Eetu and Leevi Selänne: NHL dream

Perhaps the most famous players of Mesti, the second-highest league level in Finnish ice hockey Levi and Eetu Selänne have set their goals high.

– I have always had big goals. However, it has gotten a little old. I want to rise to a better and better series and play as long as I can and develop. I love this sport, says 26-year-old Eetu.

– Promotion to the League would be a sick dream at some point, and it’s a nightmare, of course. The NHL seems like a bit of a long way, but it’s really the main dream. Let’s see, we have to go one day and one season at a time.

Leevi, 23, is on the same lines and adds that alongside the NHL, the national team would be a great crowning moment for his career.

– It would be nice to get to the league, of course. It has been mine and Eetu’s dream here. We have thought about what it would be like to play there.

Played in Mestis last season Atro Leppänen25, managed to break into the League and the national team in his early twenties, but Leppänen scored as many as 58 power points in 51 games last season from the position of defender.

Leppänen is an exception, but the NHL is far away even for him.

“You would show”

There is time for dreaming and listing goals during the Christmas holidays.

In everyday life, the brothers focus on their current club Kajaani Hokki. Both players suffered from injuries around Christmas, and in addition, Eetu has been strained by military service.

Eetu has collected four power points in 18 Mestis matches this season. Leevi has worn Hoki’s shirt nine times and scored one goal. Both brothers play as a forward and shoot from the right.

– Now the goal is to play for Mest to the fullest and try to dominate here. At least to properly show that we belong here, to this team and to this series, says Leevi.

According to Leevi, the brothers’ game this season has not yet been at the level they know they are capable of.

– We know that when we play well and are brave, almost magic can happen.

A hunger for paint in the blood

Eetu wants to be a “dangerous” player in the rink in the sense that the net swings. Father Teemu made his career as a graced scorer.

– This is a team sport and it is important for our team that we do things together, but I am trying to improve my scoring. It’s the number one thing for us, which I’m trying to develop.

Eetu, who grew up with a straightforward Yankee bat, has had to get used to the Finnish way of playing, where teams sometimes try to stay in the offensive zone on the puck for a long time, change positions and even change in the middle of the rotation of the offensive zone.

– Staying on the puck is a bigger deal here. It has been nice to see and experience it.

– It’s a really good series. Skilled players who are hard to fight. If there’s any development, it’s here.

Eetu has accumulated 64 Mestis games, but Leevi has the just mentioned nine. Leevi is also still trying to get used to the Finnish way of playing and the bigger rink.

– Goals will come as long as we play well and train. We play because we like to score goals. Eetu is damn good at passing. When there is a place, he knows how to put in a shovel. Let’s try to be physical in the games but skate hard in training and also use skill so that we are not just roughnecks in the games.

“Skill is enough”

Eetu admits that the season could have gone better so far and that combining conscript service with hockey has been difficult.

– However, it’s been fun, I’m trying my best and I’m having fun. It’s been a bit up and down with the gang. A lot of players have been in int. We have a good team and I believe that we will be able to turn the game around for the better and for the better, especially after Christmas.

Hokki is second last in the standings. Before the Christmas break, the team suffered four consecutive losses.

– There is enough skill in the team and all the necessary things are there. There is no lack of anything. Sometimes we have played really good matches as a team, says Leevi.

The last two teams of Mesti’s regular season have to be relegated from the league place, so the threat is relegation to the Finnish series.

With these prospects, in the spring of 2025 and from then on, annual qualifiers will be held between the last place in the League and the winner of Mestis.

There has been enough talk about Finland’s series systems recently. The Selänte brothers belong to a group that supports an open model.

– It would be really interesting to see how Mesti’s best would fare against the worst in the League and it would be a luxury to get to experience such an experience myself. I don’t know if there would be a better feeling for the Mestis team and city than to be able to raise your own club to a bigger league, says Eetu.