Kasper Kankkunen | Veteran Presence

[diacope 1,696]

  

 

     They say he was an ace of a prospect before, now he's united with London the rest of my career.. Today we take a look at how a 3rd round draft pick turned himself into a leader and player Finnish defenders strive to be one day

 

     It's been an interesting journey for sure and ever since coming into the VHL as a former Assistant Captain and dynamic point producer for the Las Vegas Aces, Kasper Kankkunen knew he had a lot of work to do before getting his name in any top 10 categories or magazine covers like he did in the VHLM. Luckily after being called up to an up and coming London United franchise with some already solid defenders adjusting got easier and easier as the season progressed, playing with definite career top line players like newly acquired Erik Killinger, Hugh Jass and an already established scoring threat on the blueline, James Rose. It took sometime like it usually does for newer players but with great advice and following in the right footsteps by the end of the season Kankkunen was scoring clutch goals and changing games, scoring 3 game winning goals, 3 power-player goals and a shorthanded marker in his 9 total goals scored. 

 

     Going into the next season the plan was the same since the defensive core didn't change, follow the big dogs. This time around though we saw improvements in checking, strength and passing which changed Kasper from prospect to up and comer ready to show the VHL his abilities and management took note of that naming him an assistant captain, it was a big task to take on and there was still holes in his game that needed work on but that didn't change the strong minded defenders progress and used the pressure to motivate him to cheer the team on even more and get more involved with team events outside of the arena. 

 

     It was a hard time in London and after a failed playoff attempt it was evident the greatly assembled knights just couldn't get anything going, Kankkunen didn't get down though and continued what he did best and motivated his now close friends and fans but out of nowhere the rug was pulled from under him in a way and the team roster changed drastically, at first because so many of his line-mates were shipped away Kasper didn't know what the future looked like but meeting up with VHL phenom Mikko Lahtinen and cup-worthy Jacob Tonn it was certain the team was ready to win the championship and after some good-byes and well wishes Kasper Kankkunen new it was time for the next test in his career and chance to learn even more moving forward so young the upset blueliner was thirsty for action. This season with increased minutes and the "C" sown on his sweater we see a good management move by giving a kid who used to sit on the bench motivating his team to a player making his teammates better on the ice while keeping an open mind to bring in new ways to navigate an ever-changing VHL landscape the last half of his career

 

528 words

Edited March 31, 2021 by 16z

[mattyIceman 1,213]

9 hours ago, 16z said:

Jose Rose

 

Who's this, now?

[diacope 1,696]

3 hours ago, MattyIce said:

 

Who's this, now?

Your half brother down in Mexico

 

Fixed! tyty

Edited March 31, 2021 by 16z

[Gustav 6,406]

Jose Rose is much more fun when you pronounce both words the same way.

[mattyIceman 1,213]

Josée Rosée, le sister