The spring ended in a second straight bronze medal for Tammerforslaget Ilves. Next season’s squad will look quite different.
Just like last season, they will rely on foreign cage keepers. New goalkeepers are the Swede Jonas Gunnarsson from HV71 and the Czech Patrik Hamrla from the Canadian junior league QMJHL.
Among the new outfield players is noted Oula Palve, who returns to the league after a few seasons in North America and Sweden. From abroad, national team-merited Czech attacking duo Petr Kodytek and Simon Stransky are also brought in.
Försvaret förstärk av WC and OS gold medalist Niklas Friman, who comes from Brynäs and has written for two years. The other new players are backs Joni Jurmo and Arttu Pelli, as well as forwards Juuso Könönen, Ville Meskanen and Samuli Ratinen.
Vasa Sport in turn recruits Atro Leppänen, who set a new scoring record for backs in Mestis last season. It was a total of 58 points in 51 games with Kiekko-Espoo. The contract is for two years, with a trial period over August.
