”We´re already accustomed to each other,” say twin brothers Julius and Jesper Mattila

When did the two of you start playing hockey? I guess it was at the same time?

Julius: "I started playing hockey at about two and a half years, my brother started a little later."

Jesper: "Yes, I started up at age three, but since then we´ve played on the same team until now."

You´ve played on the same Ilves Tampere team together all that time? Have you ever played against each other?

Jesper: "We´ve been playing together for now for 13 years, category after category, but we´ve still never played against each other."

Would you like to try it some time?

Jesper: "I´d rather not." (laughing)

Julius: "We´re already accustomed to each other."

So you´ve been together with Ilves for a long time, but what about for the Finnish national team?

Julius:"We first played together on the national team a little more than two years ago, when we were 14."

What´s been your best experience with the national team so far?

Jesper: "Probably our most success was the year before last. We played for a U16 team in the Nordic Cup and we won it all. I led the tournament in scoring."

Now you´re playing together at the U18 level. What do you want to accomplish here at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup

Jesper: "Our goal before the tournament was to advance to the semifinals and play for a medal, but our group was very strong."

Yes, in the game against the Americans you could have advanced. It was close until late, but what happened at the end?

Jesper: "We just have to recognise that they were better than us today. It was a good game and we played well for most of it, but things just fell apart at the end."

Julius: "When you look at the score, 9-4, it seems strange to talk about it as a close game, but still, for two periods it was only a one-goal difference. It´s just too bad we didn´t play well in the last period."

The game before that against the Czech Republic was close too. The score was only 4-3.

Jesper: "Yeah, and now after the loss to the Americans, we regret that loss even more. We certainly had chances to win. But we took some unnecessary penalties and they got two or three power-play goals."

So now what about the fifth place game against Switzerland. Will it be difficult to get up for that one?

Julius: "I´m not worried. Every game for the national team is a huge honour, so I don´t think it will be any problem to get the guys up for it."

It seems that the two of you agree on everything. Don´t you ever fight or get on each other´s nerves?

Jesper: "Of course, sometimes we don´t agree on something, but it´s never a long-term problem."

Julius: "We are brothers, we have to get along."

Well hopefully you´re right, and we hope to see the two of you continue to play together at a higher level!