Ice hockey | Austrian teenagers left a familiar and safe home environment and moved to Finland for hockey – The beginning was shock treatment

No it is quite common for a Finnish junior hockey team to have a foreign captain and a foreign first goalie.

The Austrians are in the under-16 team of Karhu-Kitsas Phillip Zheden16, and Tin Kurelovic15, have been given big roles in the current season.

They are also examples of teenage hockey players who come to Finland to learn hockey. Every year, two hundred young hockey players from small hockey countries come to Finland from abroad to play and learn to become better hockey players. In addition to the Austrians, the Bear-Cats team has a French and a Chinese player.

According to the statistics of the Ice Hockey Association, 170 underage players moved from abroad for the 2023–2024 season. In the previous season, 150 players transferred. The most players came this season from Latvia, where 29 players transferred, but there were also arrivals from Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

Mixed defender Phillipp Zheden and goalkeeper Tin Kurelovic greedily seized the opportunity to learn ice hockey in Finland. Both previously played for the Vienna Capitals team in Vienna.

“When my representatives came with a proposal to go to Finland, I said it sounded perfect. I didn't even have to think about it,” says Zheden at the Kaarela ice rink before team practice.

“My parents said that going to Finland is a great opportunity that should be used. I thought that I might not get another opportunity like this.”

Both were ready to jump towards the unknown with hope, and the familiar home environment in Vienna with their friends remained. Zheden thinks that maybe his friends miss him.

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“I wanted to take on a new challenge and learn a new language”

“I think they think it's pretty cool that I play in Finland. And maybe someone is a little jealous,” he says.

Before leaving, Kurelovic told his class about moving to Finland.

“They were all happy for me and said reserve a spot when you play in the big league. I was in a sports class in Austria, where there were many good athletes, and their example made me work too.”

In Austria, Kurelovic's dream was to play first in Finland and later move to North America. Kurelovic's parents warned that living abroad could be lonely.

“I told them I wanted to follow my dream. They said in that case we will do everything we can to help you. I am glad that Phillipp is here with me because I can speak German with him from time to time. Of course, it's also good to have an old friend around.”

“I wanted to take on a new challenge and learn a new language,” says Kurelovic.

Initial however, there was shock treatment for both of them in the rink. The level of Finnish ice hockey was striking in the summer in the first practice match against Raumalla Lukko. According to Zheden, they were not ready for the pace of Finnish ice hockey.

“It was the first time for me to face such a big club and that game was very, very difficult for me. The opponents were much faster and had more game intelligence. They knew what they were doing on the puck and what they needed to do tactically. It was all new to me. The first month in Finland was difficult.”

The initial difficulties experienced by the Austrians were precisely due to the intensity of the games.

From that moment on, the Austrian duo began to catch up to the Finns' lead. They first lived with a host family in Hyvinkää, where they had plenty of time to focus on hockey.

Zheden got a lot of help from the skating coach.

“He helped me get faster. He said I shouldn't think about skating, just skate.”

“My racket handling has improved because here I don't have any distractions and I have been able to focus on training.”

Job yielded results. According to Kurelovic, in November the coaches said they were satisfied with how they had developed.

This is evidenced by the responsibility they have received: Phillipp Zheden has now played 31 matches in the Under-16 Championship, scored seven goals and provided nine assists. At the same time, Kurelovic has played 19 matches in goal for the team.

In Hyvinkää, they practiced every day after school and played puck in the yard of their home for hours. According to Kurelovic, it has been easier to focus on training in Finland than at home, where they had many friends nearby.

“Here, we have only been able to focus on hockey. Sure, we have friends here now too, but at first we only focused on hockey. Maybe that's why we got better,” says Kurelovic.

“My fighting style has become more relaxed. And it's actually completely different from before after everything the goalie coach taught me. It took me a couple of months to learn a new style. Now I feel much more confident on the finish line.”

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“I'm trying to go to high school here if my Finnish is good enough.”

Both moving the boys to Finland has been a big financial investment for the family. The families have demanded that the boys complete their schooling with honors. After the turn of the year, both moved to new families in Helsinki.

Zheden can complete his Austrian compulsory education in online education within three years. He attends Finnish classes three times a week. Kurelovic has attended Finnish school preparatory education during this school year. Next school year, he is supposed to complete the ninth grade in a Finnish school.

“I'm trying to go to high school here if my Finnish is good enough. I'll try that first, and later I could see if I could get into Canada or the United States.”

In dreams, hockey dreams are born. Playing in the big hockey leagues, and of course the biggest dream is the North American professional league NHL. Zheden says he wants to play in the big leagues one day.

“It wouldn't necessarily have to be the NHL, but it could just as well be Switzerland, Sweden or Finland. Of course, playing in the NHL is every hockey player's dream. I want to become a professional and make my dream come true.”

Kurelovic says that he dreamed of the NHL as a little boy.

“My dream is to be the best player. Above all, I want to be a professional, and it doesn't matter in which league that happens. The Finnish league is also really good.”

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“I give them the tools, and everyone does the development work themselves.”

Can you Austrian boys become professional ice hockey players? At least their coach, who learned his lesson as a junior hockey player in the Jokers Jukka Kallio, 39, believes in boys' potential. Kallio has been coaching the team since December. He immediately made Zheden the captain.

“I immediately noticed his playing skills, where he was ahead of others. He's a big guy, of course. Tin has been the team's strongest goalkeeper,” says Kallio.

“Either can become a professional hockey player. When they next move to the under-18 age group, another older age group will join them. The first thing they have to do is to be a year older in order to be able to play. It depends on what you do.”

According to Kallio, both of them have the opportunity to develop into professional ice hockey players who could one day play, for example, in the Finnish League.

“I give them the tools, and everyone does the development themselves. It's a big deal that they have a full focus on hockey here.”

And as long as Austrian and other foreign players play in the Bear-Cats, it brings a lot of added value to the team's Finns as well.

“I claim that it is a big experience for the Finnish players in the team that there are foreign players in the team. The boys are excited when we speak English. Even our Finnish boys in middle school speak surprisingly well.”