Finnish forward returns to Manitoba Bisons after Four Nations Cup appearance

WINNIPEG — With eight wins in their first 10 games, the Manitoba Bisons women’s hockey team is off to their second best start in team history.

The Herd have been without one of their top players for almost a month, but Finnish forward Venla Hovi returns to the lineup on Friday when they host the Alberta Pandas. Hovi is fresh off an international appearance for Finland at the Four Nations Cup where she scored the game winning goal in the bronze medal game.

“Going into those games playing against the world’s best players, especially on team U.S. and team Canada, you knew that the speed is going to be extremely fast,” said Hovi.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Going into those games playing against the world's best players, especially on team U.S. and team Canada, you knew that the speed is going to be extremely fast," said Hovi.

“And there’s really no extra time to think on the ice. You don’t really have to prepare yourself, it just happens naturally. You’re so pumped to play that you just get out there and you know what’s coming up and you just have to play your best to be able to play against them.”

Hovi has 150 international games to her credit including two World Championships and two Olympic games where she won a bronze medal in Vancouver in 2010. The experience will serve her well as she now chases a national championship with the Bisons.

“I really have to try and maintain the speed I had at the tournament,” Hovi said. “And I feel like I really improved my game when I was playing there. And I really have to keep that level up and bring it to our games and I feel like some great things are going to happen.”

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Hovi, 29, had seven goals and six assists in 17 conference games in her rookie campaign last season and the Bisons have become her new home away from home.

“They’re really my family here in Canada, my team,” Hovi said. “And it’s always great to come back. They’re excited to have me back and I was very, very excited to come back. It felt like coming back to home, even though I was coming from Finland, so that’s kind of odd.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "They're really my family here in Canada, my team," Hovi said. "And it's always great to come back. They're excited to have me back and I was very, very excited to come back. It felt like coming back to home, even though I was coming from Finland, so that's kind of odd."

And considering she hails from Tampere, Finland, which is the same city Winnipeg Jets forward Patrik Laine is from, we just had to ask what the people back home are saying about the Jets rookie phenom.

“I’ve watched him play a lot of games back home,” said Hovi. “There’s obviously a lot of people, especially there, interested in how he’s doing and everything. But it’s still a little bit different approach. I feel like in Finland people are not as crazy about famous people like here.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I've watched him play a lot of games back home," said Hovi. "There's obviously a lot of people, especially there, interested in how he's doing and everything. But it's still a little bit different approach. I feel like in Finland people are not as crazy about famous people like here."

But the University of Manitoba campus would go crazy if she could help the Bisons win the team’s first national championship.