Finland coach’s wife gave birth while her husband’s team beat Canada in World Juniors upset

You’ll never guess the baby’s name!

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 5 years ago
Finland coach’s wife gave birth while her husband’s team beat Canada in World Juniors upset
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Toni Utunen scored 5:17 into overtime to give Finland a 2-1 win against Canada in the quarterfinals at the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championship at Rogers Arena in Vancouver on Wednesday. The hockey world was stunned while the Finnish team got a lot more fans cheering them on. 

And they added quite an important one to the crew. 

Finland coach Jussi Ahokas’ wife was in labour back home when her husband’s team took on Canada and beat them in overtime. As reported by TSN’s Mark Masters, Ahokas’ wife gave birth to a son, and it was what was best about last night for the head coach. 

“Great night. Not the hockey, but the birth of a son. That was unreal.”

It was a shocking night in the nation; it is the first time Canada has failed to win a medal as host of the tournament (13 times as host, once as co-host with United States) and the second time in past 21 years it won’t play for a medal. Canada lost in the quarterfinals in the 2016 WJC, also to Finland.

Ahokas can thank his two star players, Toni Utunen, who scored the overtime winner and his netminder Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, the Buffalo Sabres prospect who made 24 saves for Finland, including stopping Max Comtois on a penalty shot 1:14 into the 4-on-4 overtime. 

However, when asked about the possibility of naming his son after one of his players, Ahokas’ answer was quite clear. 

Considering “Toni” or “Utunen” as a name?

“No, no, no, no,” Jussi says laughing. 


Ahokas posted a picture on his Instagram account early Thursday morning showing the sleeping baby boy swaddled in a blanket and wearing a blue-and-white knit hat.


So far, we cannot guess the baby's name seeing that even the head coach did not mention it in his Instagram post. 

While the Finnish head coach would probably love to head back home and celebrate the birth on his son with his wife and family, he will need to fist focus on the Swiss team that Finland will face on Friday. Switzerland managed to beat Sweden 2-0 in the quarterfinals. 

"You just have to do your job first and concentrate on the situation that was happening," Ahokas told reporters on Thursday. "But it was, of course, a big night for our family."

Source: Twitter