Aatu Räty is one of the top players on the Finnish team at this year´s Hlinka Gretzky Cup. The 16-year-old from Kärpät Oulu scored a goal in Wednesday´s 6-0 win over Switzerland and has three points in three games. He is a highly rated prospect for the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.
“He’s really good,” said Finnish assistant coach Antti Miettinen. “Once he improves his skating he’s going to be even more of a machine on the ice. He’s got good skills, good vision, and he’s a really good player for us.”
Despite the importance of the game, Räty was obviously quite confident.
“We were sure we were going to win,” he said.
Looking ahead to Friday´s semi-final, Räty said: “Russia´s a great team. It´s gonna be a hard battle but I think we´re gonna win.”