race.

Here could slightly emphasize the word chosen. Granlund played in the middle of the Lions Power Chain before the 2016 World Championships in St. Petersburg and Moscow.

The trio looked excellent. Pedal on the other side Mikko Rantanen and on the other side Leo Komarov, NHL players throughout the troika. The finish was also successful. Granlund collected 1 + 2 in the last practice match, when the Lions knocked down 4–1 in Kouvola, Czech Republic.

Then the head coach Kari Jalonen promised a venue for Granlund, who represented Vancouver. The opposite happened, and the promise was forced to be canceled. The NHL popped into the tournament Mikko Koivu, big brother Mikael Granlund, Jussi Jokinen and Alexander Barkov.

From the league ice, the World Cup place was nailed down To Patrik Laine and Sebastian Aholle.

The younger Granlund flew out despite the promises.

“Sure, it would bite to not get in, but there were better players who took their place. There is nothing in it. ”

Granlund assures that the past has been forgotten and that the incident will not rub him off, even if it was great to enter the race.

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“Sure, it would bite to not get in, but there were better players who took their place. There is nothing in it. ”

Kari Jalonen says six years after the incident that all he had to do was make the last choice.

“We got a big bundle back then, and we had to make the last ting choices. It was a question of role-playing then, ”Jalonen explains.

The attackers in the top fields were filled in one fell swoop, and Markus Granlund would not have been at his best in the breaking four-chain or killing the underpower in random substitutions.

Monena in the spring, Granlund’s name has rotated on the top lines of coaching management, but injuries or NHL contract matters have intervened.

Finally, at the age of 28, the younger Granlund joins in – and immediately into the big role.

Sneaky in Julayev Teemu Hartikainen and Sakari Manninen have stacked discs with Granlund in a cage at the pace of the team battling for third place in the Eastern Conference with AK Bars Kazan.

“KHL has shown that in the scoreboard unit in about a tough series, he is in a tough class. Salavat’s Finnish boys are the Lions’ eating tooth, and the chemistry is right there. It can be and hopefully is the best chain in the race, ”says Jalonen.

Granlundit are breeders of Oulu-based hockey, which honed NHL players at HIFK. The whole family moved from Oulu to Helsinki when Mikael joined the IFK league team and Markus B, 14 months younger.

Mark was 16 years old and Michael 17 years old. The noise was loud, especially around Michael.

“Markus attended our rehearsals during my final season, and yes, the talent and expectations of the environment were in the same range as Mike’s. There was talk of real talent, ”says Jalonen. He coached IFK for three seasons from 2008-2011.

The transition from Oulu was easy, Markus Granlund recalls. Friends were found right away during the first summer training season. That, too, could have made it easier for the game to adjust.

Experts get and take their place.

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“I was able to show on the field that I belonged here.”

“I was able to show on the field that I belonged here. Made it easier for me. Then it’s a lot harder outside the field when you walk. ”

Petri Matikainen coached IFK in the 2011-2012 season when the younger Granlund promoted to the League. He says he saw good features in Granlund and that he can play.

“His playing came very easily from the spinal cord, input choices and more”, Matikainen says by phone about his current training place in Austria.

“I used him to overpower and underpower, but the only thing was he was powerless at his feet. It didn’t get the most out of it when physical development was on stage. ”

He also says he liked Granlund’s personality.

“He was the kind of brother who didn’t get much excited, but went and played.”

Matikainen remembers that the younger Granlund dared to make his own game and did not just play on the tracks as many do.

“There were their own solutions in certain situations, which is a sign of the player.”

For comparison There has been talk and writing between Markus and Mikael Granlund. Markus Granlund is calm and has not even had to answer the comparative questions very much.

In his first full season in Vancouver, he heard some comparison after his brother had made a score in Minnesota by then.

“I always thought we were two different players and it was useless to compare us. It ended as fast as it started. ”

They have embraced each other since childhood. Big brother has ruled the battles.

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“I always thought we were two different players and it was useless to compare us. It ended as fast as it started. ”

The brothers have the same gaming traits, but Markus Granlund says well that many other players have the same gaming traits.

Three during his first NHL season, Granlund sawed more or less between the main league and the farm.

A more established place would glide in Vancouver, but an NHL career never took off in full flight. Granlund says it would be great to continue playing with the best in the world. Yet nothing has been left to dig more.

Granlund could not consolidate the first and second chain positions. The lower chains became known, where overalls are pushed on and broken more than is built.

“I never really felt like I was the kind of player I was put in a lot there.”

Last the season in Edmonton went to an elevator store, and eventually Granlund found himself a commodity. The measure began to fill up.

Playing for a few minutes was starting to get better, and even less so were the games in the farm series.

“There came a feeling that this had been seen.”

A new life for a hockey player was found 7,930 kilometers from the city of Ufa in Russia.

The secretary head coach of Julayev Tomi Lämsä remembers Granlund ten years ago from Finland, when HIFK and the Jokers met. Lämsä then coached the Jokers.

Lämsä is coaching for the fifth year in Ufa – now for the second time as head coach.

During his first head coaching session, Lämsä heard that Granlund could join the club. The news sounded so good that Lämsä rubbed his hands together.

“He’s been really strong. He is able to play center and put. He has played with us and been a good block in the chain of Hartikainen and Manninen. It’s great to have such a player on the team, ”Lämsä tells HS about Ufa.

Lämsä describes Granlund as a holistic player who found it difficult to get a suitable role in the NHL.

“Here he was immediately in the top chains. I knew he could play that role, and he’s been good at it. ”

North America the transition to Russia is much more than a distance of thousands of kilometers. There is a spiritual, linguistic and cultural gap in it, but Granlund says the change went smoothly without any pains of growth.

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“The level is really tough, especially on top teams.”

Few things came as a surprise, but the puck itself was positive.

“The level is really tough, especially in top teams. There are four of them and in some teams even five good fields, ”says Granlund.

Playing one thing in Russia filled Granlund’s life. The joy of playing is back, and the puck is fun again, as it was once a long time ago on the outside ice in Oulu.

“I left North America because I wanted to play and get a good role on the puck. I knew I could play the puck and I could score points. ”

At KHL, Granlund’s power has shone. The Lions Olympic team hopes for the same. There are opportunities for anything.

“That’s where the joy of the game comes when you succeed.”

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