Hull Seahawks: 'Different level' netminder Heiskanen's winning mentality proves infectious
MATTY DAVIES acknowledges the major impact netminder Aleksanteri Heiskanen has had on Hull Seahawks - but insists his team is about more than one player.
As the Seahawks gear up for the biggest game of their season in Saturday’s NIHL National play-off semi-final against 2025-26 league champions Swindon Wildcats, Davies is confident he has the quality all through his team to extend their campaign one more time.
If they are successful at Coventry’s SkyDome Arena, they will then set up an all-Yorkshire final against either Sheffield Steeldogs or Leeds Knights, who will have already contested the day’s first final four encounter.
But while the stats back up Davies’ claim that Finnish-born Heiskanen is the top goalie in the UK second tier, the Seahawks coach acknowledges the positive impact he has had on the skaters in front of him on the ice.
“It can't be about one player, this is ice hockey,” said Davies. “You can't just expect one player to do everything for you. Of course he's been a massive addition and it was just what we needed.
“Since he came in, we have changed. The structure is more in place now than it was previously and that was the only way I saw us winning by playing a really solid, defensive, fast, structured game.
“What Hesky does is he makes the saves he needs to make, but he also makes these saves that he should never have a right to make. He's just a different level to what we've got in the league at the minute.
“I think Gossy (Sam Gospel) at Leeds is a very, very close second, a very good goalie, but I think this kid's just head and shoulders - he's just built different.
“He's a winner, and that's bled into the team. Him as a goalie is one thing, but it’s also the character of the lad. He was the first one after Sunday to say, ‘we aren't done. We're going to go and win this.’
“That's him as a person, and that's what has bled into everybody. It's bled into Emil, It's bled into Johnny, It's bled into Bobby. Everyone is taking that on, and as a collective, we're just a better team.”
The loss of import defenceman Brock Bartholomew to injury in January is what led to the door opening for Davies to add Heiskanen, while veteran Lee Haywood returned to add experience to an all-British defensive core that has felt the benefit of having Hesikanen behind them.
“You can't play your best game every game, and what I mean by that is your best defensive game, where you're free-scoring and free-flowing, and the plays are coming off and the powerplay,” added Davies.
“Generally, you're not going to have that every night, so you need a stable structure that you can always have, and for me, that's just hard work, being strong around your net and just don't let them score.
“That was why we got through this weekend against Telford - because that was our DNA.
We went in and we didn't play great, but we did what we needed to do.
“And Hesky has given the D confidence massively, but I believe our D have been underrated all season. I think they still are.
“But for me, defensively, the structure that they have, we're hard to beat, and that proves with the amount of goals we concede, with the games we're in, and yes, everyone says Hesky, but I've seen good goalies, really good goalies, be on bad teams, and the games are not one or two goals, so it's not just him, but he's a big, big part of it.”