Laine, Titans clinch European Conference

[Laine 1,361]

HELSINKI, FINLAND - It wasn't exactly the way they wanted to do it, but the Helsinki Titans found a way. Helsinki clinched the European Conference last night after a 6-5 win against the defending Continental Cup Champion Vancouver Wolves. The win was the sixth straight for the Titans, who are now 9-0-1 in their last 10 games after a rough middle of the season. They sit at 41-18-8 on the season, good for 90 points and 9 points ahead of the next closest team in the European Conference. A main catalyst in the change of pace has been sophomore right winger Patrik Laine. Laine, who started the season relatively slow, now has goals in 7 of his last 8 including 2 multi goal games, along with extending his point streak to 8 games with 1 assist against the Wolves. After having 15 goals and 38 points through all of last season, Laine now sits at 28 goals and 62 points with 5 games left to go, shattering his old records.

"I mean the mid-season struggles were explainable, especially with that trade for Emi that Jub made. It took a little bit to get fully in sync but once we did we just started rolling. I really don't know how to explain my great play lately. I owe it all to my teammates. During my struggles, I would get so frustrated but management and my teammates would just tell me to stick with it and it would pay off. So far it has, and I have all of them to thank. Clinching the European Conference as you can imagine is exciting, but we've been here before. We've lost in the finals twice in a row now so we gotta remain focused on the task at hand. I'm ready to give it all I have heading into the postseason."

 

Despite his rough rookie season, Laine was a catalyst for energy during his first postseason, notching 5 goals and 16 points through 18 games. Despite this, Laine tells us that he believes his best development has come on the other side of the ice.

"Yeah, certainly my shooting, passing and puck handling have gotten better since last year, but the biggest jumps I've seen have been in my skating and defense. I was abysmal last year in my own end and I knew my defense and skating were the two biggest parts in that. I trained all offseason with backchecking, sprinting, laps. You know, whatever would make me a better player while also listening to the coach staff. Now I feel like I'm one of the best defensive forwards in the game but I still know there is work to be done. Feels good to see the improvement in all of it though. Vikingstad was also a big help in all of it. He coached me through many new techniques I could use for training along with 1 on 1s. Feels good to have a great teammate like him to help you out when you need it."

 

Laine and the Titans have 5 more games to play before the S75 Continental Cup Playoffs start on December 26th, 2020.

(524 words)
 

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