Stars Amanda Barsten and Jim Holmbäck are absent from the Nordic Championships this weekend in Helsinki, however a larger than usual number of new players have broken into ranks of the national teams of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
Henri Huttunen is among the younger players have impatiently waited for Covid travel restrictions to lighten. Huttunen last represented Finland as a junior on the 2012 and 2013 U21 teams. Since then he continued to develop while playing for the club Urheilusukeltajat in both domestic competition and the Euroleague. It took him almost a decade to win a spot on his country’s national team.
“Right now I’m healthy and I’ve been lucky that I haven’t had covid (at least yet),” said Huttunen. A goalkeeper, who hails from Vantaa, a suburb of Helsinki about 20 minutes drive from Pirkkola swimming pool, where the competition begins today (Saturday).
Finland has lost goal-scoring forward Jim Holmbäck to injury in the middle of January. Head coach Hannu Ahonen will use his absence to try out two rookie forwards, Alexandr Efimov and Aku Luukko, 24, who join Huttunen in making their international senior debut.
One the women’s side Amanda Barsten is taking a break from international competition.
“I’m not playing in the Nordic Championships. I probably won’t play in Europeans either. I might try to be on the team for the World Championships in 2023.”
Barsten is not injured but has changed her focus. “I’ve been rather using my time as coach for the junior girls national team. For the time being I find the role of coach more motivating than that of player.
Among the new young players for Norway is Elisabeth Ose. Asked if the Covid pandemic had a negative effect on her preparation, Ose replied that she was currently serving in the army and marching with a heavy pack had put her in good condition. Despite the reduced pool time she was ready.
“It feels great [to be on the national team]], I am excited to go out there and do my best!” she exclaimed.
Another Norwegian playing her maiden senior match will be Gedvyde Petkeviciute. Born in Lithuania, Petkeviciute moved to Ålesund before she turned 8 years old. She started playing seven and half years ago and under the tutelage of Marius Skåre, who is the current women’s national coach, she learned the game.
“I feel excited about the weekend and am nervous about my performance,” she admitted.
In her mind she has been rehearsing how her teammate Gerd Anne Solibakke deceives the goalkeeper one-on-one by faking the direction of attack with arm contact.
“Of course, I hope to score but it would be more than enough to just help my teammates get a goal.”
Most of her family still lives in Lithuania, where underwater rugby is an unknown sport.
“It’s hard to explain so I usually just turn on [a link to a video of] the semifinal where Norway played against Colombia in Graz.”
The Norwegian women are definitely favorites, going to Helsinki. When asked how that made her feel, Petrkeviciute replied that she had confidence in the team. “They are some of the toughest people I know, with a lot of experience. This of course puts a lot of pressure on oneself, but I think it makes me a better player.”
Skåre, the man who taught her the game, will accompany her as the women’s national team coach while also playing on the men’s team. He said that he had carefully weighed the pros and cons of having two responsibilities.
“It will be difficult to combine, but I hope I’ll manage,” he said. Looking forward to the European and World Championships, he considers Helsinki part of a building process: “The Nordic Championships will give me an opportunity to see how the team works together. Hopefully, this will be a good training session for them.”
On the Danish women’s team veterans Laila List and Dina Iversen have taken a break and it seems that there are probably 4 or 5 new players in their mid 20s. The youngest is forward Silje Siefert, who is just 19 years old.
The Swedish women have 5 or 6 players who will represent Sweden for the first time. Three of them, Felicia Johnsson and sisters Elin and Agnes Hoas, play for the Gotland club Bottenskraparna. Sarah Nilsson of Polisen, Märta Martin-Åkesson of Nemo and Levina Johansson of Isbjörnarna will also suit up for Sweden for the first time. The decision by rookie coaches Nina Berggren and Wilma Tien to bring on so many new players will be put to a test.
Even without Barsten, Norway should probably win all its matches. Can the greener Swedes and Danes beat Finland to secure a place in the finals? And, perhaps as important, will the teams improve over the course of the competition. The European Championships in Stavanger are just 4 months away.
Predictions on the men’s side
Denmark won the last two Nordic Championships and head coach Michael Kragh is returning with 12 players from the team that took gold last time. The Danish men should repeat, as Nordic Champions. Norway’s coach Øyvind Nyhus conceded that the team might not be the strongest.
“We have a diminished team for a number of reasons, including Covid,” he said. “No matter though, some of the next generation will get experience and probably a few of them will also compete in Stavanger this year so it will be useful.”
“I guess Denmark have to be favorites at this Nordic but it will be more open come the Europeans,” he added.
A source of satisfaction for Kragh is Denmark’s depth. Even without Thor Lykke Funk and Mikkel Rasmussen. He has 30 plus players attending national team training camps.
“It looks good for the future, for the next generation is getting ready to take over, they keep the ‘old’ guys sharp,” he remarked.
Rasmussen, who is recovering from shoulder surgery, said that he looked forward to watching the live stream from Helsinki.
“It might be close between Norway and Denmark. Norway have done more practicing than the Danish team. So they might be the strongest. Sweden will lose. Maybe they win one match. And Finland is a wild guess. You never really know about those guys.”
As Kragh points out, the Nordic Championships are extremely demanding because there are no weak teams and all the action transpires over the course of a weekend.
New players at this level will make mistakes that are difficult to correct because the opponents will react quickly to opportunities. There is a lot to think about. One new player who faces an extra challenge is Swede Erik Sörstadius, 26, who began playing in Valladolid, Spain with the club Pirañas 9 years ago. Now, having been a national team reserve player two or three times, he finally has made the team.
“They [the coaches] have me as a candidate for both goalie and forward and I find both positions a lot of fun. So, the tricky part for me will be to able to focus on either position at the same time that I make my national team debut.”