‘Stay Present And Enjoy It’: Heikki Ruohonen Embraces The Moment at IIHF World Juniors

Freshman forward Heikki Ruohonen is making waves far beyond Harvard’s Bright-Landry Hockey Center.

At the prestigious 2026 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, Ruohonen was named an Assistant Captain for Team Finland. The title, as one might expect, came with heavy responsibilities, but Ruohonen rose to the challenge.

During the tournament, the Helsinki native led the Finnish team in scoring, tallying three goals and nine points across his seven games. This performance marked a notable improvement over his four-point total from last year’s World Juniors.

“It’s always an honor to play for your country,” said Ruohonen. “Being able to do it twice now as an older guy, you have to step into that [leadership] role,” he added. “That’s what’s expected of you.”

With Ruohonen at the helm, Finland placed third in the preliminary round, advancing to a quarterfinal matchup against the defending champions, the United States. The game also served as a rematch of the 2025 World Juniors gold medal game, in which the Americans beat the Finns with a final score of 4-3 in overtime.

This year, featuring star National Hockey League prospects like James Hagens and Cole Hutson, the United States’ team was predicted to be the dominant force in the tournament. As such, many hockey fans anticipated a routine exit for Ruohonen’s team in the quarterfinal match.

At first, the skeptics were right. Finland fell behind 1-0 in the second period and desperately needed a spark of momentum to get itself onto the scoreboard. Luckily, the team got one from Ruohonen, who sniped the puck top shelf to tie the game and give his team life.

Ruohonen’s goal helped the Finns topple the United States 4-3, stunning the home crowd at the Grand Casino Arena in Saint Paul, Minn.

After the contest, Ruohonen was awarded Player of the Game, but he emphasized to The Crimson that the team’s success outweighed his individual achievement.

“Of course [the award] felt good,” said Ruohonen. “It wasn’t even close to how good the win felt.”

Ultimately, Finland’s chase for a gold medal was cut short in the semifinals, as it was ousted 4-3 by Sweden. According to Ruohonen, the defeat was difficult to recover from. He credited the Sweden game as more painful than the team’s later bronze medal loss to Canada.

“Always looking to win gold, and you don’t want to settle for anything less,” said Ruohonen. “Once you lose that game, it’s really hard to turn around and put your mind into the bronze game.”

“I thought we did that well, and of course we came up a little short,” he added.

Luckily for Harvard hockey fans, Ruohonen isn’t hung up on Finland’s fourth-place result, nor that the tournament marked his last time competing in the World Juniors. Instead, the 19-year-old has focused on carrying his momentum back to Cambridge, Mass.

“Confidence is a funny thing,” said Ruohonen. “Sometimes you’re not feeling too confident, and you feel like you can’t get anything going, and then I got a lot of confidence from the tournament.”

“You feel like a different player out there when you’re feeling super confident,” he added. “I’m just trying to build on that and keep it going.”

The forward has certainly kept it going. Now that he is back in a Crimson jersey, Ruohonen posted a combined six points, recording two goals and four assists. The secret to his continued success? Grounded, yet forward-thinking.

“In your career, you’re always looking for the next thing,” said Ruohonen. “Even though you’re trying to stay present, you’re always trying to take the next step, trying to move forward, trying to become better.”

“Those [international] tournaments are always such great competitions,” he added. “You gotta stay present and enjoy it, because if you’re lucky, you only get it twice in your lifetime.”

For Ruohonen, who was drafted in the fourth round by the Philadelphia Flyers in 2024, Harvard hockey is now the priority. The NHL, while exciting, is a part of his long-term plans.

“What’s in the future is just that,” said Ruohonen. “It’s in the future.”

— Staff writer Kai. I. Russell can be reached at [email protected].