Kari Piiroinen

Born: 2001-07-01

Team: TUTO (FIN2)

Position: Goalie

Catches: Left

Height / Weight: 6-2 / 176

REPORT: 2021 WORLD JUNIORS

Piiroinen has played in three games at the 2021 World Juniors. After a shaky performance against Germany, during which he allowed three goals, he was solid in a 6-0 win over Slovakia. He was great against Canada, making 37 saves in a 4-1 loss. The Canadian team outplayed Finland in every aspect of the game, but Piiroinen made the routine saves and a few big ones. He read passes well, moved quickly across the crease and was square to the puck. Good rebound control, used his pads and stick well to direct pucks out of danger. He was focused and stayed calm throughout the contest, even though the Canadians applied tons of pressure and created scoring chances. He made the initial saves well, but had trouble to follow up on plays at times. He did track pucks pretty well through traffic. Expect the 2001 born netminder to be the starter in the quarterfinals against Sweden.