International Ice Hockey Federation

Laine lands MVP

Laine lands MVP

Teen star from Tampere tops the poll

Published 22.05.2016 23:58 GMT+3 | Author Andy Potts
Laine lands MVP
Tournament MVP Patrik Laine. Photo: Andre Ringuette / HHOF-IIHF Images
Finland's Patrik Laine missed out on a gold medal against Canada but the 18-year-old finished the tournament with a host of individual accolades.

Patrik Laine’s debut World Championship was a storming success. The 18-year-old prospect from Tappara Tampere picked up a silver medal with team Finland and won the tournament MVP, as selected by the media covering the tournament.

Laine finished with 7+5=12 points from 10 games, sharing the lead in goalscoring with Sweden’s Gustav Nyquist. Among his key moments was a memorable assist on the winner against Russia in the semi-final as his team stunned the home crowd in Moscow.

And Finland coach Kari Jalonen believes the youngster has a great future ahead of him as he looks forward to the upcoming NHL draft.

"When we selected Patrik he was the most valuable player in the playoffs and it's the same here," Jalonen said. "He has a great, great future and he grew up a lot in the last two and a half weeks."

Sunday's final produced another big personal achievement: Canadian captain Corey Perry's gold medal saw him join the prestigious Triple Gold Club of players who have won Olympic and World Championship gold as well as lifting the Stanley Cup.

Laine also won the directorate’s award for the best forward in the competition, alongside his team-mate Mikko Koskinen (best goalie) and Canada’s Michael Matheson (best defenceman). Koskinen was the backstop behind a solid Finnish rearguard that gave up just 10 goals in the entire tournament, while Matheson’s 2+4=6 points made him the second most productive blue-liner after Russia’s Anton Belov.

Those three also made the media’s all-star team. That line-up was rounded out by Russian D-man Nikita Zaitsev and forwards Mikael Granlund (Finland) and Vadim Shipachyov (Russia).

Shipachyov finished as the leading point-scorer of the competition, putting up 6+12=18 as part of a blistering line with Artemi Panarin and Yevgeni Dadonov. Between them, the Russian trio had 18 goals and 46 points to fill the top three spots in the scoring charts.

Individual Awards as selected by the Directorate:
Best Goaltender: Mikko Koskinen, Finland
Best Defenceman: Michael Matheson, Canada
Best Forward: Patrik Laine, Finland

Most Valuable Player as selected by the media:
Patrick Laine, Finland

All-Star Team as selected by the media:
Goaltender: Mikko Koskinen (FIN)
Defencemen: Nikita Zaitsev (RUS), Michael Matheson (CAN)
Forwards: Patrik Laine (FIN), Vadim Shipachyov (RUS), Mikael Granlund (FIN)

 

Back to Overview