You might think you had a hard day today, but trust me, it was nothing compared to what Juuso Kopra went through on Sunday.
Kopra is a goaltender for the Kisa-Eagles in Finlands Jr. B league, a team that is not particularly adept at preventing scoring chances. During Sundays game against Porin sst, the Eagles surrendered 105 shots. Kopra stopped 100 of them, yet the team lost 5-0.The Eagles were outshot 32-6 in the first period, 36-1 in the second, and then gave up another 41 shots in the third period.Intrepid reporter Ken Campbell of The Hockey News reached Kopra and team head coach Jouni Rantala to comment on the game:
This morning I was a little bit tired on my legs, Kopra told thn.com in an email. (No kidding.) I have high school training in the morning and in the evening I have my own team training and everything is fine!
Our other goaltender faces lots of shots, too, Rantala said. Most of the games our opponent has about 70 shots and we have 20 or 30. We have played some very good games this season, but we have lots of problems to make goals.
Rantala isnt even exaggerating. The team gives up, on average, nearly 65 shots per game. Their leading scorer, according to Campbells research, was just 223rd in league scoring. In addition, they have the highest average age of any team in the league.Basically, theyre old, they cant score and cant play defense.But boy, do the Eagles have one hell of a goalie.Buy World Junior Hockey tickets and watch some really good junior hockey instead!