World Juniors: Are the Finns and Swedes not metal anymore?
EDMONTON – As northern European rivals Finland and Sweden line up to battle it out in the semi-finals of the world juniors, something very disturbing has emerged: the kids today don’t seem to be into heavy metal.
Starting in Finland, hockey and metal have a long history together: Jere Lehtinen and Janne Niinimaa once tried to add Slayer to the Dallas Stars’ playlist only to see Mike Modano throw the CD across the room. Toni Lydman hung out with Mastodon, while Tuukka Rask got a replica Metallica drum kit when he played his 500th game for the Bruins.
Last year at the world juniors, the Finnish coach Antti Pennanen showed his players one pump up video set to Children of Bodom, the legendary melodic death metal band from Espoo, before the bronze medal which they eventually won.
“Jere Lehtinen (who worked for the national program) is a big Children of Bodom fan and that was one of the reasons we created the video,” Pennanen said. “I had the pleasure of seeing those guys after the tournament and that was huge for me.”
But it seems the next generation isn’t as thrash-happy.
“I don’t know about heavy, heavy metal,” Toronto Maple Leafs draft pick Roni Hirvonen said. “We like some good rock like AC/DC…Children of Bodom have a couple of good songs. I think that’s changed. We listen to a lot of different styles of music. I like rock and hip-hop and country.”
Fellow Leafs prospect Topi Niemela struck a similar chord: he’s a fan of Finnish rap and pop music and notes that the locker room playlist is quite varied.
“There’s all kinds of music,” Niemela said. “On game days it’s more rock music because it’s a game and you have to be ready.”
For Pennanen, who played for HPK’s junior program in the late 1990s and has coached various age groups (including Liiga) for the past decade plus, he has definitely seen a shift away from the dark arts in the room.
“I think so,” he said. “But sometimes I’ve heard Disturbed in the dressing room so that’s good for me; I like that kind of music. And of course one of my favorites is Metallica.”
Away in the Swedish dressing room, it’s the same thing. The city of Gothenburg is known as a mecca for melodic death metal, but its best young hockey players no longer headbang to At the Gates or In Flames. While Vegas Golden Knights goalie Robin Lehner has worn In Flames iconography on his masks for years, that reverence for heavy metal doesn’t extend to Boston Bruins prospect Fabian Lysell or Detroit Red Wings draft pick Simon Edvinsson, both Gothenburg natives.
“I haven’t listened to it that much,” Edvinsson said. “Maybe my parents did.”
Ouch. That one hurts a little. Meanwhile, Lysell actually had the opposite experience as a child.
“My parents aren’t the biggest fans of it, so I haven’t heard much,” he said. “I prefer hip-hop and pop.”
Lysell said the Swedish dressing room tends to soundtrack a mix of hip-hop, house and pop music, while citing rapper Einar (a megastar in Sweden who was murdered in 2021) as one of his personal favourites.
However, the Swedes retain their famous victory song – the anthemic metal banger “En For Alla For En”, a song that has been used for years and attracted fans from all over the international hockey community.
“Yes, I like that song,” Lysell said. “Hopefully you’ll hear it (today) too.”