Strong Finnish team at Karjala Tournament

29 Oct 2013 | Henrik Lundqvist

Euro Hockey Tour is played for the last time with the current format. Finland comes with many of their best players for the home tournament in November.

Last year's tournament was played during the NHL lockout so of course many of the biggest stars were there. But apart from that, the Finnish audience has rarely seen as many big names at Karjala Tournament.

The unofficial European Championship is played for the last time with the current format. How it will be replaced for next season is still unclear.

"It will be difficult to replace the current system. But I understand that the players and club teams need more space. The number of games is tough at the moment," says the Finnish coach Erkka Westerlund to Hufvudstadsbladet.

Finland opens Karjala Tournament with a game against Russia Thursday November 7 in Hartwall Arena.

Goalies:
Jussi Rynnäs (Kärpät)
Niko Hovinen (Novokuznetsk)

Defensemen:
Teemu Laakso (Cherepovets)
Petteri Nummelin (Lukko)
Ossi Väänänen (Jokerit)
Lasse Kukkonen (Kärpät)
Tuukka Mäntylä (Novokuznetsk)
Sami Lepistö (Yekaterinburg)
Juuso Hietanen (Nizhny Novgorod)
Topi Jaakola (Lev Praha)

Forwards:
Niklas Hagman (Ässät)
Jori Lehterä (Novosibirsk)
Petteri Wirtanen (Donetsk)
Sakari Salminen (Nizhny Novgorod)
Jonas Enlund (Novosibirsk)
Jarkko Immonen (Nizhny Novgorod)
Petri Kontiola (Chelyabinsk)
Mika Pyörälä (Kärpät)
Antti Pihlström (Ufa)
Juhamatti Aaltonen (Kärpät)
Oskar Osala (Nizhnekamsk)
Teemu Hartikainen (Ufa)
Leo Komarov (Dynamo Moskva)