Mervi Kallio, Niki Juusela and Jussi Eskola are familiar screen faces, and now they are also starring in Viaplay’s hockey World Cup team next spring.
Viaplay will present the upcoming spring hockey World Cup. As part of the team, those who have toured the F1 circus in recent years will be seen and heard Mervi Kallio and Niki Juusela and known as a ski commentator Jussi Eskola.
– I have once been involved in making the World Championships. The year was 2015 and I was hosting “Tami Corner” and the Lion King himself Juhani Tamminen was an expert. I especially remember Tami’s colorful outfits and comments, Kallio recalls with a smile.
Mervi Kallio and Juhani Tamminen held “Tami Corner” in the Czech Republic in 2015. Pasi Liesimaa
Although the last few years have been spent working with other sports, Juusela and Eskola have experience in ice hockey reporting. Both are excited about the upcoming narration assignments.
– Nice to be involved! The last time I had national team experience was in 2017, when I was on Yle covering the World Youth Championships. What I remember best is the home tournament of the Young Lions in 2016 and the culmination of the World Cup gold. I got to explain all of Finland’s games in that tournament, says Juusela.
Eskola says that he was already excited about the hockey reports during his summer vacation.
– Last fall, I got to report hockey for a long time after a seventeen-year hiatus. I prepared in such a way that I was excited about future work tasks already during the summer vacation.
Mervi Kallio will be seen in the spring as part of the World Cup team. PASI LEISMA
Similarities in species?
Eskola also sees similarities between ice hockey and his “own” sport, skiing.
– In both sports we see speed and hard battles.
– The role of the narrator, i.e. conveying the feeling, does not change, even if the genre is different, adds Juusela.
The Ice Hockey World Cup will be shown in its entirety on Viaplay channels from 10 to 26. May.
In addition to Viaplay, the World Cup is shown on the free side by MTV, which is allowed to show all Finnish matches as well as both semi-finals and the final. MTV shows matches on the MTV3 channel and Katsomo.
Niki Juusela and Jussi Eskola are excited about the upcoming match as ice hockey commentators at the World Cup. PASI LEISMA