Feb 17, 2025; Boston, MA, USA; Team Finland forward Mikko Rantanen (96) skates with the puck during the second period in a 4 Nations Face-Off ice hockey game against Team Canada at TD Garden. (Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images)
Carolina Hurricanes forward Mikko Rantanen took part in the 4 Nations Face-Off over the past two weeks, representing Team Finland.
While the Finns finished fourth in the tournament, with a 1-0-0-2 record, they still had a strong showing.
Once he returned to Raleigh, Rantanen spoke with the media about his experience at the tournament. Here’s what he had to say:
On how he felt coming off of his injury: I felt good. Better and better after every game. It was only three games but thankfully there were a few days before we started so I had some time to get healthy. That was a big factor that I was able to play all the games.
On the intensity of the tournament: I kind of expected it to be [intense]. There hasn’t been a tournament like this in a long time. Best-on-best, you know? And obviously when you play for your country, it’s not an All-Star game or anything. You really want to win and never want to lose when you’re playing for real. You could tell it was intense from the first day.
On what representing Finland means to him: It means a lot. Growing up, obviously NHL games came on at difficult times in Finland, middle of the night, so the biggest games that I watched were always the national team games because those were usually played in Europe. It’s just a big honor to be a part of it now. Childhood dream and it was a fun tournament overall.
On playing with Sebastian Aho: It’s cool. He’s obviously a great player. I knew him before and now have gotten a few games under the belt with him here and sharing a locker room with him again was special. Obviously really good friend of mine so it makes it even more special.
On facing Jaccob Slavin: It’s difficult. He’s a really good player and probably one of the best defensive defensemen in the league but he can also play with the puck. Sometimes people forget. I watched the game last night and he was the best d-man out there for both teams. Just tells you how good and smart of a player he is.
On how much of a whirlwind the past month has been: That tournament, obviously expectations were big for it, so it was always on the back of your mind. Now it’s behind us so you don’t have to think about it. Now it’s just about this team and thinking about how we can win as many games as we can. Maybe, mentally, it will be a little easier now that that tournament is over. Don’t have to speculate anymore about who you’re going to play with and who’s going to win. Now it’s over and we’re back to basics.
On how he’s felt he’s played so far: A lot of chances from the last three games I played, I felt like. Just have to start finishing a little bit more. Focus on the finishing side of things. When you get a chance, obviously you don’t get that many chances in a game and if you get a grade-A, you have to try and bury those chances. Going to try to do a little bit better job finishing chances and hopefully it will help our team win.
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