Sheffield Steelers: Why Flying Finn Mikko Juusola is about far more than just a numbers game

So far, Juusola has met his head coach’s expectations.

Ahead of tonight’s Challenge Cup clash at home to Manchester Storm, Juusola leads the Steelers in terms of scoring, across all three competitions this season, Wednesday night’s 5-2 league win over Fife Flyers seeing him take his tally to 10 goals and 13 assists in just 19 games.

Last season, Juusola was fifth overall in scoring for the Steelers, one of just three ever-presents for the team in their memorable treble year as he posted 61 points, including 24 goals in his 70 appearances.

But, as is the case this year, for head coach Fox, it is about much more than points when it comes to the 26-year-old born in the small northern town of Kuusamo in Finland.

When putting together his new roster in the summer of 2023 - having failed to lift silverware for the second straight season coming out of lockdown - Fox was looking to go in a new direction, one that saw him make more roster changes than in the previous two off-seasons.

Juusola was a vital piece when it came to putting that puzzle together.

Having found opportunities in Finland’s top-tier Liiga limited - his longest stints coming in struggling sides like Sport and SaiPa - Juusola had already moved elsewhere in pursuit of developing his game and was playing his hockey in the Czech Extraliga for HC Energie Karlovy Vary when his cv came across Fox’s desk.

Having done his usual checks and hours of watching tape on the left-hander, Fox was convinced he was a must-sign for the Steelers.

“When I first got his name, I just did some work on him and I just loved the pace he played with,” explained Fox. “He didn’t run any numbers that year, he was in the Czech ExtraLiga and only playing about six-seven minutes per night.

“But I felt like with his speed and then having watched some stuff from earlier in his career, in Liiga 2, sometimes you are looking for guys who you know are going to give you a responsible, 200-ft game.

“And with the pace someone like him played with, I felt it might cause problems at our level, particularly with him having spent some time at those higher levels.”

Fox’s gut feeling on Juusola - as on all those he signed for the 2023-24 season - proved to be right and the Steelers’ boss is not surprised he has started his second season in the Elite League so brightly.

“He’s a guy that - once he’d figured out the league a little bit - has just been dominant for us,” added Fox.

“He is one of those guys that, from an intensity level, he brings it every night and that is probably why he is where he’s at in terms of the points. He is a guy who only has one speed and it’s a speed that puts teams on edge and creates problems for them.

“He is just a heck of a player for our group and I’m delighted to see the success he has had early doors. He’s super-skilled, great on the wall, wins tons of battles, pushes the pace.

“He is a guy who it doesn’t matter what line you put him on. In fact, if there’s any guy that has been moved around the lines the most it is probably Mikko and it doesn’t seem to affect his game at all.

“I can put him in anywhere - he’s just one of those guys that wherever you stick him, or whoever you stick him with, you know that line is going to be effective that night. He is still relatively young and a heck of a player who is only going to get better.”

According to Elite Prospects, the statistics ‘bible’ for hockey followers around the world, only two per cent of this season’s EIHL players hail from Finland, five in total. Two of them - Joona Huttula and Joel Janatuinen - are team-mates of Juusola at the Steelers.

Fox has all three on his roster this season knowing what kind of players he is getting, more obviously in Juusola’s case given the pivotal role he played last season.

While in charge as Sporting Director at Croatia’s Medvescak Zagreb - the club where he coached before joining the Steelers back in 2019 - Fox signed several Finns.

“It is one of the best hockey countries in the world, for sure,” added Fox. “I had a ton of Finns in Zagreb when I was there.

“If you are just looking for point-producers and offensive skilled guys, maybe you need to look at other places at times.

“But if you’re looking for hockey players and guys that will play a system and have grown up playing hockey the right way, that is where I feel that Finnish mentality really sets guys apart. “And if they’ve played at a higher level and not ran numbers, you still have a good feeling that coming down a couple of levels, there’s an opportunity for them to do that too.”