Groton Sophomore Santeri Hartikainen Featured in USHR Article
Groton is honored to have sophomore Santeri Hartikainen featured in the U.S. Hockey Report’s article about the 2015 World Under-17 Challenge. Santeri plays on the Finland U-17 team.
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A Special Invitation
New Groton School sophomore forward Santeri Hartikainen is on his way to Fort St. John, British Columbia, where he and his teammates on the Finland Under-17 Team will begin play tomorrow (Friday) with an exhibition game vs. the Czech Republic in preparation for Sunday's opener at the 2015 World Under-17 Challenge.
Hartikainen and Sioux Falls Musketeers (USHL) RW Eeli Tolvanen are the only two member of the Finnish squad who are playing outside of their home country's junior leagues.
Hartikainen, who is 6'1", 185 lbs., has been playing varsity soccer at Groton this fall as well as playing in the NEFPHL for Dan Ronan's Mass East Major (U19) squad. The Helsinki native is described by Bill Riley, his coach at Groton, as "a big centerman who has a nice set of hands, loves to dish it, and makes high-end intelligent plays."
"When he gets moving," Riley adds, "he can go through guys. He has high-end vision."
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The U.S. squad, which will feature 20 full-time members of the U.S. Under-17 Team, will be augmented by 6'1" defenseman Tommy Miller (Victory Honda Midget Major) and 5'11" Sasha Chmelevski (Sarnia Sting -- OHL).
The U.S. squad lost to Russia, 2-1, in last year's championship game. Sweden won the bronze, beating Finland, 3-1.
The U.S., the only full-time standing team in the tournament, has played in five of the last six championship games, winning two of them.
There are eight teams in the tournament: Canada Red, Canada White, Canada Black, United States, Finland, Russia, and Sweden.
The tournament's web site:
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For the full article, please visit the U.S. Hockey Report website at http://www.ushr.com
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