Nikolas Kauppi Junior Review

[Tetricide 697]

Nikolas Kauppi was born and raised in Tampere, Finland where hockey is the most watched sport on TV. Ever since he could walk, he was skating on the ice. Every day after he was done with school work, he was playing ice hockey with friends. His parents, Mathias and Helena, have been very supportive of Nikolas's ambition to be a hockey player since he started being more competitive in primary school. His parents put him in a youth program to help feed his love for the sport, and his coaches decided he would be best used as a defenseman. His coach at the time Kivi Palo taught Nikolas everything he needed to fill his role including fighting. Nikolas achieved his first Gordie Howe hat trick when he was 8, but was also ejected from the game after he spit on the kid he just pummeled.

Between the ages of 10 and 12 he had an unusual growth spurt where he ended up a freakish 5'8" and didn't look like he was stopping anytime soon. Nikolas was more confident in his ability to pass and score and subsequently had his role switched from a defenseman to a left wing forward. Puberty definitely heightened the testosterone level output whenever Nikolas was on the ice, but the coaching staff helped mitigate and direct the fight in him to be more of a power forward. Nikolas was able to both put up points for the team and put down his opponents to regain possession of the puck for his team. It was after winning his 6th championship at age 15 he had his eyes on a big prize: getting into the VHL. Fortunately, his former coach Kivi Palo was already looking out for him uploading short YouTube videos highlighting his successes and progress for not just the world but mostly for junior league and some VHLM scouts. 

 

Before he knew it, he was started playing on Finland's U18 men's team. Standing at roughly 6'4" and feared to be still growing to be the next Zdeno Chara, he was a towering menace. Over the next two years, Nikolas helped his team dominate to the finals twice and brought home the championship cup in his final season. After his championship win, he was picked up by Ilves in the Liiga league, whose hometown is also in Tampere. His first season started rough with a 70 game suspension after running an opponent through the plexiglass and continuing to beat him unconscious before he was pulled off and ejected from the game. The Ilves would also find themselves unable to make it to the playoffs that year. In his second season he pumped the brakes a bit on his roughness thanks to his anger management classes it was starting to pay off when the Ilves made the playoffs, but only just barely. Unfortunately, they were shut out by Lukko in the quarter finals. His final season with Ilves they made it much further being the team with the 3rd highest points entering the playoffs. They defeated Kärpät in overtime in game 7 of the quarter finals in a close 2-1 game, but were stopped by TPS in game 6. The Ilves did, however, win their 3rd place matchup against KooKoo 3 to 2. Nikolas had took on a manager with help from his long-time friend Kivi Palo in hopes of getting attention to the VHLM scouts. In the season 84 VHLM draft, Nikolas Kauppi was drafted 32nd overall to the Saskatoon Wild. With stars in his eyes, Nikolas started training right away to show he has what it takes to be a key player in the VHL.

 

609 words, using for PT week ending September 4.